Waldfriedhofdahlelm ehrengrab Wauer, William

William Wauer (1866–1962) was a German sculptor and film director of the

silent era A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

. In 1913 he co-directed the biopic ' (1913). In 1915 he directed '' The Tunnel'' the first adaptation of Bernhard Kellermann's science fiction novel '' Der Tunnel''. His birthplace is now the Wauer Museum.

Life

He was born in

Oberwiesenthal Oberwiesenthal (; officially Kurort Oberwiesenthal) is a town and a ski resort in the district of Erzgebirgskreis in Saxony in Germany. It is situated in the Ore Mountains, on the border with the Czech Republic, 19 km south of Annaberg-Buchh ...

on 26 October 1866 the son of a Lutheran minister, Canon Johann Carl Ernst Wauer and his wife Katharine Knobloch. He went to school in Dresden and Halle then attended the Academy of Art first in Dresden then in Berlin and Munich. He then travelled to America where he studied in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

for two years. He then returned to Germany to study Philosophy and Art History at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

. From 1888 he worked as an art critic for the magazine "XX Jahrhundert" (20th Century). When radio came to Germany he began working in this field and began film-making in 1911. His work was part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics ( nl, Olympische Zomerspelen 1928), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad ( nl, Spelen van de IXe Olympiade) and commonly known as Amsterdam 1928, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from ...

. The Nazis declared both his film and his sculpture as "degenerate art" putting an immediate end to both activities. Although he was allowed to continue these pursuits from 1945, the post-war spirit and economy did not embrace this, and the long break and huge changes in the new post-war world meant he did not resume his art to any meaningful degree. He did one portrait in this later period, an oil painting of

Karl Hofer Karl Christian Ludwig Hofer or ''Carl Hofer'' (11 October 1878, Karlsruhe – 3 April 1955, Berlin) was a German expressionist painter. He was director of the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts. One of the most prominent painters of expressioni ...

in 1947. In 1949 he saw the creation of West Berlin as a western enclave within an otherwise communist regime, and in 1961 he was one of the many Berliners encircled by the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

. He died in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

on 10 March 1962 and is buried in the Forest Cemetery in the Dahlem district. The grave is identified as a "grave of honour of the City of Berlin" exempting it from the German practice of erasing graves if relatives fail to maintain payments for upkeep.

Selected filmography

* ''

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

'' (1913) with

Giuseppe Becce Giuseppe Becce (3 February 1877 – 5 October 1973) was an Italian-born film score composer who enriched the German cinema. Biography Becce was born in Lonigo/Vicenza, Italy. He showed his musical talents early and was named the director of ...

in title role * '' Bismarck'' (1914) * '' The Tunnel'' (1915) * ''Peter Lump'' (1916) * ''

Doctor Schotte ''Doctor Schotte'' (German: ''Dr. Schotte'') is a 1918 German silent drama film directed by William Wauer and starring Albert Bassermann, Elsa Bassermann and Käthe Wittenberg.Wedel p.132 It was shot at the Weissensee Studios in Berlin. Cast * ...

'' (1918) * ''

The Zaarden Brothers ''The Zaarden Brothers'' (German: ''Die Brüder von Zaarden'') is a 1918 German silent film, silent drama film directed by William Wauer and starring Albert Bassermann, Elsa Bassermann and Marija Leiko.Bock & Bergfelder p.28 Cast * Albert Basserm ...

'' (1918) * ''

Father and Son Father and Son or Fathers and Sons may refer to: Literature * ''Father and Son'' (book), a 1907 memoir by Edmund Gosse *Father and Son (comics), cartoon characters created by E. O. Plauen * ''Fathers and Sons'' (novel), an 1862 novel by Ivan Tur ...

'' (1918) * ''

The Merry Wives of Windsor ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' or ''Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare first published in 1602, though believed to have been written in or before 1597. The Windsor of the play's title is a ref ...

'' (1918) * ''

Masks A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment and often they have been employed for rituals and rights. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practi ...

'' (1920) * '' The Nights of Cornelis Brouwer'' (1921)

Public Sculpture

Wauer's sculpture is extremely bold and highly distinctive. *The Skater (1916) *

Herwarth Walden Herwarth Walden (actual name Georg Lewin; 16 September 1879, in Berlin – 31 October 1941, in Saratov, Russia) was a German expressionist artist and art expert in many disciplines. He is broadly acknowledged as one of the most important discove ...

(1917)

Albertinum The Albertinum () is a modern art museum. The sandstone-clad Renaissance Revival building is located on Brühl's Terrace in the historic center of Dresden, Germany. It is named after King Albert of Saxony. The Albertinum hosts the New Masters G ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

Nell Walden Nelly Anna Charlotta Walden (29 December 1887 – 21 October 1975) was a Swedish painter, art collector, and writer. A key figure in the activities of Berlin-based avant-garde magazine ''Der Sturm'', Walden was a pioneer of abstract art and was ...

(1918) Herwarth's wife * (1918) *The Fall (1921) *The Dancer (1923) 7 casts

References

Bibliography

External links

* 1866 births 1962 deaths People from Oberwiesenthal 20th-century German sculptors 20th-century German male artists 19th-century German sculptors German male sculptors Artists from Saxony Film people from Saxony Olympic competitors in art competitions {{Germany-sculptor-stub