German sculptor
Fritz Cremer
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![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Fritz_Cremer.png/220px-Fritz_Cremer.png) Cremer working in his studio in 1967
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Born
| (
1906-10-22
)
October 22, 1906
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Died
| September 1, 1993
(1993-09-01)
(aged 86)
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Education
| Christian Meisen, United State Schools for Fine and Applied Art (1929),
Villa Massimo
(1937-1938),
Academy of Arts, Berlin
(1938)
|
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Notable work
| Revolt of the Prisoners,
Buchenwald
|
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Fritz Cremer
was a German sculptor. Cremer was considered a key figure in the art and cultural politics of
East Germany
.
[1]
He is most notable for being the creator of the "Revolt of the Prisoners" ("Revolte der Gefangenen") memorial sculpture at the former concentration camp of
Buchenwald
.
[2]
Life
[
edit
]
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
Ravensbruck 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 Schoneberg-based sculptor
Waldemar Grzimek
.
[9]
Career
[
edit
]
Cremer trained as a stone sculptor under Christian Meisen in Essen from 1921 to 1925 after finishing grammar school.
[10]
During his subsequent work as a journeyman stonemason, he executed some sculptures based on models by Will Lammert and attended sculpture courses at the
Folkwang School
in Essen during this time.
[11]
In 1929, as a committed communist, he decided to join the
Communist Party of Germany
(KPD). He took up studies at the "United State Schools for Fine and Applied Art", (Vereinigte Staatsschulen fur Freie und Angewandte Kunst) in
Charlottenburg
with
Wilhelm Gerstel
(1879-1963), whose master student he became from 1934 to 1938.
[4]
During this time Cremer shared a studio with Kurt Schumacher and produced his first socially-critical etchings. In 1934 he travelled to Paris. During a trip to London in 1937, Cremer met the writer and playwright
Bertolt Brecht
, the composer
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 fur 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 Kuchenmeister
. Cremer was linked to a resistance group associated with the actor
Wilhelm Schurmann-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
[
edit
]
Memorial designs
[
edit
]
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
German Democratic Republic
and took over the master class at the Academy of the Arts,
[23]
later serving as vice-president from 1974 to 1983.
[4]
His most important work by far during his earlier life in the GDR is his 1958 bronze sculpture "Revolt of the Prisoners" (Revolte der Gefangenen); set in front of a bell tower, high up in the hills above
Weimar
, the grouping of 11 figures, some gesturing triumphantly, forms the focal point of a memorial at the site of the former concentration camp of
Buchenwald
.
[24]
[25]
A further memorial at
Mauthausen
was commissioned in 1961 from Cremer by the
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
[
edit
]
Sculpture and busts
[
edit
]
- 1936: Relief Trauernde Frauen (Gestapo)
- 1936?1937: Bust self-portrait as dying warrior, (Buste Selbstbildnis als sterbender Krieger)
- 1939: Figurengruppe Mutter
- 1947: Freedom Fighter (Freiheitskampfer)
- 1946?1948:
Memorial to the Victims of Fascism 1934-1945
, Vienna (Mahnmal fur die Opfer des Faschismus 1934?1945, Wien)
- 1949: Memorial stone for the Ebensee concentration camp (Gedenkstein fur das KZ Ebensee)
- 1950?1953: Memorial to the Nazi Victims Knittelfeld (Denkmal fur die NS-Opfer Knittelfeld) (Osterreich)
- 1950: 1950: Large Eva nude figure (Aktfigur Große Eva)
- 1951: Seated Figure Mother Earth for the Mourning Hall of the Baumschulenweg Crematorium (Sitzende Figur Mutter Erde fur die Trauerhalle des Krematoriums Baumschulenweg) (Berlin)
- 1951?1952: Sculptural design for the Marx-Engels Monument (plastischer Entwurf zum Marx-Engels-Denkmal), Berlin (nicht ausgefuhrt)
- 1952?1958: Group of figures for the Buchenwald Monument (Figurengruppe fur das Buchenwalddenkmal)
[24]
[25]
- 1958: Aufbauhelferin und Aufbauhelfer in einer Grunanlage ostlich vom Roten Rathaus
- 1959: Schwimmerin.
