Johann Philipp Ferdinand Preiss (13 February 1882 – 29 July 1943) was a German sculptor. He was one of the leading sculptors of the Art Deco period.
Early life
Ferdinand Preiss was born in
Erbach im Odenwald
Erbach () is a town and the district seat of the Odenwaldkreis (district) in Hesse, Germany. It has a population of around 13,000.
Geography
Location
The town lies in the ''Mittelgebirge'' Odenwald at elevations between 200 and 560 m in t ...
as one of six children to Karl Daniel Heinrich Preiss and his wife Katharine Preiss née Elisabetham. He attended school s in
Michelstadt
Michelstadt () in the Odenwald is a town in the Odenwaldkreis (district) in southern Hesse, Germany between Darmstadt and Heidelberg. It has a population of 28,629 people.
Geography
Location
Michelstadt is the biggest town in the Odenwaldkre ...
and had aspirations to become an engineer. Both of his parents died within a short time span when he was 15 and shortly thereafter he was apprenticed to the ivory carver Philipp Willmann and lived with his family. In 1901 he traveled to Rome and Paris. He became a friend and acquaintance of Arthur Kassler in
Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...
, which led to the founding of the company Preiss & Kassler operating from
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
. Kassler became the business-minded partner and Preiss controlled artistic production.
Career and marriage
In 1907 he married Margarethe Hilme, producing two children, Harry and Lucie. Initially the company created small ivory carvings of children and statuettes of classical form, often carved from old ivory
billiard balls
A billiard ball is a small, hard ball used in cue sports, such as carom billiards, pool, and snooker. The number, type, diameter, color, and pattern of the balls differ depending upon the specific game being played. Various particular ball pr ...
. From 1910 the firm grew to specialize in limited edition
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
cabinet sculptures that used painted
bronze with ivory on plinths of
onyx
Onyx primarily refers to the parallel banded variety of chalcedony, a silicate mineral. Agate and onyx are both varieties of layered chalcedony that differ only in the form of the bands: agate has curved bands and onyx has parallel bands. The c ...
and marble, with an occasional foray into mantelpiece clocks and lampstands. He revolutionized the production of chryselephantine statues with his use of a
dental drill
A dental drill or handpiece is a hand-held, mechanical instrument used to perform a variety of common dental procedures, including removing decay, polishing fillings, performing cosmetic dentistry, and altering prostheses.
The handpiece itsel ...
for more precise and expeditious carving of the ivory.
Preiss designed nearly all the firm's models and many of his most famous works depict modern, naturalistic 20th-century women from the sports and theatrical world.
Casting of the pieces was initially done by the
Aktien-Gesellschaft Gladenbeck
Aktien-Gesellschaft Gladenbeck was a foundry located in Berlin, Germany, that operated from 1851 until 1926. During the 75-year period when the foundry was in operation it was one of the most important foundries in Germany and was known for prod ...
foundry in Berlin
and later by their own Preiss & Kassler foundry. With the outbreak of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
in 1914 the company was employing six extremely skilled ivory carvers from Erbach and exporting regularly to England and the United States. A small factory was set up in England to assemble the sculptures from parts manufactured in Germany which also avoided taxes on imports.
[Shayo, Alberto: Ferdinand Preiss: Art Deco Sculptor--The Fire and the Flame ]
Ferdinand Preiss has sometimes been incorrectly called Fritz Preiss. His works, along with those of
Demetre H. Chiparus, are regarded as the pinnacle of Art Deco sculpture and are greatly valued by modern collectors.
Ferdinand Preiss biography
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Death and legacy
The firm closed with Preiss's death from a brain tumor on 29 July 1943. The old workshop in Ritterstraße in Berlin, which was housing the stock of samples, was gutted by a fire resulting from a bomb attack shortly before the end of World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Preiss is remembered as one of the greatest sculptors of the Art Deco era.
References
External links
Gallery of sculptures
20th Century Decorative Arts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Preiss, Ferdinand
1882 births
1943 deaths
German male sculptors
Art Deco sculptors
Ivory carvers
20th-century German sculptors
20th-century German male artists
Deaths from brain tumor
Deaths from cancer in Germany