Hans Steinbrenner

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Overview

Composition (angel), 1959 (Bronzeguss 2001)

Bronze
99 × 17 × 23 cm
Ex.-Nr. 2/6
Monogrammed and numbered
Kunstguss Eschenburg, Lahn-Dill
Provenance:
Estate of Hans Steinbrenner
Literature:
Hans Steinbrenner, Skulpturen 1948 – 1960
(mit Werkverzeichnis), Ausst.-Kat. Altana -
Sinclair-Haus, Bad Homburg v.d.H. 1990,
S. 94 (Abb.), S. 127, Nr. 132 (Nussbaumholz).
Sophia Colditz, Plastische Malerei: Dialoge zwischen Ernst Wilhelm Nay und Bildhauern des 20. Jahrhunderts, in: E.W. Nay. Retrospektive, Ausst.-Kat. Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg 2022, S. 66, Abb. 9.

About the artist

1928
Born in Frankfurt am Main

1945 - 1947
Worked as a (self-taught) graphic artist and poster painter for the liberators of the U.S. Army in Frankfurt.

1946 - 1949
Studies at the Werkkunstschule Offenbach / Main (commercial art)

since 1946
Graphics, lettering and drawing

since 1947
painting

since 1948
sculpture - works emphasising objects until 1955-56

1949 - 1952
Studies at the Städelschule, under Hans Mettel - Frankfurt/Main

1952
first solo exhibition at the Zimmergalerie Franck,
Frankfurt/M. Prize in the "Iron and Steel" competition - Düsseldorf

1952 - 1954
Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich Master student of Toni Stadler

1954
Teaching assignment for stone writing at the State Technical College
for Stone Working, Wunsiedel / Upper Franconia.

1955
Scholarship from the Kulturkreis im Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie

1957
Biennale'57 Jeune Peinture, Jeune Sculpture, Paris

1957 + 1959
4th and 5th Biennale Middelheim (sculpture), Antwerp - Belgium

1958 + 1966
Sonsbeek - Internat. Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition - Arnehm - Holland

1960 - 1961
Start of cubic-abstract sculptures, mostly in wood and stone, accompanied by pen and ink drawings

1961
6th Middelheim Biennale (Sculpture), Antwerp. 2nd International Exhibition of Contemporary Sculpture, Musée Rodin, Paris.

1963
Symposium of European Sculptors, Berlin (and first encounter with the abstract painting of Otto Freundlich, whose "Elementarism" will be decisive for the development of his own painterly work.)

1964
documenta III, Kassel German Sculpture of the 20th Century, Musée Rodin, Paris

1965
8. Biennale Middelheim (sculpture), Antwerp

1967
Federal Republic of Germany scholarship at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris.

1970
Participation in the Osaka World Exhibition, Japan

1974
Guest lecturer at the Städelschule, Frankfurt/Main

1986
Solo exhibition, Moderner Galerie Quadrat Bottrop

1988
Solo exhibition at the Musée de Pontoise (Donation Freundlich) Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, Paris.

1992
Participation in the Osaka Triennale '92 : Sculptures

1996
Single exhibit. " Sculptures in the Städel Garden" . Städel - Frankfurt/M.

1999
Member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts, Munich.

2008
Hans Steinbrenner dies in June 2008 in Frankfurt.

The "Composition (Angel)", created in 1959, is a characteristic work by Hans Steinbrenner from 1955-60 with its organically rounded and slender forms as well as the vertically rising structure incorporating hollow and empty spaces.
After years of figuration, which characterised Steinbrenner's sculptural work during his student years (1949-1954), the sculptor rejected it in 1955 and moved on to a biomorphic, organic abstraction, which nevertheless still allowed for associations with the figure.
Connected with the transition to biomorphic abstraction, which took place in particular in dialogue with the work of Hans Arp and Henry Moore, are the dissolution of the block by means of openings and cavities, as well as a narrow, organically swelling, vertically ascending form as shown in the bronze "Composition (Angel)". The title refers to the Christian-religious content of the sculpture, whose abstract design is only vaguely reminiscent of the traditional depiction of an angel. Steinbrenner's sculptures from the years 1950-1954 often show Christian-religious content, but this can still be found, albeit less frequently, in the years up to 1959.