Wilhelm Neumann-Torborg (born 24 August 1856 in Elberfeld; died 31 December 1917 in Elberfeld) was a German sculptor whose works are still well-known.

Biography

Wilhelm Neumann-Torborg grew up in Wuppertal, Germany, the son of a school headmaster. He attended evening classes at the Royal Provincial Vocational School in Elberfeld, where he received his first lessons in drawing and painting. He spent the years 1874 and 1877 studying in

Bad Kreuznach Bad Kreuznach () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a spa town, most well known for its medieval bridge dating from around 1300, the Alte Nahebrücke, which is one of the few remaining bridges in th ...

, in the sculpture workshop of the brothers Robert and

Karl Cauer Karl Ludwig Cauer (14 February 1828, Bonn - 17 April 1885, Bad Kreuznach) was a German sculptor in the Classicism, Classical style. Life and work His father, Emil Cauer the Elder, was a sculptor. His younger brother, Robert Cauer the Elder, Ro ...

. He then further developed his craft in 1878 under Melchior zur Strassen in the Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts and until 1880 in the Academy of Arts, Berlin with

Otto Knille Otto Knille (10 September 1832, Osnabrück - 7 April 1898, Merano) was a German history painter; associated with the Düsseldorfer Malerschule. Biography His father, Justus Georg Knille (1803–1881), was an administrative official in Osnab ...

and Fritz Schaper. In 1885, he won the Rome Scholarship from the Prussian Academy of Arts for his thesis, "The Judgment of Paris". In subsequent years, Neumann-Torborg lived and worked in Rome, where his wife, Emma Commichau, died after a short marriage. In 1892, the artist returned to Berlin. In 1917, he fell seriously ill and died during a visit to his hometown of Elberfeld. His tomb is located in the Lutheran cemetery in Wuppertal-Elberfeld.

Works

* 1884 ''The Butterfly Hunter'' * 1885 ''The Judgment of Paris'', Relief * 1890 ''Psyche'', Marble * 1892 or 1900 ''Faun and Nymph'', Bronze * 1903 Monument to Wilhelm Dörpfeld * 1903 The ''Elberfelder Poor Relief Monument'', Bronze (destroyed during the Second World War) * 1905 Colossal bust of the Empress

Augusta Victoria , house = Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg , father = Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein , mother = Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg , birth_date = , birth_place = Dolzig Palace ...

(destroyed by bombing in June 1943) * 1911 Monument to Reinhardt Schmitt Many of Neumann-Torborgs works were destroyed during the Second World War. Perhaps his best-known work, the fountain "Faun and Nymph", was commissioned by Baron

August von der Heydt August von der Heydt (15 February 1801 – 13 June 1874) was an influential German economist. Biography Von der Heydt was born in Elberfeld in the Duchy of Berg. During the Revolution of 1848 he was appointed as Minister to the newly cre ...

and originally stood in the park of his estate. It survived the Second World War unscathed and since 1909 has been on display in Bad Godesberg, Bonn. In 2013, it was restored and moved to a new location to permit greater public access. Another relief of Neuman-Torborg's, showing dancing youths with Bacchus, was installed in the Bad Godesberg city park in 2014. The sculpture includes a bench and a bust of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Probus, and was recovered in pieces from the van der Heydt estate. The "Elberfeld Poor Relief Monument" was destroyed during the war, when the bronze figures were melted down for metal. In 2003, the granite pedestal of the monument was rediscovered during excavations at the Elberfeld Old Reformed Church, and placed on display in Blankstrasse, Wuppertal. In 2011, it was restored thanks to 24 private donations. The bronze figures were recast at the Kayser Art Foundry in Düsseldorf. The statue commemorates the inauguration, in 1853, of the

Elberfeld system The Elberfeld system was a system for aiding poverty, the poor in 19th-century Germany. It was a success when it was inaugurated in Elberfeld in 1853 and was adopted by many other German cities, but by the turn of the century an increasing populati ...

of poor relief, which was copied by many cities in subsequent years.

References

Bibliography

* ''Denkmäler, Brunnen und Plastiken in Wuppertal: Biographien der beteiligten Künstler'' by Ruth Meyer-Kahrweg. Wuppertal 1991, pp. 110ff. * ''Das Armendenkmal von Elberfeld im Wandel der Denkmalkultur um 1900'' by Cécile Zachlod. In ''Geschichte im Wuppertal,'' 16th edition, 2007. pp. 25–30. {{DEFAULTSORT:Neumann-Torborg, Wilhelm 1917 deaths German male sculptors 20th-century German sculptors 1856 births German modern sculptors 19th-century German sculptors People from Elberfeld Artists from Wuppertal