Fridolin Dietsche

Last updated

Fridolin Dietsche (31 October 1861 - 25 June 1908) was a German sculptor from Baden. [1]

Contents

Context

Following unification in 1871 Germany underwent several decades of rapid economic modernisation and growth, which was coupled with government encouragement for expressions of national pride. This was reflected in a building boom in Karlsruhe and across the country. New churches, commercial properties and homes for rich entrepreneurs were enhanced with fashionable coloured glass embellishments, elaborate ironwork grills and ceramic tiles, wall-mounted fountains in entrance halls and, naturally, with sculptures. Municipal authorities and other public bodies also competed to commission and erect imposing sculptures in public squares, outside public buildings and in other suitable locations. This provided encouragement and opportunity for artists such as Dietsche in Karlsruhe as elsewhere. [1]

Life

Fridolin Dietsche was born at Schönau im Schwarzwald, a small town along the Wiese valley in the hills to the north-east of Basel. His father was a cabinet maker. [1] His artistic journey began with a three-year training at the wood carving school in Furtwangen. After that, between 1880 and 1884 he studied at the "Arts and Crafts Academy" ("Kunstgewerbeschule") in Karlsruhe. The next year was spent at the Arts and Crafts Academy in Berlin, before a two-year period of study under Fritz Schaper at the Prussian Academy of Arts. He then studied more briefly under Wilhelm von Rümann at the Fine Arts Academy in Munich, before returning to Karksruhe. [2]

Back at the "Arts and Crafts Academy" in Karlsruhe he was a "masters student" ("Meisterschüler") of Hermann Volz  [ de ], while also working as a researcher and undertaking teaching assignments between 1888 and 1898. He also took the opportunity to undertake extended study trips to Paris and to Italy. In 1898 he succeeded Adolf Heer  [ de ] as Professor of Sculpture at the Karlsruhe academy. [2]

In a competition for the commission of figures for the new facade of the Freiburg city hall, he was able to win against a rival tender from the city's own Gustav Adolf Knittel  [ de ]. [3] With his pupil, Wilhelm Merten (1879–1952), he created for the city-hall facade a figure of Egino, the first Count of Freiburg. Another of the niches accommodated Dietsche's statue of Conrad I, Duke of Zähringen, which before finding its more permanent position was exhibited at the Paris World Fair in 1900. It was melted down during the Second World War. [4] ) The other two spaces displayed figures of Leopold III, Margrave of Austria and of Charles Frederick, the first Grand Duke of Baden. [5] Four statues in Freiburg's Kaiser-Joseph-Straße were also taken down in 1942 and transported to Hamburg in order to be melted down. Two of these four (Emperor Maximilian I and Rudolf I) were also the work of Fridolin Dietsche, again with input, in the case of King Rudolf's statue, from Wilhelm Merten. The other two, produced between 1899 and 1900, were the work of Julius Seitz  [ de ]. When war ended in May 1945 all four of these bronze figures were still intact, but they were in Hamburg and war had exhausted the city's finances. In 1950 the Freiburg city council, mindful of the high cost of transporting the figures back south, renounced any rights to have them returned.

Between 1900 and 1901 Dietsche took part in another competition, this time for the creation of Karlsruhe's Bismarck Memorial. There was no overall winner of the competition as originally configured, but in a second version Dietsche's submission was determined to be the best available ("relativ besten"). Subsequently, however, the memorial committee decided to go ahead with one of the (three) proposals submitted by Karl Friedrich Moest. Despite being evidently underwhelmed by all the submissions, the committee let it be known that they favoured Moest because he was more than twenty years older than Dietsche who would, they anticipated, have plenty more opportunities to create public sculptures. Ironically, Moest would live to be 85, dying only in 1923, while Dietsche died in 1908 aged 45. [6]

Shortly before he died Dietscke was given a commission by The Grand Duke Frederick to draft a proposal for a memorial to Karlsruhe's founder, Margrave Charles III William. The intention was to replace the Karlsruhe Pyramid in the Market Square. After there was a public outcry against the idea of removing the pyramid, Dietsche submitted a proposal that combined the pyramid with the required memorial. He prepared a model which added a separated fountain and equestrian statue which won widespread support when it was exhibited, but before the project could be further progressed he died at Hamburg while travelling to a coastal cure resort for a medical investigation. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christoph Meckel</span> German artist and writer (1935–2020)

Christoph Meckel was a German author and graphic artist. He received awards for his works which connect illustrations with the written text, sometimes texts by others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rieselfeld</span> Stadtteil of Freiburg im Breisgau in Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Rieselfeld is a city quarter (Stadtteil) in Freiburg im Breisgau. It is located in the western part of the city and borders the nature reserve Freiburger Rieselfeld in the west, right next to a little zoo called Tiergehege Mundenhof, Opfinger Straße in the south and Besançonallee in the east. The industrial area Haid is part of the Sankt Georgen district and is located to the south of Rieselfeld, while the district Weingarten is situated to the east of Rieselfeld.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freiburg Hauptbahnhof</span> German railway station

Freiburg Hauptbahnhof is the central railway station of the German city of Freiburg im Breisgau. The Rhine Valley Railway (Mannheim–Basel), Höllentalbahn and the Breisach Railway (Breisach–Freiburg) meet here.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seebuck</span> Mountain

At a height of 1,448.2 m above sea level (NHN), the Seebuck is the second highest mountain of the Black Forest after the Feldberg. It is located in the German state of Baden-Württemberg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Tigerfish</span>

Operation Tigerfish was the military code name in World War II for the air raid on Freiburg in the evening of 27 November 1944 by the Royal Air Force with about 2,800 dead.

The German city of Freiburg was bombed erroneously on 10 May 1940 by the Luftwaffe, killing 57 inhabitants.

