Rudolf Maison (July 29, 1854 – February 12, 1904) was a German sculptor born in Regensburg,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, where he began his studies. He continued studying in Munich. His work can be found all over Germany and is in the Romantic tradition. Maison "often exaggerated to the most impossible degree the baroque frenzy of composition, disregard for the laws of equilibrium, and pictorial proclivities, but he broke sharply with his contemporaries habit of depending, for their forms, on the baroque of the past, and studied his own forms directly from actuality." His style contained a "much more pronounced naturalism" than was to be found in the works of his German contemporaries and he thus, particularly in his smaller works was able to address themes that had "heretofore been deemed suitable only for painting" and "ruthlessly violated the tradition of pomposity and aloofness" current in German sculpture. Much of his monumental work, including a Kaiser Frederick I in front of the

Bode Museum The Bode-Museum (English: ''Bode Museum''), formerly called the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum (''Emperor Frederick Museum''), is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It was built from 1898 to 1904 by order of Germ ...

and an

Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of He ...

and two mounted figures placed on the attic level on the Reichstag building have not survived the ravages that Berlin endured. Maison died in Munich as was buried in the Westfriedhof cemetery there.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maison, Rudolf 1854 births 1904 deaths Burials at the Westfriedhof (Munich) German male sculptors German sculptors