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Description
‘Wisentstier’ (‘Bison’)
Bronze, with black patina. Signed ‘A Kraemer 1920’.
First original cast signed 1920. Later, in the second half of the 1930s and in the early 1940s, Kramer created around 10 more casts similar to the Bison model from 1920. These later casts are not signed with a date.
While restoring the marble base, the restorer found traces of Casting Sand (‘Brussels Earth’) under the bronze base plate, indicating that this 1920 cast served as model for the later casts.
Kraemer displayed a similar copy of the 1920-bison at the Great German Art Exhibition in 1938 in room 6. One cast was purchased for 1,000 Reichsmark by Luftgaukommando VII (München) and another cast by Luftwaffenkommando See (Kiel).
The bison by Kraemer was also displayed at the ‘Frühjahrs-Ausstellung, Preussische Akademie der Künste’, 1939.
Albert Kraemer, ‘Wisentstier’, displayed at the GDK 1938 room 6.
| – condition | : II |
| – size | : 41 cm long; height incl. pedestal 37 cm |
| – signed | : on pedestal signed ‘A. Kraemer 1920’ |
| – type | : bronze with black patina. With original black marble base. |
| – misc. | : found traces of Casting Sand (‘Brussels Earth’) |
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BIOGRAPHY: ALBERT KRAEMER
Albert Kraemer, ‘Wisentstier’, GDK 1938, room 6.
Albert Kraemer, ‘Panthergruppe’ (‘Panthers’). Displayed at the GDK 1938, room 29. Depicted in Die Kunst im Dritten Reich 1938.
Left: Albert Kraemer, ‘Modell für ein Kriegergrabdenkmal’ (‘Model for a War Memorial’). GDK 1940, room 29.
Right: Albert Kraemer, ‘Grave Leutnant Emmrich-sculpture’, 1918. Located at the graveyard Parkfriedhof Lichterfelde, Berlin.
‘Bärenbrücke’ (‘Bear Bridge’) near Berlin
In July 1936, just before the Olympic Games, Albert Kraemer created two bear sculptures for the ‘Torbrücke’, also named ‘Bärenbrücke’ (‘Bear Bridge’), over the newly constructed German Autobahn A2, the last bridge before the Berliner Ring (just before Autobahndreieck Werder, near Kloster Lehnin). A bear has been the symbol of Berlin since 1280.
In 1999, when the Autobahn A2 was widened from 4 lanes to 6 lanes, the Torbrücke was reconstructed. The bear-relief at the right side was re-placed a few meters in front of the Torbrücke. The bear-relief at the left side was stored for 17 years at a stonemason’s yard, and in 2016 re-placed alongside the A24 (in front of the bridge near Staffelde, shortly before the Autobahndreieck Havelland); placed at the right side of the Autobahn (!).
Left: Albert Kraemer, Bear-relief at the A24 (in front of the bridge near Staffelde). Placed at the right side of the Autobahn. Notice that the bear -originally designed for the left part of the bridge- looks to the right. All other Berlin-bears look -conform the Coat of Arms of Berlin- to the left. Photo: LS. Brandenburg, Pressestelle BMVI 2015 www.berliner-baerenfreunde.de.
Right: Albert Kraemer, Bear-relief at the right side of the Torbrücke (bridge over the A2 before Autobahndreieck Werder, near Kloster Lehnin).
Albert Kraemer, ‘Pelikangruppe’ (Group of Pelicans’), created in bronze. Displayed at the ‘Preussische Akademie der Künste, Herbst-Ausstellung’, Berlin, 1941. Depicted in the exhibition catalogue.
Left: Albert Kraemer, ‘Kopf eines Oberhessen’ (‘Bust of man from Oberhessen’). GDK 1939, room 35. Also displayed at the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung 1942 in the Nationalgalerie.
Right: ‘Kopf eines Oberhessen’, signed ‘A. Kraemer 1912’, bronze, Giesserei Erwin Barth Bln. Chlbg. Height 39,5 cm including base. Sold by a German auctionhouse in 2012.
Left: Albert Kraemer, ‘Pelikangruppe’ (‘Pelicans’), 1934, GDK 1938, room 29. Also displayed at the ‘Frühjahrs-Ausstellung, Preussische Akademie der Künste’, 1939.
Right: Albert Kramer, ‘Bär’ (‘Bear’), bronze, created around 1920, height 39 cm, sold by a German auction house in 2011. The same model executed in stone was displayed at the GDK 1939, room 32, bought by Gauleiter Walter Buch for 1.900 RM.
Albert Kraemer, two bears, Berlin-Tempelhof, Mariendorfer Damm 115, in the garden of a children day care centre, height 1.70 metres. Damaged (……….). Foto: 2014.
Advertisement of ‘Adam Bühl & Franz Reuther’, a stonemasons’s yard in Berlin (date unknown). Besides their work for the New Reich Chancellery, a granit eagle by Albert Kraemer is depicted, likely made for the ‘Niederlausitzer Kohlenwerke in Berlin-Wilmersdorf.
Albert Kraemer
Albert Kraemer (1889 – 1953), born in Frankfurt am Main, lived from 1937 to 1943 in Berlin. At first he studied at the local Frankfurter Kunstgewerbeschule, and later at the Akademie für Bildende Künste in Berlin. He made portrait busts, war monuments and, especially, animal sculptures. Kraemer was influenced by August Gaul. His direct and formal style of sculpturing animals is reminiscent of French sculptures from the early 20th century. The city of Berlin is in possession of some of his sculptures. He created the sculpture at the grave of Leutnant Emmrich, a volunteer soldier and son of an industrialist in 1918 (located at the graveyard Parkfriedhof Lichterfelde, Berlin). Kraemer, against tradition, did not create an ideal model of the heroic individual, but instead showed a young, sportsmanlike human being in classic nakedness. Later, a copy of this sculpture was displayed at the Great Art Exhibition in 1940 as ‘Modell für ein Kriegergrabdenkmal’. Around 1920 Kraemer designed -in co-operation with Hugo Lederer- several terracotta figures for the facade of the building of the former ‘Reichsschuldenverwaltung’ in the Oranienstraße 106, Berlin (because of the broad facade, the building was nicknamed ‘laying scyscraper’). He was represented several times at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellungen’, at exhibitions of the ‘Preussische Akademie der Künste’, and at exhibitions of the ‘Hilfswerk für Deutsche Bildende Künst in der NS-Volkswohlfahrt in Berlin. In 1936, close before the Olympic Games, Kraemer created two bear sculptures for the bridge (‘Torbrücke’) of the newly constructed German Autobahn A2, the last bridge before the Berliner Ring (just before Autobahndreieck Werder).
Albert Kraemer had 11 sculptures displayed in the Great German Art Exhibitions. Besides the ‘Kriegergrabdenkmal’, there were the following: ‘Wisentstier’, ‘Pelikangruppe’, ‘Panthergruppe’, ‘Bär’, ‘Grosse Pelikan Gruppe’, ‘Liegende Panther’ and ‘Panther am Baum’. Two bears (stone) by Albert Kraemer can still be found at Berlin-Tempelhof, Mariendorfer Damm 115, in the garden of a children day care centre.