DOI Heft:
No. 129 (November, 1907)
DOI Artikel:Studio-talk
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.28253#0091
Studio-Talk
CENTENARY MEDAL
BY CONSTANTIN STARCK
PLAQUETTE BY RUDOLF BOSSELT
BAPTISMAL MEDAL
BY CONSTANTIN STARCK
friend of animal-life. He had imbued himself
with the finest Parisian and Munich culture of
his time; but he is also the very artist to com-
mand attention by the sovereignty of personal
endowments. Aristocracy with the charm of
naturalness—this is his peculiar attraction. J. J.
MUNICH.—The cemeteries of our great
cities of to-day when compared with
many a hallowed churchyard in our
old towns, or the peaceful gardens of
the dead, studded with simple crosses of iron or
wood, in villages remote from the world, reveal
unmistakably a deplorable poverty of artistic
culture. Here where a true and thoughtful art
should have yielded flowers at once simple and
comely, blatant pride of wealth and deliberate
ostentation clamorously seek to gain the upper
hand. It is only seldom, very seldom, in fact,
that one finds here and
there, amid the throng of
ungainly and meaningless
tombstones, with which
uncultured stone-masons
and other interested parties
contrive to carry on a brisk
trade, a memorial which by
the unpretentiousness of its
structural features and its
dignified ornamentation
embodies that feeling of
sanctity which obviously
pertains to such a place.
Such becoming decoration
of graves, however, is
merely an oasis in a
barren wilderness of bad
taste, but there are signs
that this deplorable state
of things has reached its
climax, for during the past few years various in-
dividual artists have been devoting their talents to
this sadly neglected sphere of work, and en-
deavoured to check the vulgarity now rampant.
Here in Munich among the younger generation
of artists Max Pfeiffer in particular has taken upon
himself the praiseworthy task of opening the eyes
of masons to the natural beauty of our indigenous
stones, and discouraging the huge trade now
carried on in polished granite and angels cut in
marble of alabaster whiteness. By careful execu-
tion of his own models and designs he has showed
them how this natural beauty could be utilised and
enhanced by appropriate methods of treatment.
The task has not proved an easy one, but energy
and firm resolution have enabled him to overcome
all difficulties, and the results have been such as to
justify his endeavours.
75
CENTENARY MEDAL
BY CONSTANTIN STARCK
PLAQUETTE BY RUDOLF BOSSELT
BAPTISMAL MEDAL
BY CONSTANTIN STARCK
friend of animal-life. He had imbued himself
with the finest Parisian and Munich culture of
his time; but he is also the very artist to com-
mand attention by the sovereignty of personal
endowments. Aristocracy with the charm of
naturalness—this is his peculiar attraction. J. J.
MUNICH.—The cemeteries of our great
cities of to-day when compared with
many a hallowed churchyard in our
old towns, or the peaceful gardens of
the dead, studded with simple crosses of iron or
wood, in villages remote from the world, reveal
unmistakably a deplorable poverty of artistic
culture. Here where a true and thoughtful art
should have yielded flowers at once simple and
comely, blatant pride of wealth and deliberate
ostentation clamorously seek to gain the upper
hand. It is only seldom, very seldom, in fact,
that one finds here and
there, amid the throng of
ungainly and meaningless
tombstones, with which
uncultured stone-masons
and other interested parties
contrive to carry on a brisk
trade, a memorial which by
the unpretentiousness of its
structural features and its
dignified ornamentation
embodies that feeling of
sanctity which obviously
pertains to such a place.
Such becoming decoration
of graves, however, is
merely an oasis in a
barren wilderness of bad
taste, but there are signs
that this deplorable state
of things has reached its
climax, for during the past few years various in-
dividual artists have been devoting their talents to
this sadly neglected sphere of work, and en-
deavoured to check the vulgarity now rampant.
Here in Munich among the younger generation
of artists Max Pfeiffer in particular has taken upon
himself the praiseworthy task of opening the eyes
of masons to the natural beauty of our indigenous
stones, and discouraging the huge trade now
carried on in polished granite and angels cut in
marble of alabaster whiteness. By careful execu-
tion of his own models and designs he has showed
them how this natural beauty could be utilised and
enhanced by appropriate methods of treatment.
The task has not proved an easy one, but energy
and firm resolution have enabled him to overcome
all difficulties, and the results have been such as to
justify his endeavours.
75