Fritz Cremer

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Fritz Cremer
Cremer working in his studio in 1967
Born(1906-10-22)October 22, 1906
Arnsberg, Germany
DiedSeptember 1, 1993(1993-09-01) (aged 86)
Berlin, Germany
EducationChristian Meisen, United State Schools for Fine and Applied Art (1929), Villa Massimo (1937-1938),
Buchenwald

Fritz Cremer was a German sculptor. Cremer was considered a key figure in the art and cultural politics of

Buchenwald.[2]

Life

Fritz Cremer was the son of the upholsterer and decorator Albert Cremer. One year after his father's death, his mother Christine Cremer moved to Rellinghausen with her children Fritz and Emmy in 1908. In 1911, the family moved to Essen, where Christine began a second marriage with a teacher. After his mother died in 1922, Cremer lived with a miner's family.[3][4]

In 1929, the Austrian expressive dancer Hanna Berger met Cremer and the two began a romantic relationship.[5][6] In autumn 1942, Berger was arrested by the Gestapo[7] for her work as a campaigner in Kurt Schumacher's resistance group. In 1944, Berger was able to escape from prison when she was being transferred to Ravensbrück concentration camp during a bombing.[8] She lived illegally in Styria until the end of the war.[8]

In 1953, Cremer married Christa von Carnap (1921-2010), a painter and ceramicist who had divorced shortly before. She was the daughter of Alfred von Carnap (1894–1965), a merchant from the Wilmersdorf area of Berlin, and his first wife Susanne Schindler. Christa von Carnap had previously been married to the Schöneberg-based sculptor Waldemar Grzimek.[9]

Career

Cremer trained as a stone sculptor under Christian Meisen in Essen from 1921 to 1925 after finishing grammar school.

Hans Eisler and the actor Helene Weigel there,[12] who advised him to continue working in Germany. Twice he was a guest of the Villa Massimo in Rome. The first time was in 1937-1938 where he was awarded a fellowship to study for the year, after winning a prize at the "Preußischen Staatspreis für Bildhauerei" (Prussian State Prize for Sculpture).[13] The second time in 1942-43. At the Prussian Academy of Arts, Cremer now ran a master studio himself. He was in close contact with the Red Orchestra resistance group around the sculptor Kurt Schumacher and the writer Walter Küchenmeister. Cremer was linked to a resistance group associated with the actor Wilhelm Schürmann-Horster via Hanna Berger.[14]

His communist past, possibly not particularly spectacular in terms of political action, seems not to have been taken into account by the Nazi regime; but this is by no means a singular case since talents of all kinds were sought after and employed in the culture industries as long as they kept quiet about their former political options.[citation needed]

From 1940 to 1944, he served in the Wehrmacht as an anti-aircraft soldier in Eleusis and on the island of Crete,[15] after which Cremer became a prisoner of war in Yugoslavia. While he was a soldier would spend any extended leave in Rome where the German Academy had been taken over by the German army. In October 1946, vouched for by his party comrades, he was awarded a professorship and the chair of sculpture department of the Academy for Applied Art in Vienna.[16]

Visual representation in the arts

Memorial designs

During his time in Austria, Cremer designed two memorials for the victims of fascism, a small one for the French prisoners at

Mauthausen near Linz in Austria and a very important and controversial one at the Vienna Central Cemetery, the Memorial for the victims of a free Austria 1934–1945. Controversy was sparked off by the memorial's dedication to the victims of Fascism as from 1934, the year that an authoritarian regime accepted by the Catholic Church took power in Austria.[20][21] The memorial represented a naked bronze figure of a resistance fighter, which was considered controversial. Theodor Innitzer, the Archbishop of Vienna wanted a fig leave placed on the sculptor, which Cremer did not accept.[22]

In 1950, Cremer had moved to the

A further memorial at

German Democratic Republic's Association of Victims of Fascism and completed in 1965-1955. This memorial known as "O Deutschland, bleiche Mutter" in bronze dominates a pivotal area of the former concentration camp, the access road to the stone quarries where most of the camp's victims died.[26]

In Fritz Cremer's work, the acts and lovers form the thematic counterpart to the political commissioned works, and also served to calm down and retreat into the private. In them, “her true features and erotic sensuality unite,” “close together, tenderness and fulfilment.”[27]

Stylistically, it cannot be assigned to modernity or to socialist realism. The aim of Cremer's artistic efforts was to make the “mentalic constitution” of the presented.[28] For this reason, Cremer breaks with the idealising representation of the body, while stressing its irregularities.