Kaiser-Joseph-Straße Street in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

The Kaiser-Joseph-Straße in Freiburg im Breisgau is a shopping street of about 900 meters, which runs through the center of Freiburg's historic downtown from north to south. It is one of the most expensive locations in Germany.

<i>Bertoldsbrunnen</i>

The Bertoldsbrunnen is a monument in the historic city of Freiburg im Breisgau. It is situated at the crossing of the Salz- and Bertoldsstraße with the Kaiser-Joseph-Straße. The fountain is one of the central locations of the city. A tram station with the same name is situated at the Bertoldsbrunnen where four of the five tramways of the Freiburger Verkehrs AG stop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siegesdenkmal</span>

The Siegesdenkmal in Freiburg im Breisgau is a monument to the German victory in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. It was erected at the northern edge of the historic center of Freiburg im Breisgau next to the former Karlskaserne (barracks). After World War II it was moved 100m to the west. Today it is located on Europaplatz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Whale House</span>

The Whale House is a late Gothic bourgeois house in the old town of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany and is under conservation. The building is currently used by the Sparkasse Freiburg-Nördlicher Breisgau bank. It is part of a complex which, in the past, was made up of 17 separate buildings. The front wall of the house opens onto the Franziskanerstraße, whilst the rear is on the Gauchstraße, near Kartoffelmarkt square.

Georg Schreyögg was a German sculptor. One of his better known surviving works is the 1907 St Barbara War Memorial in Koblenz, taken down to make way for a new road in 1956 but returned to a site in the city close to its original location in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karl Friedrich Moest</span> German sculptor

Karl Friedrich Moest was a German sculptor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colombischlössle Freiburg</span> Manor house in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

The Colombischlössle is a manor house in the city centre of Freiburg im Breisgau where the eponymous archaeological museum is situated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stadtgarten Freiburg</span>

The Stadtgarten of Freiburg is a 2.6 ha park within the Neuburg district. It has an old tree grove and a large rose garden, and lies between the Leopoldring, Jackob Burckhardt, Ludwig and Mozart streets near Freiburg's city centre. It is connected to Karlsplatz via the Karlssteg footbridge, which is made from pre-stressed concrete. Since 2008 the Schlossberg Tram, an inclined elevator, leads up to Schlossberg. It replaced the Schlossberg Cable Car built in 1968.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Platz der Alten Synagoge</span> Square in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

The Platz der Alten Synagoge is a square in Freiburg, Germany. With a size of 130 by 130 metres, it is the second largest square in the city after Minster Square. The square is named after the old synagogue, which was destroyed during the Kristallnacht in 1938. The synagogue had been built in 1869/1870 to the southwest of today's location of the square.

Hans Baur was a German sculptor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bismarck Tower (Freiburg im Breisgau)</span> Historic site in Baden-Württemberg, Germany

The Bismarck tower in Freiburg im Breisgau belongs to a series of towers that were built in honor of Otto von Bismarck, the first German chancellor. It is located on the Schlossberg. It is 12.6 m (41 ft) tall and has a square base. The top of the tower can only be reached by climbing a ladder. Because of this it can not be used as an observation deck.

Berta Ottenstein was a German dermatologist who was the first woman to obtain her habilitation at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau and the first woman in Germany to habilitate in dermatology.

Waltraud Isoldé Elchlepp is a German protest song singer under the pseudonym Dominique, and an operatic mezzo-soprano and soprano who appeared at major German opera houses and festivals including the Bayreuth Festival. She took part in world premieres such as Reimann's Das Schloß and Bernarda Albas Haus at the Bavarian State Opera. Besides the standard repertoire, she appeared in roles such as Othmar Schoeck's Penthesilea at the Staatsoper Hannover.

Siegfried Schmalzriedt was a German musicologist, University lecturer and vice-rector of the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Brigitte Baumstark. "Blick in die Geschichte Nr. 97 vom 14. Dezember 2012: Biographie Fridolin Dietsche". Karlsruhe: Stadtgeschichte. Stadt Karlsruhe. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  2. 1 2 Anett Beckmann (2006). Mentalitätsgeschichtliche und ästhetische Untersuchungen der Grabmalsplastik des Karlsruher Hauptfriedhofes. KIT Scientific Publishing. p.  169. ISBN   978-3-86644-032-6.
  3. ↑ Ute Scherb: Wir bekommen die Denkmäler, die wir verdienen. Freiburger Monumente im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. (= Veröffentlichungen aus dem Archiv der Stadt Freiburg im Breisgau. Vol. 36). Freiburg 2005, ISBN   3-923272-31-6, p. 88f.
  4. ↑ Karl Schmid, Hans Schadek: Die Zähringer. Vol. 2: Anstoss und Wirkung. Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1986, ISBN   3-7995-7041-1, p. 368 f.
  5. ↑ Ute Scherb: Wir bekommen die Denkmäler die wir verdienen. Freiburger Monumente im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. from: Ulrich P. Ecker, Christiane Pfanz-Sponagel, Hans-Peter Widmann (compiler-editor): Veröffentlichungen aus dem Archiv der Stadt Freiburg im Breisgau., 2005, p. 89.
  6. ↑ Diverse. In: Heinz Schmitt (Hrsg.): Denkmäler, Brunnen und Freiplastiken in Karlsruhe 1715–1945. 2nd edition Vol. 7, Karlsruhe 1989, ISBN   3-7617-0264-7, p. 420 (Published by the Karlsruhe city archive).
  7. ↑ Albert Herzog (2008). Ihr glücklichen Augen: ein Karlsruher Journalist erzählt aus seinem Leben. Literarische Gesellschaft. p. 167. ISBN   978-3-88190-500-8.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.