[29]
- 1960?1967: Memorial to the Mauthausen Concentration Camp "O Germany, Pale Mother (Denkmal fur das KZ Mauthausen, "O Deutschland, bleiche Mutter")
[30]
- 1958?1965: Group of figures for the Ravensbruck Concentration Camp Memorial Site (Figurengruppe fur die Mahn- und Gedenkstatte Ravensbruck)
[4]
|
- 1964: Bronze Bust Hans Eisler (Bronzebuste Hans Eisler)
[31]
- 1964?1965: Ascending, park of the UN headquarters, New York (Aufsteigender ? den um ihre Freiheit kampfenden Volkern gewidmet; Park des UNO-Hauptquartiers, New York (weitere Gusse dieser Plastik stehen vor der Kunsthalle Rostock und im Skulpturenpark Magdeburg)
[32]
- 1967?1968: Spanienkampfer ? Denkmal fur die deutschen Interbrigadisten in Berlin-Friedrichshain
- 1967?1968: Ascending III (Aufsteigender III)
[33]
- 1968: Karl Marx Monument (Karl-Marx-Denkmal) (Frankfurt)
- 1969?1972: Galileo Galilei ?Und sie bewegt sich doch!“ (Stadthalle Chemnitz)
- 1972: Great Lovers (Großes Liebespaar)
- 1972: Entwurf zum Denkmal 50 Jahre Oktoberrevolution
- 1978: Auferstehender I
- 1979: The Swimmer (Die Schwimmerin)
[34]
- 1982?1985: Auferstehender II
- 1984: Freiheitskampfer (Skulptur) in Bremen
- 1986?1989: Denkmal fur Bertolt Brecht, Berlin, Bertolt-Brecht-Platz
- 1988: Karl-Marx, Neuhardenberg, Dorfanger
- 1991: Karl-Marx
[35]
|
-
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)
-
Ascending 1966-1967
-
First day cover Vienna Memorial, 1975
-
Mauthausen Memorial and Memorial Site stamp, September 1978
Drawings and lithographs
[
edit
]
- 1956: Never again, (Nie wieder)
[36]
- 1956: Mappe Walpursgisnacht (36 Blatter)
- 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
[
edit
]
- Cremer, Fritz (1959).
Buchenwald Studien Buchenwald Studien
(1st ed.). Berlin: Verlag der Nation.
OCLC
1280532770
.
- Fritz Cremer; Akademie der Kunste der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik (1986).
Fur Mutter Coppi und die Anderen, Alle! : Graphische Folge
. Berlin: Akademie dr Kunste der DDR.
OCLC
856800950
.
Exhibitions
[
edit
]
The following exhibitions were held by Cremer:
[37]
- Karl Eulenstein, oil paintings, Fritz Cremer, sculpture: Galerie Karl Buchholz: 42nd exhibition from 18 Nov. to 9 Dec. 1939.
- 1951: Berlin, collective exhibition at the Academy of Arts
- 1956: Berlin, collective exhibition for the 50th birthday in the
National Gallery
- 1959: Cairo and Alexandria, collective exhibitions
- 1960: Schwerin, Greifswald, Stralsund, Demmin, Eisenach, Magdeburg
- 1966: Budapest, Halle and Berlin
- 1967: Copenhagen, Erfurt and Rostock
- 1968: Berlin
- 1970: Oslo, Copenhagen and Bonn
- 1973: Budapest
- 1976: Warsaw
- 1976: Berlin,
Altes Museum
|
- 1977: Sofia and Moscow
- 1977: documenta 6, Kassel
- 1980: Duisburg,
Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum
- 1982: Bremen
- 1984: Berlin,
Pergamon Museum
- 1987: Stockholm
- 1991: Arnsberg, Sauerland Museum
- 1996: Arnsberg
- 2000: Oberhausen Castle
- 2007: Arnsberg
- 2009: Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig, Schwind Gallery
- 2010: Dresden, Beyer Gallery
- 2011: Frankfurt am Main, Schwind Gallery
|
Awards and honors
[
edit
]
Awards
[
edit
]
Honours
[
edit
]
In 1967 Cremer became an Honorary Member of the
Academy of Arts of the USSR
.