Overview of creations

Sculpture and busts

  • Freedom Fighters, replica of the sculpture from 1947, which has stood in Bremen near the Ostertorwache since 1984 and is dedicated to Cremer's executed friends from the Berlin Red Orchestra ("Rote Kapelle").
    Freedom Fighters, replica of the sculpture from 1947, which has stood in Bremen near the Ostertorwache since 1984 and is dedicated to Cremer's executed friends from the Berlin Red Orchestra ("Rote Kapelle").
  • The Buchenwald memorial (1952-1958)
    The Buchenwald memorial (1952-1958)
  • Ascending 1966-1967
    Ascending 1966-1967
  • First day cover Vienna Memorial, 1975
    First day cover Vienna Memorial, 1975
  • Mauthausen Memorial and Memorial Site stamp, September 1978
    Mauthausen Memorial and Memorial Site stamp, September 1978

Drawings and lithographs

  • 1956: Never again, (Nie wieder)[36]
  • 1956: Mappe Walpursgisnacht (36 Blätter)
  • 1962: Selbstbildnis
  • 1963: Kreidekreis
  • 1966: Fragen eines lesenden Arbeiters (zu Brechts Gedicht)
  • 1979: "Genug gekreuzigt!"
  • 1986: Mappe Mutter Coppi und die Anderen, Alle!
  • 1988: Fritz Cremer Lithographien 1955–88

Book illustrations

  • Cremer, Fritz (1959). Buchenwald Studien Buchenwald Studien (1st ed.). Berlin: Verlag der Nation. .
  • Fritz Cremer; Akademie der Künste der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik (1986). Für Mutter Coppi und die Anderen, Alle! : Graphische Folge. Berlin: Akademie dr Künste der DDR. .

Exhibitions

The following exhibitions were held by Cremer:[37]

Awards and honors

Awards

Honours

In 1967 Cremer became an Honorary Member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR.[23]

Gallery

  • Bronze sculptor Aufbauhelfer, 1952-1953
    Bronze sculptor Aufbauhelfer, 1952-1953
  • Bronze sculptor Aufbauhelferin, 1954
    Bronze sculptor Aufbauhelferin, 1954
  • Bronze sculptor Johannes Becher, 1960
    Bronze sculptor Johannes Becher, 1960
  • Bronze sculptor Memorial to Bertold Brecht, 1986-1989
    Bronze sculptor Memorial to
    Bertold Brecht
    , 1986-1989
  • Gravestone of Heinrich Ehmsen
    Gravestone of Heinrich Ehmsen
  • Bronze sculptor, Große Eva, 1950
    Bronze sculptor, Große Eva, 1950
  • Müttergruppe Ravensbrück, 1965
    Müttergruppe Ravensbrück, 1965
  • Bronze sculpture, O Deutschland bleiche Mutter, 1965-1966
    Bronze sculpture, O Deutschland bleiche Mutter, 1965-1966
  • Die Trauernde, 1947-1948
    Die Trauernde, 1947-1948
  • Denkmal für deutsche Spanienkämpfer, 1967-1968
    Denkmal für deutsche Spanienkämpfer, 1967-1968

