Hermann Glöckner (21 January 1889 – 25 May 1987) was a German painter and sculptor. He was an important representative of

constructivism Constructivism may refer to: Art and architecture * Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes * Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in the Soviet Union in t ...

. Glöckner was born in Cotta near

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

. He attended the vocational school in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

in 1903 and worked as a designer for textiles. From 1904 to 1911 he attended the evening classes at the

Kunstgewerbeschule A Kunstgewerbeschule (English: ''School of Arts and Crafts'' or S''chool of Applied Arts'') was a type of vocational arts school that existed in German-speaking countries from the mid-19th century. The term Werkkunstschule was also used for the ...

in Dresden, where he became friends with Kurt Fiedler. Among their lectures were Oskar Seyffert and Carl Rade, who later was a renowned professor at the

Dresden Academy of Fine Arts The Dresden Academy of Fine Arts (German language, German ''Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden''), often abbreviated HfBK Dresden or simply HfBK, is a vocational university of visual arts located in Dresden, Germany. The present institutio ...

and remained a friend of Glöckner for many years. Glöckner was mainly interested in

drawings Drawing is a visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface, or a digital representation of such. Traditionally, the instruments used to make a drawing include pencils, crayons, and ink pens, sometimes in com ...

, but also in projections and geometry. From 1914 to 1918 he served in

infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

divisions in France, Russia, and Poland. After World War I, Glöckner earned some money with the copying of paintings for the

Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister The (, ''Old Masters Gallery'') in Dresden, Germany, displays around 750 paintings from the 15th to the 18th centuries. It includes major Italian Renaissance painting, Italian Renaissance works as well as Dutch Golden Age painting, Dutch and F ...

. At the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts he studied with

Otto Gussmann Otto Friedrich Gussmann (22 May 1869, Wachbach, Main-Tauber-Kreis – 27 July 1926, Dresden) was a German decorative artist, designer, and art professor. Biography His father was a pastor. After completing secondary school, he began an appre ...

from 1923 to 1924. Hans Grundig was among his fellow students. His experimental style, however, did not find everyone's appreciation and Glöckner left the academy again. As a freelancer he turned to constructivism ever deeper during the following years. In 1932 he became a member of the re-founded ''Dresdner Sezession''. The

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

s refused him any opportunities to exhibit and sell his paintings and graphics. So he turned to

sgraffito (; ) is an artistic or decorative technique of scratching through a coating on a hard surface to reveal parts of another underlying coating which is in a contrasting colour. It is produced on walls by applying layers of plaster tinted in con ...

to earn his living. Glöckner lost his home during the

bombing of Dresden in World War II The bombing of Dresden was a joint British and American Area bombardment, aerial bombing attack on the city of Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony, during World War II. In four raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, 772 heavy ...

and moved to

Loschwitz Loschwitz is a borough (''Geography and urban development of Dresden#City structuring, Stadtbezirk'') of Dresden, Germany, incorporated in 1921. It consists of ten quarters (''Stadtteile''): Loschwitz is a villa quarter located at the slopes nor ...

. Because of his formalist style, the officials of the

GDR East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

refused him the appreciation he deserved for a long time. His rehabilitation began with an exhibition of his graphical work in the '' Kupferstichkabinett'', Dresden in 1969. In 1979 he received a permanent visa for the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

. Finally, in 1984, he was awarded with the National Prize of the GDR and the

DEFA DEFA (''Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft'') was the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) throughout the country's existence. Since 2019, DEFA's film heritage has been made accessible and licensable on the PR ...

dedicated a film to him. Centrally in the area of the

Technische Universität Dresden TU Dresden (for , abbreviated as TUD), also as the Dresden University of Technology, is a public research university in Dresden, Germany. It is the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, the largest university in Saxony a ...

he was allowed to erect a sculpture, which had been banned just a few years before. Another sculpture was erected one year later in the park of the Hotel Bellevue, Dresden's first address that time. In his later years Glöckner regularly visited

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

, where his cohabitee lived and where he died in 1987. Glöckner's urn was entombed in Loschwitz. A street in Loschwitz, newly built in 2008, is named after him.

Works

Glöckner made his works from objects he had on hand: twine, cardboard, match boxes, and wood scrapes. These common objects were put together in a unique way to create something entirely new. This art was private with the only audience being his wife.

References

External links

*
Bibliography
at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

Works
at

Europeana Europeana is a web portal created by the European Union containing digitised cultural heritage collections of more than 3,000 institutions across Europe. It includes records of over 50 million cultural and scientific artefacts, brought togethe ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glockner, Hermann 1889 births 1987 deaths 20th-century German painters German male painters Constructivism (art) German abstract painters German abstract sculptors Artists from Dresden German Army personnel of World War I Artists from the Kingdom of Saxony 20th-century German sculptors 20th-century German male artists German male sculptors

Works

See also

References

External links