Joseph Enseling, Bust of Hindenburg

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– DISPLAYED AT THE EXHIBITION ‘THE GERMAN KAISER AND THE THIRD REICH’ IN MUSEUM HUIS DOORN-
The exhibition was held from 2 October 2020 until 15 August 2021 in Huis Doorn, The Netherlands, – the  Kaiser’s residence-in-exile from 1921 – 1941.

‘Hindenburg’
Biography: Joseph Enseling

The original model in clay was created in 1927 in a provisional atelier in the ‘Reichspräsidentenpalais’ (Presidential Palace) in Berlin, next to the official working room of Paul von Hindenburg, the heroic Chief of the General Staff from 1916 and the second President of the Weimar Republic.

Hindenburg personally posed for Joseph Enseling, reportedly over a period of several days (photo below). The second president of the Weimar Republic had between his meetings only a few minutes left for posing. Therefore, Joseph Enseling was given a separate working room (private atelier) next to the working room of Hindenburg, at the Reichspräsidentenpalais, Wilhelmstrasse 73, Berlin.
Three casts after this model are known: the one offered here, an identical one in the possession of the Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History (LWL-Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte), and a very large one which was commisioned for the Parliament of Westphalia (‘Westfälischer Provinziallandtag’) in Münster. According to the ‘Deutsche Zeitung in den Niederlanden’ d.d. 20 September 1942, the massive bust was still located in 1942 in the Assembly Hall of Parliament of Westfalen. After WWII the sculpture disappeared.

Left: Joseph Enseling, 1927, photo of the separate workingroom next to Paul von Hindenburg’s working room, in the Reichspräsidentenpalais. Hindenburg was at that time President of the Weimar Republic. Depicted in the exhibition catalogue ‘Joseph Enseling, Skulpturen’, Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf, 1986, page 83.
Right: postcard depicting the ‘Reichspräsidentenpalais, Wilhelmstrasse 73, Berlin; from 1919 to 1934 the official residence of the President of Germany.
  

Joseph Enseling displayed one of these Hindeburg-casts at the following exhibitions:
Displayed in the ‘Landesmuseum Münster’, 1927.
Displayed in the ‘Deutsche Künstlerbund-Ausstellung’, 1927.
Displayed in the ‘Ausstellung der Essener Kunstgewerbeschullehrer’, 1928.
Displayed in the ‘Rheinische Cezession, Jub. ausstellung’, Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1929.
Displayed in the Hall of Honor of the ‘Grosse Ruhrländsiche Gartenbau-Ausstellung’, Essen, 1929.
Displayed in the exhibition ‘Bildende Kunst’, Westfälische Kunstverein, 1933.
Displayed in the ‘Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf’, 1986.
Displayed in the Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte in Münster, until approx. 2010.

Parliament of Westphalia
The Province of Westphalia (Westfalen) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946. Prussia and its provinces formally continued to exist even though political control was eventually taken over by the National Socialists following their rise to power in 1933. However, Prussia did not survive the defeat and the division of Germany following the end of World War II in 1945. The Province of Westphalia was merged with the northern half of the Rhine Province to form the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1946.
From 1875 on the Prussian provinces were bodies combining regional home rule through representatives delegated from each rural and urban county, forming the provincial diet (Provinziallandtag), which elected from its midst a head of this self-administration and a provincial government, as well as part of the superordinated overall Prussian royal administration, supervising the self-governing municipalities and counties as well as each governorate. Between 1920 and 1933 the provincial diet was directly elected by the Westphalian electorate.

The Hindenburg-bust by Enseling in 1928 in the Assembly Hall of the Parliament of Westphalia (‘Westfälischer Provinziallandtag, Plenar-Sitzungssaal’) in Münster. According to the ‘Deutsche Zeitung in den Niederlanden d.d. 20 September 1942, the massive bust was still located in 1942 in the Parliament of Westfalen. After WWII the sculpture disappeared.
At the left the bust of Hindenburg, second President of the Weimar Republic (1925-1933).
At the right the bust of Friedrich Ebert, first President of the Weimar republic (1919-1925).

The Parliament of Westfalia, 10 April 1933, at the opening of the 79st Provinziallandtages (Freiherr-vom-Stein-Platz, historische Plenarsaal).
The Nazi’s did not like Friedrich Ebert, and it is clear that they have removed his bust, just like Friedrich Ebert’s sculpture by Richard Scheibe at the ‘Frankfurter Paulskirche’ in 1933.
The bust of Hindenburg is placed now in the middle.

Left: the Hindenburg Bust by Enseling displayed in the Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf, 1986. Lended from the Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte in Münster. Depicted in the exhibition catalogue ‘Joseph Enseling, Skulpturen’, Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf, 1986, page 83.
Right: Joseph Enseling, flyer of the exhibition in the Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf – Palais Spee, 31 August to 5. October 1986.
 

Page 11 of the exhibition catalogue ‘Joseph Enseling, Skulpturen’, 1986: statement by the doughter of Joseph Enseling that the Bust was made in the room next to the working room of Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg:
 

Grosse Ruhrländsiche Gartenbau-Ausstellung, Essen
A Hindenburg bust by Enseling was displayed in the Hall of Honor of the ‘GRUGA; the Grosse Ruhrländsiche Gartenbau-Ausstellung (‘Great Ruhr Landscape Exhibition’) in Essen, held from 29 June to 13 October 1929. This exhibition took place on the occasion of the opening of the ‘GRUGA-park’. The Grugapark is with its 700,000 square metres not only one of the most impressive botanical gardens in Europe, it houses also a large animal park and it is the largest open air museum in the Ruhr region, with an important sizeable sculpture collection. In 1952, the park was again the venue for a large horticultural exhibition. In 1965, the GRUGA hosted the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Garden Show) with new themes which still shape the park today.
Left: ‘Der Protektor der Gruga’, Hindenburg, page 5 of the official exhibition catalogue.
Right: the bust of Hindenburg by Prof. J. Enseling stood in the Hall of Honour; page 53 of the exhibition catalogue.
  

The Hindenburg bust described in ‘Die Kunst für alle‘, 1936/37, as ‘one of the best works by Enseling‘.

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