Josef Tabachnyk (born 15 July 1947 in
Zhytomyr
Zhytomyr ( uk, Жито́мир, translit=Zhytomyr ; russian: Жито́мир, Zhitomir ; pl, Żytomierz ; yi, זשיטאָמיר, Zhitomir; german: Schytomyr ) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the administrative ...
) is an artist living in
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
, who specialises in making bronze sculptures of people, animals and abstract forms. His most famous works include
Knut the Dreamer, the
Willy-Brandt memorial, a
statue of Adolf Dassler as well as memorials for victims of war in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
,
Zhytomyr
Zhytomyr ( uk, Жито́мир, translit=Zhytomyr ; russian: Жито́мир, Zhitomir ; pl, Żytomierz ; yi, זשיטאָמיר, Zhitomir; german: Schytomyr ) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the administrative ...
,
Novohrad-Volynskyi and
Slovechne.
Biography
Tabachnyk was born in
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
. From 1970 to 1976 he studied Sculpture and Architecture at the University of Malerie in former
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. He moved with his family in 1997 to Germany and has lived ever since in
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
.
Famous works
Before his move to Germany, Tabachnyk already had created a series of monuments in
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
. In 1996, the
Memorial for the Victims of the Tragedy in the Wild of Bogunija was installed, depicting the victims of a tragedy which took place during the Second World War, in which prisoners of war and citizens were shot. The memorial combines a 6.5-meter-high granite monument with a bronze figure. In 1995 the
Memorial for the Victims of Fascism was opened at the site of a mass grave in
Novohrad-Volynskyi where Jews were killed during the
Second World War
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 opposi ...
. Tabachnyk used granite for the material, as well as for the Memorial for the burned down villages in
Slovechne which was unveiled in 1980. His sculpture "The Magic Horse" which recreates the myth of the same name, was created out of cement, and was installed in 1989 at the recreation park in
Schytomyr.
In May 2006, Tabachnyk's
life-size statue of
Adidas founder
Adolf Dassler
Adolf "Adi" Dassler (3 November 1900 – 6 September 1978) was a German cobbler, inventor and entrepreneur who founded the German sportswear company Adidas. He was also the younger brother of Rudolf Dassler, founder of Puma. Dassler was an in ...
was installed at the Adi Dassler stadium in
Herzogenaurach. The life-size, bronze statue was reproduced in various sizes and now also stands at the new flagship Adidas store in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, which is the biggest Adidas store worldwide. The opening of the sculpture in New York was on 1 December 2016. Since January 2019 another original of the statue is placed at the entrance to the Adidas-Store at 22
Avenue des Champs-Élysées
Avenue or Avenues may refer to:
Roads
* Avenue (landscape), traditionally a straight path or road with a line of trees, in the shifted sense a tree line itself, or some of boulevards (also without trees)
* Avenue Road, Bangalore
* Avenue Road, Lon ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
.
In 2008, Tabachnyk won a competition with his design of the
Willy Brandt Memorial in Nuremberg. The bronze sculpture is situated at Willy-Brandt-Platz, and depicts the Federal Chancellor and Nobel Prize Winner sitting on a bench. On 9 November 2009, the sculpture was unveiled by
Ulrich Maly, descendants of Willy Brandt including
Hans-Jochen Vogel
Hans-Jochen Vogel (3 February 192626 July 2020) was a German lawyer and a politician for the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He served as Mayor of Munich from 1960 to 1972, winning the 1972 Summer Olympics for the city and Governing Mayor of W ...
and Tabachnyk himself.
In the Aquapark of the
Nuremberg Zoo
Nuremberg Zoo (german: Tiergarten Nürnberg) is a zoo located in the Nuremberg Reichswald ("imperial forest"), southeast of Nuremberg, Germany. With an area of , approximately 300 animal species are kept by the zoo.
History
In the Middle ...
, a bronze sculpture of
group of polar bears can be seen since 11 May 2007. The group contains a bear mother playing with her child.
A further bear sculpture which was unveiled in November 2010 in the entrance area of Nuremberg zoo, and carries the title "Brown little bear with a worm". The sculpture displays a small brown bear lying down on his back playing with a worm.
Since November 2012, the bronze sculpture "
The Tree of Life
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
" has been standing in the residential area of the
Nuremberg zoo
Nuremberg Zoo (german: Tiergarten Nürnberg) is a zoo located in the Nuremberg Reichswald ("imperial forest"), southeast of Nuremberg, Germany. With an area of , approximately 300 animal species are kept by the zoo.
History
In the Middle ...
. Within the tree, different generations which play a role in the life cycle are depicted and their meanings are implied.
At the end of 2011, Tabachnyk's winning sculpture of "
Knut the Dreamer" was unveiled in the
Berlin Zoological Garden. It consists of a bronze-cast polar bear, which lies on two ice-sheets made from white granite. On 24 October 2012 Bernhard Blaszkiewitz and Josef Tabachnyk jointly unveiled the 1.40-meter-long and 1.15-meter-wide figure near the polar bear enclosure.
Tabachnyk's
Kicker Statue which depicts a football player performing a backwards overheard kick was unveiled on 22 May 2014 in front of the newly designed
Kicker Sport Magazine building in Nuremberg's Badstraße.
Miscellaneous works
Miscellaneous works
Josef Tabachnyk created a sculpture series titled "Small memorials for great people", which includes depictions of
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
,
Jakob Wasserman,
Hermann Kesten and
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...
.
External links
Website of the artist
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tabachnyk, Josef
1947 births
Living people
German male artists
German sculptors