Edmund von Hellmer

Edmund Hellmer (c.1904)

Johann Strauß Monument in Vienna

Edmund Ritter von Hellmer (12 November 1850, Vienna – 9 March 1935, Vienna), born Edmund Hellmer and ennobled in 1912, was an Austrian sculptor who worked in the styles of Historicism and Art Nouveau.

Life

Hellmer studied architecture at the Polytechnikum in Vienna. At the same time, he received his first artistic training from his uncle, the sculptor Josef Schönfeld. In 1866, Hellmer decided to study sculpture full-time at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. While there, he also worked in the studio of Hanns Gasser, who helped him to finance a short stay in Paris. In 1869, at the age of 19, he presented a statue of Prometheus at the International Art Exhibition in Munich. He won a prize that included a scholarship, enabling him to spend almost two years in Italy.

In 1870, he returned to Vienna and worked as a freelance sculptor. In 1879, he was appointed a Professor at the Academy and, from 1882 to 1892, was a member of the faculty there. Emil Fuchs was one of Hellmer's most prominent students.^[1] In 1897, he was one of the founders of the Vienna Secession.^[2] From 1901 to 1922 he was an associate dean, then a full dean at the Academy. During the last year of his life, he was confined to a wheelchair.^[3]

Major works

• Franz Joseph I Gives His People a Constitution, Pediment at the Austrian Parliament Building, 1879
• Schindler Monument in the Stadtpark, Vienna. Marble, 1895
• Die Macht zu Lande (The Forces on Land), fountain at the Hofburg in Vienna. Marble, 1897
• Goethe Monument, at the Opera Ring in Vienna. Bronze, 1900.
• Empress Elisabeth Monument, Salzburg, 1901^[4]
• Castalia Fountain at the University of Vienna, 1910
• Johann Strauß Monument in the Stadtpark, Vienna. Bronze with marble reliefs, 1921
• Grave statues for Hans Makart (1889), Nikolaus Dumba (1903) and Hugo Wolf (1904), among many others.

References

1. Quoted on Tate website: Ronald Alley, Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.227-8
2. "Ordentliche Mitglieder" [Ordinary Members]. Ver Sacrum 1: 28. 1898.
3. Josef Müllner: Edmund Hellmer gestorben. In: Neue Freie Presse, 10. March 1935, p. 09 (Online at ANNO).
4. Das Denkmal der Kaiserin Elisabeth in Salzburg. In: Neue Freie Presse, 15. July 1901, p. 01 (Online at ANNO).

Further reading

• Edmund Hellmer und seine Schule. Mit 27 Illustrationen. In: Österreichs Illustrierte Zeitung, Year 1903, Heft 28/1904, 10. April 1904 (XIII. Jahrgang), p. 590–593. (Online bei ANNO).
• "Hellmer Edmund von". In: Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Vol. 2, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1959, p. 264 f. (Direct links to "p. 264", "p. 265")
• Barbara Scheiblin: Die Sepulkralplastik Edmund Hellmers. Diplomarbeit. Universität Wien, Wien 1988.
• Felix Czeike: Historisches Lexikon Wien. Band 3: Ha – La. Kremayr & Scheriau, Wien 1994, ISBN 3-218-00545-0.
• Barbara Scheiblin: Sisi in Salzburg. Das Kaiserin-Elisabeth-Denkmal von Edmund Hellmer. In: Salzburg-Archiv. Band 26.1999, ZDB-ID 2379825-7. Verein Freunde der Salzburger Geschichte (Hrsg.), Salzburg 1999, S. 255–276.

External links

• Link to Hellmer, Edmund von in: Austria-Forum, the Austrian knowledge network – online  (at AEIOU)
• Edmund von Hellmer, Wiener Goethe-Denkmal, 1900
• Entry for Edmund von Hellmer on the Union List of Artist Names