Wilhelm Otto (sculptor)

Wilhelm Otto (born May 15, 1871 in Harzgerode , † August 16, 1943 in Berlin ) was a German sculptor, bronze caster and university professor in Berlin. Wilhelm Otto is also the father of Karl Otto , the architect and later director of what was then the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin-Charlottenburg .

Life

Wilhelm Otto was born in Harzgerode into a family of craftsmen. He received his first training as a blacksmith at the Mägdesprung ironworks . He then went to Berlin and studied there from 1895 to 1899 in the teaching establishment of the Berlin Museum of Decorative Arts . He completed the modeling classes and various drawing classes.

Wilhelm Otto graduated as a bronze caster and sculptor. Later he worked freelance on sculptural commissioned works from all over Germany and received a professorship at the Municipal School of Applied Arts at Schlesisches Tor in Berlin-Kreuzberg . From 1905 he taught at the arts and crafts school in Charlottenburg, besides designing arts and crafts, also figurative, portrait and nude modeling.

He created works for the Jacob's Cathedral in Stettin , as well as the monument to the Zietenhusars in Rathenow , the war memorial in Belgard (Pomerania) (today Białogard ) and numerous small works of art.

Gravestone of Wilhelm Otto in the Engesohde city cemetery, Hanover

Wilhelm Otto is buried together with other family members in Hanover .

Works (selection)

• around 1920: Stone memorial in Belgard in Pomerania for the fallen of the First World War on the market square:
  a mourning person kneels on a pedestal, the names of the fallen are carved on the pedestal. In 1933 the memorial was moved to a park.

• 1920: The dancer - male figure made of polished brass in an ecstatic dance pose, on a prismatic stone base, height of the figure 16 cm

• 1923 Zietenhusar monument in Rathenow : bronze figure of a rider from the hussar regiment "von Zieten" on a natural stone base, with the names of officers, NCOs and hussars who died in the First World War . An inquiry to the administration of the city of Rathenow in the spring of 2010 showed that this monument was most likely melted down in the last years of the Second World War to extract war material.

Altar decoration in the Stettin Jakobskirche

• Between 1920 and 1935: Bronze work for the interior of the Jakobskirche in Stettin

• Standing nude girl, cast bronze, 35 cm high and around 14 cm in diameter

Exhibitions (selection)

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Wilhelm Otto's death, the Harzgerode Heimat- und Kulturverein organized an exhibition in his hometown in May / June 2010 in the Harzgerode Castle. Professor Wilhelm Otto - sculptor and bronze caster - organizes his life and work . In the months that followed, work was carried out to transform the exposition into a permanent facility, which was given its place in the fireplace room of the Harzgeröder Castle.

literature

Julia Witt: From craft to art. The sculptors Wilhelm and Carl Otto from Harzgerode . Kannemann, Halberstadt 2013, ISBN 978-3-942975-10-0 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Gravestone in Department 17M, Grave Site 3–4, Engesohde City Cemetery , Hanover
2. ^ ^{A b} Artistic estate of Wilhelm Otto back in Harzgerode. As already reported in the January issue, the Kultur- und Heimatbund Harzgerode eV was honored, through his granddaughter Jutta O'Connell from England, that a substantial part of the works of the sculptor and modeller was granted permanent and public exhibition in the castle receive. In: Unterharzbote. 05/2010, p. 4 ( PDF file  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Accessed on December 30, 2010 ).  
3. ↑ Based on the files of the Prussian Museum of Applied Arts, kept in the archive of the Academy of Arts
4. ^ Gerhard Panzer (ed.), Franziska Völz (ed.), Karl-Siegbert Rehberg (ed.): Relationship analyzes. Fine arts in West Germany after 1945. Springer, Wiesbaden 2015, ISBN 978-3-658-02916-6 .
5. ↑ Biographical information and the sculpture The Dancer by Wilhelm Otto ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , found on a private auction site on May 14, 2010 
6. ↑ Reinhard Schinka's private homepage with old photos , accessed on May 15, 2011
7. ↑ private homepage with depictions of the Zietenhusars , accessed on May 15, 2010
8. ↑ Presentation of an auction result on artnet , accessed on May 15, 2010