References

  1. ^ a b Břízová, Daniela. The role of sculpture in the official art of totalitarian regimes: GDR and ČSR 1948–1968 compared (PDF) (Thesis). Univerzita Karlova. p. 157. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  2. ^ "Fritz Cremer, Creator of the Buchenwald Memorial". Defa Film Library. University of Massachusetts Amherst. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
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  4. ^ a b c d "Fritz Cremer 1906 - 1993". Lemo Lebendiges Museum Online (in German). Berlin: Stiftung Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Das Bundesarchiv. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  5. ^ Amort, Andrea. ""Die Wahrheit ist dem Nationalsozialismus immer unangenehm"". Deutschen Tanzarchiv (in German). Cologne: Freunde der Tanzkunst am Deutschen Tanzarchiv Köln e.V. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  6. .
  7. .
  8. ^ a b "Hanna Berger: Following the Traces of a Dancer in the Resistance by Andrea Amort". National Fund (in German). Vienna: National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  9. .
  10. ^ "Fritz Cremer". Kunst in der DDR (in German). Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  11. ^ Cremer, Fritz; Ballarin, W. (1986). Fritz Cremer: Erinnerungen an morgen ; Städt. Kunstsammlungen Karl-Marx-Stadt, 16. Februar - 19. Mai 1986 (in German). Kunstsammlungen Karl-Marx-Stadt. p. 86.
  12. ^ "Fritz Cremer". Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (in German). Netherlands Institute for Art History. 20 April 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  13. ^ "Bild des Monats September 2008". Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation (in German). Berlin. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  14. .
  15. ^ Cremer, Fritz (1980). Fritz Cremer - Plastik und Grafik: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum der Stadt Duisburg, 7.Dezember 1980 bis 25.Januar 1981 (in German). Duisburg: Das Museum. p. 19.
  16. .
  17. ^ Grzimek, Sabine (1982). "Porträt Fritz Cremer". Bildindex der Kunst & Architektur - Startseite Bildindex (in German). Marburg: Philipps-Universität Marburg. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  18. ^ Goltzsche, Dieter (1969). "Porträt Fritz Cremer". Bildindex der Kunst & Architektur - Startseite Bildindex (in German). Marburg: Philipps-Universität Marburg. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  19. ^ Mucchi, Gabriele (1963). "Porträt Fritz Cremer". Bildindex der Kunst & Architektur - Startseite Bildindex (in German). Marburg: Philipps-Universität Marburg. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  20. .
  21. .
  22. .
  23. ^ a b "Cremer, Fritz". Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung (in German). Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur. October 2009. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  24. ^ .
  25. ^ .
  26. .
  27. .
  28. ^ Brüne, Gerd (2005). Front cover image for Pathos und Sozialismus : Studien zum plastischen Werk Fritz Cremers (1906-1993) Pathos und Sozialismus : Studien zum plastischen Werk Fritz Cremers (1906-1993) (in German). Weimar: Verlag und Datenbank für Geisteswissenschaften. p. 20.
  29. ^ "Schwimmerin, Fritz Cremer, 1959/1966". Potsdam (in German). Die Landeshauptstadt Potsdam. 21 July 2014. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  30. ^ Cremer, Fritz; Hoffmeister, Christine (1976). Fritz Cremer: Projekte, Studien, Resultate (in German). Berlin: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / National-Galerie Akademie der Künste der DDR. p. 92.
  31. .
  32. ^ Cremer, Fritz (1980). Fritz Cremer - Plastik und Grafik: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum der Stadt Duisburg, 7.Dezember 1980 bis 25.Januar 1981 (in German). Duisburg: Das Museum. p. 62.
  33. ^ Cremer, Fritz (1980). Fritz Cremer - Plastik und Grafik: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum der Stadt Duisburg, 7.Dezember 1980 bis 25.Januar 1981 (in German). Duisburg: Das Museum. p. 137.
  34. ^ "Die Frau auf der Promenade". Märkische Oderzeitung (in German). Märkisches Verlags. 30 June 2008. Archived from [tp://www.moz.de/artikel-ansicht/dg/0/1/19337 the original] on 15 July 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  35. ^ "Nanu. 1. Karl-Marx-Denkmal nach der Wende". B.Z (in German). Berlin: Ullstein-Verlag. 2 November 2000. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  36. ^ Cremer, Fritz; Hoffmeister, Christine (1976). Fritz Cremer: Projekte, Studien, Resultate (in German). Berlin: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / National-Galerie Akademie der Künste der DDR. p. 37.
  37. ^ Eisold, Dietmar (2010). Lexikon Künstler in der DDR. Berlin: Verlag Neues Leben.
  38. ^ "Neue Elite". Spiegel-Verlag. Der Spiegel. 24 December 1972. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  39. ^ .

External links