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Michel Lock, originally Hubert Michael Lock (27 April 1848,
Biography of Franz Tübbecke
@ Die Geschichte Berlins
Michel Lock, originally Hubert Michael Lock (27 April 1848, Cologne
Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
- 20 February 1898, Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
) was a German sculptor.
Life and work
His father was a merchant. He had sixteen siblings, and began an apprenticeship as a wood carver at the age of twelve. Most of his works were small decorative sculptures for churches. After completing his traditionalwanderjahre
In the European apprenticeship tradition, the journeyman years (, also known in German as , , and colloquially sometimes referred to as , ) is a time of travel for several years after completing apprenticeship as a craftsman. The tradition date ...
, he returned to Cologne and worked for the sculptor, Wilhelm Albermann
Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Albermann (28 May 1835, Werden an der Ruhr – 9 August 1913, Cologne) was a German sculptor.
Life and work
His father was a cabinet maker. He attended the in Werden until he was sixteen, then served an apprenticeshi ...
; creating ornamental works for the homes of the wealthy.
In 1866, he relocated to Hannover
Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...
, and found employment in the workshops of , where he was allowed to create his first independent works. In 1868, when he was twenty, he accepted an invitation from a plasterer
A plasterer is a tradesman who works with plaster, such as forming a layer of plaster on an interior wall or plaster decorative moldings on ceilings or walls. The process of creating plasterwork, called plastering, has been used in buildin ...
named Rössemann, and went to Berlin. When Rössemann died in 1871, Lock was hired by the firm of "Zeyer & Drechsler", as a supervisor for their forty assistants. He had a falling out with them three years later, and decided to take a study trip to Italy.
When he returned, he went back to Berlin, doing modelling and stonework for the new Nationalgalerie. He was permitted to use the workshop in his spare time, so he had another opportunity to create independent works. By 1877, he was able to establish his own studio; taking commissions for work on public and private buildings. In 1884, his statue of Daedalus
In Greek mythology, Daedalus (, ; Greek language, Greek: Δαίδαλος; Latin language, Latin: ''Daedalus''; Etruscan language, Etruscan: ''Taitale'') was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. H ...
, holding Icarus
In Greek mythology, Icarus (; , ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of King Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, Minos suspected that Icarus and Daedalu ...
in his arms, received a gold medal at an exhibition in Brussels. He was awarded two more gold medals, in 1890 and 1896; both at the Große Berliner Kunstausstellung
Große Berliner Kunstausstellung (Great Berlin Art Exhibition), abbreviated GroBeKa or GBK, was an annual art exhibition that existed from 1893 to 1969 with intermittent breaks. In 1917 and 1918, during World War I, it was not held in Berlin bu ...
. Some of his larger works were done in collaboration with ; notably a figure of Berolina, created for a state visit by King Umberto I of Italy
Umberto I (; 14 March 1844 – 29 July 1900) was King of Italy from 9 January 1878 until his assassination in 1900. His reign saw Italy's expansion into the Horn of Africa, as well as the creation of the Triple Alliance (1882), Triple Alliance a ...
.
His most familiar work is "" (I have no time to be tired, 1891), which depicts Kaiser Wilhelm I
Wilhelm I (Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 1861 and German Emperor from 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the first head of state of a united Germany. ...
, in his armchair, with the Angel of Death by his side. The title is taken from one of Wilhelm's favorite sayings. After Lock's death, a full-sized marble copy was created by Franz Tübbecke (1856–1937) and displayed at the Hohenzollern Museum in Monbijou Palace. It was lost when the palace was destroyed in World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.@ Die Geschichte Berlins
References
Further reading
* Adolf Rosenberg: "Michael Lock". In: ''Berliner Architekturwelt'', #1, Vol.10 (January 1899), pp.360–370External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lock, Michel 1848 births 1898 deaths German sculptors Artists from Cologne