[23]
Gallery
[
edit
]
-
Bronze sculptor Aufbauhelfer, 1952-1953
-
Bronze sculptor Aufbauhelferin, 1954
-
Bronze sculptor
Johannes Becher
, 1960
-
Bronze sculptor Memorial to
Bertold Brecht
, 1986-1989
-
-
Bronze sculptor, Große Eva, 1950
-
Muttergruppe Ravensbruck, 1965
-
Bronze sculpture, O Deutschland bleiche Mutter, 1965-1966
-
Die Trauernde, 1947-1948
-
Denkmal fur deutsche Spanienkampfer, 1967-1968
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
B?izova, Daniela.
The role of sculpture in the official art of totalitarian regimes: GDR and ?SR 1948?1968 compared
(PDF)
(Thesis). Univerzita Karlova. p. 157
. Retrieved
20 October
2022
.
- ^
"Fritz Cremer, Creator of the Buchenwald Memorial"
.
Defa Film Library
. University of Massachusetts Amherst
. Retrieved
15 October
2022
.
- ^
Fischer-Defow, Christine; Norbert, Bunge (September 1986).
Fritz Cremer zum 80
(in German). Berlin: Hans am Lutzowplatz.
OCLC
74798728
.
- ^
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
.
- ^
Amort, Andrea.
"
"Die Wahrheit ist dem Nationalsozialismus immer unangenehm"
"
.
Deutschen Tanzarchiv
(in German). Cologne: Freunde der Tanzkunst am Deutschen Tanzarchiv Koln e.V
. Retrieved
20 October
2022
.
- ^
Andresen, Geertje (1 November 2005).
Oda Schottmuller: Die Tanzerin, Bildhauerin und Nazigegnerin Oda Schottmuller (1905?1943)
(in German). Lukas Verlag. p. 144.
ISBN
978-3-936872-58-3
.
- ^
Vernon-Warren, Bettina; Warren, Charles (1999).
Gertrud Bodenwieser and Vienna's Contribution to Ausdruckstanz
. Hove: Psychology Press. p. 150.
ISBN
978-90-5755-035-5
.
- ^
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
.
- ^
Grzimek, Sabine; Jacobi, Fritz (1992).
Sabine Grzimek: Plastik, Zeichnung, Malerei : Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, 9. Oktober bis 29. November 1992
(in German). Berlin: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz. p. 115.
ISBN
978-3-88609-407-3
.
- ^
"Fritz Cremer"
.
Kunst in der DDR
(in German). Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung
. Retrieved
15 October
2022
.
- ^
Cremer, Fritz; Ballarin, W. (1986).
Fritz Cremer: Erinnerungen an morgen ; Stadt. Kunstsammlungen Karl-Marx-Stadt, 16. Februar - 19. Mai 1986
(in German). Kunstsammlungen Karl-Marx-Stadt. p. 86.
- ^
"Fritz Cremer"
.
Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie
(in German). Netherlands Institute for Art History. 20 April 2021
. Retrieved
15 October
2022
.
- ^
"Bild des Monats September 2008"
.
Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation
(in German). Berlin
. Retrieved
15 October
2022
.
- ^
Andresen, Geertje (1 November 2005).
Oda Schottmuller: Die Tanzerin, Bildhauerin und Nazigegnerin Oda Schottmuller (1905?1943)
(in German). Berlin: Lukas Verlag.
ISBN
978-3-936872-58-3
.
- ^
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.
- ^
Stroynowski, Juliusz (1989).
Who's who in the Socialist Countries of Europe: A Biographical Encyclopedia of More Than 12,600 Leading Personalities in Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia
. Munich: K.G. Saur. p. 198.
ISBN
978-3-598-10636-1
.
- ^
Grzimek, Sabine (1982).
"Portrat Fritz Cremer"
.
Bildindex der Kunst & Architektur - Startseite Bildindex
(in German). Marburg: Philipps-Universitat Marburg
. Retrieved
19 October
2022
.
- ^
Goltzsche, Dieter (1969).
"Portrat Fritz Cremer"
.
Bildindex der Kunst & Architektur - Startseite Bildindex
(in German). Marburg: Philipps-Universitat Marburg
. Retrieved
19 October
2022
.
- ^
Mucchi, Gabriele (1963).
"Portrat Fritz Cremer"
.
Bildindex der Kunst & Architektur - Startseite Bildindex
(in German). Marburg: Philipps-Universitat Marburg
. Retrieved
19 October
2022
.
- ^
Borejsza, Jerzy W.; Ziemer, Klaus; Hułas, Magdalena; historyczny (Varsovie), Niemiecki instytut (2006).
Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes in Europe: Legacies and Lessons from the Twentieth Century
. New York: Berghahn Books. p. 574.
ISBN
978-1-57181-641-2
.
- ^
Berger, Stefan; Eriksonas, Linas; Mycock, Andrew (2008).
Narrating the Nation: Representations in History, Media, and the Arts
. New York: Berghahn Books. p. 211.
ISBN
978-1-84545-424-1
.
- ^
Amort, Andrea (2010).
Hanna Berger: Spuren einer Tanzerin im Widerstand
(in German). Vienna: Brandstatter. pp. 142?143.
ISBN
978-3-85033-188-3
.
- ^
a
b
"Cremer, Fritz"
.
Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung
(in German). Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur. October 2009
. Retrieved
20 October
2022
.
- ^
a
b
Monteath, Peter (2013). "Holocaust Remembrance in the German Democratic Republic?and Beyond". In Himka, John-Paul; Michlic, Joanna Beata (eds.).
Bringing the Dark Past to Light: The Reception of the Holocaust in Postcommunist Europe
. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Pres. pp. 223?260.
doi
:
10.2307/j.ctt1ddr8vf
.
ISBN
9780803225442
.
JSTOR
j.ctt1ddr8vf
.
- ^
a
b
Koshar, Rudy (2000).
From Monuments to Traces: Artifacts of German Memory, 1870-1990
. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 215.
ISBN
978-0-520-92252-5
.
- ^
Spielmann, Jochen (1988). "Steine des Anstoßes - Denkmale in Erinnerung an den Nationalsozialismus in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland".
Kritische berichte - Zeitschrift fur Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften
(in German).
16
(3). University of Heidelberg: 5?16.
doi
:
10.11588/kb.1988.3.10120
.
ISSN
0340-7403
.
- ^
Brune, Gerd (May 2009). "Fritz Cremer (1906 - 1993) - Plastiken und Zeichnungen". In Cremer, Fritz; Schwind, Karl; Schwind, Galerie (eds.).
Fritz Cremer (1906 - 1993) - Plastiken und Zeichnungen, Retrospektive [anlasslich der Ausstellung "Fritz Cremer - Retrospektive" in der Galerie Schwind, Frankfurt am Main vom 8. Mai bis 27. Juni 2009]
(in German). Frankfurt, M: Ed. Galerie Schwind. pp. 6?43.
ISBN
978-3932830617
.
- ^
Brune, 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 fur Geisteswissenschaften. p. 20.
- ^
"Schwimmerin, Fritz Cremer, 1959/1966"
.
Potsdam
(in German). Die Landeshauptstadt Potsdam. 21 July 2014
. Retrieved
19 October
2022
.
- ^
Cremer, Fritz; Hoffmeister, Christine (1976).
Fritz Cremer: Projekte, Studien, Resultate
(in German). Berlin: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / National-Galerie Akademie der Kunste der DDR. p. 92.
- ^
Grabs, Manfred (1983).
Wer war Hanns Eisler: Auffassungen aus sechs Jahrzehnten
(in German). Verlag Das Europaische Buch. p. 8.
ISBN
978-3-88436-123-8
.
- ^
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.
- ^
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.
- ^
"Die Frau auf der Promenade"
.
Markische Oderzeitung
(in German). Markisches 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
.
- ^
"Nanu. 1. Karl-Marx-Denkmal nach der Wende"
.
B.Z
(in German). Berlin: Ullstein-Verlag. 2 November 2000
. Retrieved
19 October
2022
.
- ^
Cremer, Fritz; Hoffmeister, Christine (1976).
Fritz Cremer: Projekte, Studien, Resultate
(in German). Berlin: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / National-Galerie Akademie der Kunste der DDR. p. 37.
- ^
Eisold, Dietmar (2010).
Lexikon Kunstler in der DDR
. Berlin: Verlag Neues Leben.
- ^
"Neue Elite"
. Spiegel-Verlag. Der Spiegel. 24 December 1972
. Retrieved
20 October
2022
.
- ^
a
b
Stroynowski, Juliusz (1989).
Who's who in the Socialist Countries of Europe: A Biographical Encyclopedia of More Than 12,600 Leading Personalities in Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia
. Munich: K.G. Saur. p. 198.
ISBN
978-3-598-10636-1
.
External links
[
edit
]
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