Nikolaus Geiger (6 December 1849 – 27 November 1897) was a German sculptor and painter.

Life

Born at Lauingen in the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria ( ; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1806 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German Empire in 1871, the kingd ...

, he began an apprenticeship as a stonemason. At the age of 16, he went to Munich, to study with Joseph Knabl at the Academy of Fine Arts. After the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

and the

unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was a process of building the first nation-state for Germans with federalism, federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without Habsburgs' multi-ethnic Austria or its German-speaking part). I ...

in 1871, he moved to Berlin and after some time achieved recognition for his ornamental work in the . After a visit to Italy he again studied painting in Munich and in 1884 returned to Berlin, where he was awarded a gold medal in 1886, was elected member of the academy in 1893, and was made

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

in 1896.

St. Hedwig's Cathedral St. Hedwig's Cathedral () is the Catholic cathedral of the Archdiocese of Berlin on Bebelplatz in the historic centre of Berlin. Dedicated to Hedwig of Silesia, it was erected from 1747 to 1773 by order of Frederick the Great according to pla ...

in Berlin contains examples of his work. Geiger produced the high-relief ''Adoration of the Magi'' (1894). His ''The Communion of the Saints'' on the ceiling of St. Hedwig's is his most noteworthy painting. He sculpted ''

Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (; ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 115 ...

'' for the

Kyffhäuser Monument The Kyffhäuser Monument (), also known as Barbarossa Monument (), is an Emperor William monuments, Emperor William monument in the Kyffhäuser mountain range in the Germany, German state of Thuringia. It was erected from 1890 to 1896 atop the ...

; a statue of ''Labor'' for the

Reichsbank The ''Reichsbank'' (; ) was the central bank of the German Empire from 1876 until the end of Nazi Germany in 1945. Background The monetary institutions in Germany had been unsuited for its economic development for several decades before unifica ...

building in Berlin; and ''

Centaur A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version o ...

with Dancing

Nymph A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...

'' for the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

. He produced a tall

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

for the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in Indianapolis, Indiana. Geiger died in

Wilmersdorf Wilmersdorf () is an inner-city locality of Berlin which lies south-west of the central city. Formerly a borough by itself, Wilmersdorf became part of the new Boroughs of Berlin, borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf following Berlin's 2001 admin ...

(today part of Berlin), after suffering an

internal bleeding Internal bleeding (also called internal haemorrhage) is a loss of blood from a blood vessel that collects inside the body, and is not usually visible from the outside. It can be a serious medical emergency but the extent of severity depends on b ...

Sculptures

*''Centaur with Dancing Nymph'' (before 1897), bronze, in the collection of the

National Gallery (Berlin) The National Gallery () in Berlin, Germany, is a museum for art of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. It is part of the Berlin State Museums. From the Alte Nationalgalerie, which was built for it and opened in 1876, its exhibition space has expand ...

*''Head of an Old Woman'' (before 1897), bronze, in the collection of National Gallery (Berlin) *''Head of a Young Girl'' (before 1897), bronze, in the collection of the National Gallery (Berlin) *''After the Fall from Grace"'' (1896), bronze, in the collection of the National Gallery (Berlin) *Tall

''The Army'' for the '' Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument'' in Indianapolis, Indiana. *Tympanum of

, Berlin *Numerous other works by Geiger were destroyed during World War II, including sculptures in "Villa Saloschin" (Berlin), the lifesize statue ''Labor'' for the

in Berlin, and figural decorations in the building of the

Dresdner Bank Dresdner Bank AG () was a German bank, founded in 1872 in Dresden, then headquartered in Berlin from 1884 to 1945 and in Frankfurt from 1963 onwards after a postwar hiatus. Long Germany's second-largest bank behind Deutsche Bank, it was eventually ...

(Berlin). * Kaiser

Barbarossa Barbarossa, a name meaning "red beard" in Italian, primarily refers to: * Frederick Barbarossa (1122–1190), Holy Roman Emperor * Hayreddin Barbarossa (c. 1478–1546), Ottoman admiral * Operation Barbarossa, the Axis invasion of the Soviet Uni ...

(for the

Kyffhäuser The Kyffhäuser (,''Duden - Das Aussprachewörterbuch, 7. Auflage (German)'', Dudenverlag, sometimes also referred to as ''Kyffhäusergebirge'') is a hill range in Central Germany, shared by Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, southeast of the Harz mou ...

monument) File:Monument barbarossa.jpg, ''Barbarossa'' at the Kyffhäuser Monument File:Alter St Matthaeus Kirchhof Berlin 6.jpg, ''Weeping Woman'', gravesite of Carl Hofmann at the , architect:

Bruno Schmitz Bruno Schmitz (21 November 1858 – 27 April 1916) was a German architect best known for his monuments in the early 20th century. He worked closely with sculptors such as Emil Hundrieser, Nikolaus Geiger and Franz Metzner for integrated architect ...

File:Berlin Bebelplatz asv2018-05 img1.jpg, Tympanum frieze, St. Hedwig's Cathedral, Berlin

Paintings

*''The Sinner'' (1884), purchased in 1898 by the

Alte Nationalgalerie The Alte Nationalgalerie ( ''Old National Gallery'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin, Germany. The gallery was built from 1862 to 1876 by the order of King Frederick William IV of Prussia according to ...

Berlin *Ceiling painting ''Adoration of the Christ Child'' in

Berlin

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geiger, Nikolaus 1849 births 1897 deaths German architectural sculptors 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German male painters Academic staff of the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni 19th-century German sculptors German male sculptors People from Lauingen

Life

Sculptures

Paintings

See also

References