Art Nouveau Three Monumental Sculptures Berlin Mitte Potsdamer Street

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Three over-life-size facade figures.


These are allegories.

Facade sculptures represent the arts depict:

The Architecture (without head)
The Sculpture (with a missing left hand)
The art of drawing (figure today with attached head)

Berlin-Mitte around 1907

The black and white photos show the original facade of Lepke Auction House before bombing (formerly Potsdamer Straße 122 a / b), where the figures come from.

Particularities

The sculptor Hugo Kaufmann

The German sculptor and medalist of Late History came from a Jewish family from the Hessian Vogelsbergkreis (1868 in Schotten - 1919 in Munich). The drawing academy in Hanau visited Kaufmann from 1884 onwards, then went to Frankfurt am Main to attend the Gewerbeschule and the Städel- Kunsthochschule. Since 1888, Kaufmann studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where he was admitted to the class of Wilhelm von Rümann. In 1904 Kaufmann was appointed professor. He worked and lived in Munich until 1907. After that he went to Berlin, but returned in 1917 to Munich.



Works (examples: Munich Staastkanzlei and Rathaus)

Kaufmann's sculptures of stone and bronze are orientated on the beauty side of classical antiquity, typical are powerful athletic bodies. In many of his works the great pathetic gesture with a tendency to the colossal is found.

Genesis:

Rudolph Lepke (Berlin 1845 - 1904 Berlin) had founded the Kunst-Auctions-Haus in 1869. Lepke, the son of a Jewish family immigrated from Dessau to Berlin, transferred the management to Mr. E. Benjamin and C. Schmidt in 1895. Lepke remained owner, however for health reasons 1900 withdrew from the business life.

The then leading art house of the German imperial monarchy of the Wolffenberg brothers took over Lepke's business. They acquired the house at Potsdamer Straße 122 a / b in 1910, which however was demolished.

The architect Adolf Wollenberg commissioned the sculptor Hugo Kaufmann (Schotten / Oberhessen 1868 - 1919 Munich) and Walter Schmarje with the conception for the elaborate building-design of the newly emerging business building.

The original six figures received an allegorical program from the fields of art and crafts.

The new business building Rudolph Lepke's Kunst-Auctions-Haus was completed in 1912.

At the end of the war, the savings bank was located there. Due to bomb damage, the building was only used as a wine shop after the war. After 1955 the house was demolished.

Measures and Weight

Height: 2100 mm

Material

Lacustrine Limestone

Epoch

around 1900

• ID25888
• Business Name:Historische Bauelemente
• Contact Name:Olaf Elias
• Contact: Germany > Brandenburg
  Marwitz Barenklauer Weg 2 16727
  +49 (0)3304 50 22 42
  
• WebHistorische Bauelemente
• Location: Brandenburg > Germany
• Category: Fine Architectural & Garden Antiques
• Age: More than 50 years old