Wood (elm) on a metal plate. Unique object. Height: 200 cm. Diameter of the base plate: 50 cm. After the wooden sculpture offered here, an edition in bronze was later produced, which is probably also depicted in the literature and exhibition catalogs. [AR] Further works from the Dr. Maier-Mohr Collection will be offered in our Evening Sale on Friday, June 7, 2024 and in our Modern Art Day Sale on Saturday, June 8, 2024 - see collection catalog "A Private Collection - Dr. Theo Maier-Mohr". - Unique object. - A huge wooden sculpture with a wonderful biomorphic appearance. - A 5-meter-high wooden sculpture by the artist was shown at documenta III in Kassel in 1964. We are grateful to Mr Jakob Steinbrenner, Munich, for hius kind support in cataloging this lot. LITERATURE: Claire Hellweg, Hans Steinbrenner. Die Entwicklung der Formensprache im plastischen Werk, PhD thesis Frankfurt a. Main, 1990/91, no. 135 (illu.). - - Auswahl: K. Gabler, Hans Steinbrenner und sein Bruder, in: Adam Seide (ed.), was da ist, Frankfurt a. Main, no year (illu. on p. 155). G. Nicol, Das Fabelwesen im Wohnzimmer, Frankfurter Neue Presse, no. 211, Frankfurt a. Main, November 25, 1978, p. 18.
Hans Steinbrenner, Skulptur und Plastik IV, Galerie Appel und Fertsch, Karmeliterkloster, Frankfurt a. Main, 1965, no. 36 (illu. 14). Hans Steinbrenner, Arbeiten von 1955-60, Galerie Ostertag, Frankfurt a. Main, 1978, no p. (illu. 13). Hans Steinbrenner. Skulpturen 1948-1960, Sinclair-Haus, Bad Homburg v. d. Höhe, October 23 - December 16, 1990, cat. no. 86 (illu. on p. 97)
Dr. Theo Maier-Mohr Collection, Hesse (acquired from the artist). Ever since family-owned
From biomorphic forms to cubic elements In the post-war years, Hans Steinbrenner (1928-2008) worked as a poster painter and graphic designer for the US army. From 1946 to 1949, he studied at the former Werkkunstschule Offenbach am Main. From 1949 to 1952, he attended the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main, where he joined the master class of Hans Mettel (1903-1966), before he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich in the class of Toni Stadler (1888-1982) from 1952 to 1954. While Hans Steinbrenner's early work still shóws the influence of his teachers in Frankfurt and Munich, his encounters with the sculptors Constantin Brâncusi (1876-1957) and Henri Laurens (1885-1954) would have a lasting impact on him. The influence of Hans Arp (1886-1966) can also be observed in his cubic-abstract sculptures, as well as in his characteristic, oversized biomorphic figures, mainly made of wood, such as our huge work entitled "Große Vegetative". From the late 1960s, Steinbrenner finally attained a visual language that, as our two works demonstrate, draws on cubic elements and incorporates human proportions. Henceforth, the artist called his sculptures "figures" without further distinguishing them by names. And this is also how the sculptor proceeded with this stele, which he first hewed from a wooden trunk and then cast in bronze. With graphic precision, he reduced the human body to strictly geometric, stacked forms, the individual elements of which are not arranged symmetrically, but slightly offset from one another. The rhythmic vertical lines lend the sculpture a lively silhouette and the dynamic surfaces also provide a fascinating contrast to the rigid materiality, as in the approximately 200 centimeter high stone "Stele" from 1985. [MvL]
Good overall impression. With aging cracks as well as some scratches and rubbed areas. Two of the arms probably subsequently fixed with wooden wedges of different sizes, possibly by the artist himself.
Lot Details
Wood (elm) on a metal plate. Unique object. Height: 200 cm. Diameter of the base plate: 50 cm. After the wooden sculpture offered here, an edition in bronze was later produced, which is probably also depicted in the literature and exhibition catalogs. [AR] Further works from the Dr. Maier-Mohr Collection will be offered in our Evening Sale on Friday, June 7, 2024 and in our Modern Art Day Sale on Saturday, June 8, 2024 - see collection catalog "A Private Collection - Dr. Theo Maier-Mohr". - Unique object. - A huge wooden sculpture with a wonderful biomorphic appearance. - A 5-meter-high wooden sculpture by the artist was shown at documenta III in Kassel in 1964. We are grateful to Mr Jakob Steinbrenner, Munich, for hius kind support in cataloging this lot. LITERATURE: Claire Hellweg, Hans Steinbrenner. Die Entwicklung der Formensprache im plastischen Werk, PhD thesis Frankfurt a. Main, 1990/91, no. 135 (illu.). - - Auswahl: K. Gabler, Hans Steinbrenner und sein Bruder, in: Adam Seide (ed.), was da ist, Frankfurt a. Main, no year (illu. on p. 155). G. Nicol, Das Fabelwesen im Wohnzimmer, Frankfurter Neue Presse, no. 211, Frankfurt a. Main, November 25, 1978, p. 18.
Hans Steinbrenner, Skulptur und Plastik IV, Galerie Appel und Fertsch, Karmeliterkloster, Frankfurt a. Main, 1965, no. 36 (illu. 14). Hans Steinbrenner, Arbeiten von 1955-60, Galerie Ostertag, Frankfurt a. Main, 1978, no p. (illu. 13). Hans Steinbrenner. Skulpturen 1948-1960, Sinclair-Haus, Bad Homburg v. d. Höhe, October 23 - December 16, 1990, cat. no. 86 (illu. on p. 97)
Dr. Theo Maier-Mohr Collection, Hesse (acquired from the artist). Ever since family-owned
From biomorphic forms to cubic elements In the post-war years, Hans Steinbrenner (1928-2008) worked as a poster painter and graphic designer for the US army. From 1946 to 1949, he studied at the former Werkkunstschule Offenbach am Main. From 1949 to 1952, he attended the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main, where he joined the master class of Hans Mettel (1903-1966), before he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich in the class of Toni Stadler (1888-1982) from 1952 to 1954. While Hans Steinbrenner's early work still shóws the influence of his teachers in Frankfurt and Munich, his encounters with the sculptors Constantin Brâncusi (1876-1957) and Henri Laurens (1885-1954) would have a lasting impact on him. The influence of Hans Arp (1886-1966) can also be observed in his cubic-abstract sculptures, as well as in his characteristic, oversized biomorphic figures, mainly made of wood, such as our huge work entitled "Große Vegetative". From the late 1960s, Steinbrenner finally attained a visual language that, as our two works demonstrate, draws on cubic elements and incorporates human proportions. Henceforth, the artist called his sculptures "figures" without further distinguishing them by names. And this is also how the sculptor proceeded with this stele, which he first hewed from a wooden trunk and then cast in bronze. With graphic precision, he reduced the human body to strictly geometric, stacked forms, the individual elements of which are not arranged symmetrically, but slightly offset from one another. The rhythmic vertical lines lend the sculpture a lively silhouette and the dynamic surfaces also provide a fascinating contrast to the rigid materiality, as in the approximately 200 centimeter high stone "Stele" from 1985. [MvL]
Good overall impression. With aging cracks as well as some scratches and rubbed areas. Two of the arms probably subsequently fixed with wooden wedges of different sizes, possibly by the artist himself.
Hans Steinbrenner 
