Gerhard Adolf Janensch (24 April 1860,
Zamborst – 2 February 1933,
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 ...
) was a German sculptor and
medailleur.
Life
At the age of seventeen, he entered the
Prussian Academy of Arts
The Prussian Academy of Arts (German: ''Preußische Akademie der Künste'') was a state arts academy first established in Berlin, Brandenburg, in 1694/1696 by prince-elector Frederick III, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and late ...
, where he studied under
Fritz Schaper
Fritz (Friedrich) Schaper (31 July 1841, Alsleben – 29 November 1919, Berlin) was a German sculptor.
Life
He was orphaned at an early age, and was sent to Halle to receive instruction at the Francke Foundations. After being apprenticed as a ...
,
Albert Wolff and
Paul Thumann
Friedrich Paul Thumann (5 October 1834, Groß Schacksdorf-Simmersdorf – 19 February 1908, Berlin) was a German illustrator and painter.
Life
He was the son of a teacher. Originally, he intended to take up a career in science and attended ...
.
[Janensch, Gerhard (Adolf G.). In: Thieme-Becker, ''Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart''. Vol. Band XVIII, E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1925, pgs. 382–383.] In 1880, he started his own studio in Vienna, but returned to work with Schaper in 1883. The following year, he joined the German Artists' Association and received a stipendium to study in Rome for his work "Bacchant mit Panthern". He finally became self-sufficient in 1886 and began teaching at the Academy, where he remained until 1924. In addition to sculpture, he taught workshops on carpentry,
blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
ing, locksmithing and pottery. In 1892, he succeeded Wolff as head of the modelling class and was named a full member of the Academy in 1897.
One of his most prominent patrons was the entrepreneur and telecommunications pioneer,
Robert Stock. The figure of a blacksmith that Janensch made for display at the in 1897 later became Stock's tomb sculpture. Other figures of industrial workers (foundrymen, glass-blowers, boilermakers etc.) were a featured display in the "Art and Technology" exhibition, held at the
Museum Folkwang in 1928.
Other selected major works
* The
Johannes Bugenhagen Monument in
Wittenberg
Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon language, Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the Ri ...
(Bust, 1894).
* The statue of
Asmus Jacob Carstens
Asmus Jacob Carstens (or "Jakob", May 10, 1754May 25, 1798) was a Danish-German painter, one of the most committed artists of German Neoclassicism. His career was erratic, partly because of his difficult personality, and the majority of his la ...
in the
Altes Museum
The Altes Museum (English: ''Old Museum'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the Mitte (locality), historic centre of Berlin. Built from 1825 to 1830 by order of King Frederick William III of Prussia according to plans by Karl Friedrich ...
, Berlin.
* A figure of
Carl Friedrich Gauss on the Potsdam Bridge in Berlin (melted during World War II)
* The
Heinrich Schüchtermann Monument in
Dortmund
Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...
* ''Der Große Kurfürst in der Jugend'' ("The Great Elector in Youth"), a monument for Prince (later Elector)
Friedrich Wilhelm (shown with his dog), in
Küstrin.
References
Further reading
* Gerhard Janensch. In: Hans Vollmer: ''Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler des XX. Jahrhunderts''. Vol.2. E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1955, pg.528
* Exhibition catalog, "Ethos und Pathos – Die Berliner Bildhauerschule 1786–1914" – Skulpturengalerie – Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, , pgs. 41, 274, 333, 347 and 489; also , pgs.133–135.
* Klaus Türk: ''Mensch und Arbeit. 400 Jahre Geschichte der Arbeit in der bildenden Kunst'' (Men and Work: 400 years of Work in the Visual Arts). The Eckhart G. Grohman Collection at the
Milwaukee School of Engineering. VMSOE Press, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 2003, , pgs.153, 186.
* Exhibition catalog, "Kunst und Technik 1928", in the Folkwang Museum. W. Girardet Verlag, Essen 1928, pgs.99/100.
* Georg Holländer: ''Die technische Landschaft.'' Guide to an exhibition by the Niederrheinischen Industrie- und Handelskammer. City of Duisburg, 1995, pg.11.
External links
Arcadja Auctions: Smaller figures by Janensch* Brief Biography @ Historismus.ne
{{DEFAULTSORT:Janensch, Gerhard
1860 births
1933 deaths
Prussian Academy of Arts alumni
20th-century German sculptors
20th-century German male artists
German male sculptors
19th-century sculptors
People from the Province of Pomerania
People from Złotów County