Bernhard Heiliger (11 November 1915,

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– 25 October 1995, Berlin) was a German artist. He was considered "

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's foremost sculptor", and his large public artworks are a prominent presence in many German cities, especially Berlin.Isabel Montgomery (1995, Nov. 10) Monumental Berlin Obituary: Bernhard Heiliger
''The Guardian''. p. 017. (

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subscription required) Retrieved 7 February 2010

Biography

Heiliger began his artistic education with an apprenticeship as a stone carver and a course of study at the ''Stettiner Werkschule für Gestaltende Arbeiten'' from 1933 to 1936 under Kurt Schwerdtfeger, who had been a student of the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...

. After this he attended the ''Staatlichen Hochschule für bildende Künste'' (National College of Visual Arts) in 1938, where he studied under

Arno Breker Arno Breker (19 July 1900 – 13 February 1991) was a German sculptor who is best known for his public works in Nazi Germany, where he was endorsed by the authorities as the antithesis of degenerate art. He was made official state sculptor, ...

. In 1941 he was drafted into the army and served as a radio operator on the Eastern Front for two years, before he received an exemption from military service through the intervention of Breker. Despite this he was drafted again in 1944, after which he fled as a deserter through northern Germany. In May 1946 Heiliger exhibits with the painter Fritz Ascher at the Karl Buchholz Gallery in Berlin. Heiliger's design for the ''Memorial to Unknown Political Prisoners'' (1953) brought him his first international recognition, earning him the Prize of the National Government and a prize from the

Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an modernism, artistic and cultural centre on The Mall (London), The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps a ...

. This was followed by his participation in several prominent international exhibits, such as the

documenta Documenta (often stylized documenta) is an Art exhibition, exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. Documenta was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgarte ...

I & II in

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(1955 and 1959) and the

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(1956), and by commissions such as sculptures for the German pavilion at the 1958

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. In 1956 he became a member of the Berlin Academy of Art. In 1974 he was recognized with the

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, and in 1984 was awarded an honorary membership in the Deutscher Künstlerbund. He died in Berlin in 1995, and was buried in Berlin's Dahlem Cemetery ( Friedhof Dahlem).

Work

Heiliger's diverse output stretches from his early, organically abstracted figures to his late nonobjective, geometric abstractions. His early work (1945–1962), focuses on the human figure, which is treated in an organic style influenced by Aristide Maillol and

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental Bronze sculpture, bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore ...

. Also from this period is a series of portrait busts of prominent contemporary Germans. The artist departed from the human figure in his second period (1962–1970), instead developing imagery of the "flight of birds and vegetable forms"Ulrike Lehmann
"Heiliger, Bernhard."
Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. 7 February 2010. (Subscription required) influenced by the nonrepresentational

Informel Informalism or Art Informel () is a Painting, pictorial movement from the 1943–1950s, that includes all the Abstract painting, abstract and Action painting, gestural tendencies that developed in France and the rest of Europe during the World W ...

style. The seven-meter-high ''The Flame'' (''Flamme'', 1962–63), commissioned by the city of Berlin for Ernst-Reuter-Platz, is considered the key work in the transition between the early and middle periods. ''The Five Continents'' (''Die fünf Erdteile'', 1961), by contrast, still alludes to the human figure in the torso-like shapes that make up the composition. ''Kosmos 70'', commissioned in 1970 by the city of Berlin for the restored

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, marks the transition into Heiliger's final period, where spheres and angular forms linked by lines of wire allude to planets and solar systems. The different stylistic phases in Heiliger's career are connected to changes in material: whereas his works from the 1950s and 1960s are cast materials, such as cast stone or bronze, the works from the 1970s onward are most often made of

stainless steel Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), or rustless steel, is an iron-based alloy that contains chromium, making it resistant to rust and corrosion. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion comes from its chromi ...

corten steel Weathering steel, often referred to by the genericised trademark COR-TEN steel and sometimes written without the hyphen as corten steel, is a group of steel alloys that form a stable external layer of rust that eliminates the need for painti ...

Legacy

The ''Bernhard-Heiliger-Stiftung'' (Bernhard Heiliger Foundation) was founded in 1996 and is located in his former studio in Berlin-Dahlem near the Brücke-Museum. Since 1999 the foundation has conferred the

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15,000 ''Bernhard Heiliger Award of Sculpture'' upon a noted sculptor every four years. The laureates so far are: *1999- Bertrand LavierOfficial website of the Bernhard Heiliger Stiftung
/ref> *2003- Fritz Schwegler *2007-

Antony Gormley Sir Antony Mark David Gormley (born 30 August 1950) is a British sculptor. His works include the ''Angel of the North'', a public sculpture in Gateshead in the north of England, commissioned in 1994 and erected in February 1998; ''Another Pl ...

*2011 - Fabian Marcaccio * 2015 - Suspended, no award given Since 1997 the Foundation has also annually awarded grants to young sculptors. Heiliger's son Stefan Heiliger is a well-known furniture designer.

Citations

Selected further reading

*''Bernhard Heiliger 1915-1995 – Kosmis eines Bildhauers'', ed. Marc Wellmann on behalf of the Bernhard Heiliger Foundation, Wienand Verlag, 2005 *''Bernhard Heiliger – Die Köpfe'', Wienand Verlag, 2000 * Lothar Romain, Siegfried Salzmann (ed.): ''Bernhard Heiliger'', Propyläen, 1989

External links

*
Official website of the Bernhard-Heiliger-Stiftung (DE)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heiliger, Bernhard Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 1915 births 1995 deaths Art Informel and Tachisme Artists from Szczecin 20th-century German sculptors 20th-century German male artists German male sculptors