Rolf Szymanski – Wikipedia

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Rolf Szymanski (Born October 22, 1928 in Leipzig, † December 2, 2013 in Berlin) was a German sculptor.

Szymanski was trained with Alfred Thiele from 1945 to 1950 at the Leipzig School of Art, then he studied in Berlin until 1955 at the University of Fine Arts with Bernhard Heiliger, Richard Scheibe and Paul Dierkes. In 1961 he married Gisela Rieffert. In 1962 he received a scholarship for a nine -month stay at the German Academy Rome Villa Massimo. As early as 1964, he took part in Documenta III in Kassel and, as the carrier of the Villa Romana Prize, had a scholarship for a 9-month stay in Florence, where his daughter Tekla Szymanski was also born. In 1968, Szymanski was a scholarship holder of the Cité Internationale des Arts for a year in Paris. Szymanski had had a variety of solo exhibitions in Germany since 1961 and also took part in group exhibitions such as the Biennale di Venezia 1990. Numerous works are in public space in Germany. The artist lived in Berlin.

Together with HAP Grieshaber, he founded the Jerg Ratgeb Prize, which was first awarded in 1977. From 1986 to 1996, Szymanski held a professorship at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences. He has been a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin since 1970. From 1974 to 1983, and then again from 1986, Szymanski was director of the art of the Academy Department and Vice President (1983–1986) under Günter Grass. Between 1997 and 1999 Rolf Szymanski was a member of the board of the German Artists’ Association, at whose annual exhibitions he took part in a total of thirteen times from 1960 to 1997. [first] In 1999 Szymanski became a member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts.

Rolf Szymanski died in Berlin after a serious illness on December 2, 2013. [2] His grave is located on the state-owned Heerstraße cemetery in Berlin-Westend (grave: II-W1-2/3). [3] He rests there on the side of his wife Gisela Szymanski born Rieffert (1933–2007). A sculpture designed by Szymanski serves as a grave monument.

Rolf Szymanski was a representative of an abstracting, the figurative never completely forgetful, style. Szymanski’s main topic was the female figure. His file symbolically stand for vitality, growth, but also destruction. Szymanski himself described his work as The work of building, destroying, bundling, tension, the detours, to the point at which the desired picture, the presented mass works spatially and releases life. [2]

  • Exhibition catalogs
  • Rolf Szymanski, sculptures and drawing. Kunstverein Braunschweig, Braunschweig 1966.
  • Rolf Szymanski, and Walter Stöhrer. Berlinische Galerie, Berlin 1989
  • Lexicon of art. Dörflerverlag, Volume 11, edition 1987.
  • Art in public space. Sculpture boulevard. Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-496-01039-8.
  • Rolf Szymanski, sculptures and drawings 1956 to 1988. Verlag Gerd Hatje.
  • Birgit Jooss: Rolf Szymanski letter card to Emil Cimiotti. In: Plan of the Germanic National Museum. Edited by G. Ulrich Großmann, Nuremberg 2013, pp. 311–312.
  • Know poses: Ansbach a story. Rolf Szymanski in Ansbach. Cabinet printing 44 Edition Brusberg, Berlin 2012.
  • Inge Zimmermann on behalf of the Academy of the Arts (ed.): Akademiefenster 9: Rolf Szymanski. ADK, archive, Berlin 2013.
  1. ↑ kuenstlerbund.de: Exhibitions since 1951 ( Memento of the Originals from March 4, 2016 in Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been used automatically and not yet checked. Please check original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. @first @2 Template: Webachiv/Iabot/www.kuenstlerbund.de (accessed on April 16, 2016)
  2. ↑ a b Ingeborg Ruthe: A lump of metal that weighs life. On the death of the Berlin sculptor and academy vice president Rolf Szymanski. In: Berliner Zeitung, December 4, 2013, p. 24.
  3. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Mende: Lexicon Berlin burial sites . Light-Plan, Berlin, 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1. S. 495.
  4. ↑ Art in the city. 5: Between Georgsplatz and Andreaeplatz. , Leaflet of the cultural office, city of Hanover. Editor: Anneke Schepke, Mona Windmann. Text: Thomas Kaestle. Hanover, 2010. Download from hannover.de