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Description
– 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’
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‘.
| – condition | : II |
| – size | : height 44 cm, including base of 10 cm |
| – signed | : documentation on request |
| – type | : bronze |
| – misc. | : sockel renewed |
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BIOGRAPHY: JOSEPH ENSELING
Joseph Enseling, ‘Bust of Hindenburg’. Height 69 cm, bronze. Displayed at the exhibition ‘Aufbruch im Westen‘, Ruhr Museum, Essen, April 2019 – January 2020. It is unclear whether this is the same bust as the bust which once stood in the Parliament of Westfalen.
The same Hindenburg bust by Enseling (assumably), displayed at the exhibition ‘Die Liste der Gottbegnadeten. Künstler des Nationalsozialismus in der Bundesrepublik’ (‘Divinely Gifted. National Socialism’s Favoured Artists in the Federal Republic’), August-December 2021, German Historical Museum, Berlin. In the possession of the ‘Stiftung Ruhr Museum‘ , Essen.
Left and right: Joseph Enseling, ‘Eisenhüttenmann’ (‘Blast-furnace worker’). GDK 1942, room 20 (likely the plaster model, which was destroyed during transport by Allied bombing in WWII). An iron cast of 3.60 meter high was commisoned on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Mannesmann AG in 1939. A smaller version of 2.60 meter high is still in the possession of Hüttenwerke Krupp-Mannesmann in Duisburg-Huckingen. A cast of Eisenhüttenmann was also displayed at the ‘Spring-Exhibition Düsseldorfer Künstler’, 1944, in the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf.
Enseling in his atelier, working on the sculpture ‘Eisenhüttenmann’.
‘EIsenhüttenmann’ by Enseling, cast of 2,60 meter high, located in front of the ‘Alte Verwaltungsbau’ (Administration Building) of Hüttenwerke Krupp-Mannesmann in Duisburg-Huckingen.
Left: ‘Eisenhüttenmann’ by Enseling, depicted in the ‘Deutsche Zeitung in den Niederlanden’, 20 September 1942. This article confirms that in 1942 the Hindenburg-bust by Enseling is still located in the Parliament of Westfalen in Münster.
Right: ‘Eisenhüttenmann’ by Enseling, depicted in the ‘Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland’, 20 July 1942.
A small bronze cast of ‘Eisenhüttenmann’ (approx 90 cm high) was displayed at the exhibition ‘Aufbruch im Westen‘, Ruhr Museum, Essen, April 2019 – January 2020. In private possession.
Left: Joseph Enseling, ‘Schalenträgerin’. GDK 1942, room 2. Destroyed during an Allied bombing of the City of Düsseldorf.
Right: ‘Schalenträgerin’ by Enseling, depicted in the ‘Deutsche Zeitung im Ostland’, 26 Juni 1943.
Photo of ‘Schalenträgerin’, dated on the backsite 1 August 1942.
Joseph Enseling, ‘Relief vom Kriegerdenkmal der Stadt Unnan’ (War Memorial of the City of Unnan’), 1935.
Left: Joseph Enseling, ‘Kopf eines Ruhrbergarbeiters’ (‘Head of a Ruhrberg mine-worker’), 1937. GDK 1940, room 15. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst im Deutschen Reich’, 1940. Also displayed at the exhibition ‘Rheinische Kunstausstellung’, Wien, 1941; depicted in the official art catalogue under the name ‘Hüttenarbeiter’.
Right: ‘Kopf eines Ruhrbergarbeiters’, displayed at the exhibition ‘Aufbruch im Westen‘, Ruhr Museum, Essen, April 2019 – January 2020.
Josef Enseling, ‘Trauendern Bergmann’ (‘Mourning Mine Worker’). World War I Memorial of the Gewerkschaft der Vereinigte Constantin in the City of Bochum, commemorating the 475 fallen soldiers of the Constantin der Grosse mine in Bochum.
Left: depicted in ‘Die Kunst im Deutschen Reich’, 1939.
Right: the sculpture located in the city of Bochum.
‘Trauende Bergmann’ by Enseling, depicted on the cover of ‘Der Kruppschen Betriebsgemeinschaft’, 15 May 1938 (a corporate magazine of Krupp).
Joseph Enselingh, ‘Reiterfigur’, plaster. GDK 1943 room 33. Depicted in ‘Duesseldorfer Künstler im Haus der Deutschen Kunst’, 1943.
Joseph Enseling, ‘Tänzerin‘ (‘Dancer‘), created in 1935. Displayed at the GDK 1937 room 36. Height 54,5 cm.
Left: ‘Tänzerin‘ depicted in the exhibition catalogue ‘Joseph Enseling, Skulpturen‘, 1986.
Right: ‘Tänzerin‘, displayed at the exhibition ‘Joseph Enseling, Skulpturen‘, Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf, 1986.
‘Fanciula che Danza’
‘Tänzerin’ by Joseph Enseling was also displayed under the name ‘Fanciula che Danza’ at the exhibition ‘Esposizione d’Arte Duesseldorf, Florence, 1943. Depicted in the exhibition catalogue.
Joseph Enseling, ‘Friede’, 1939, height 175 cm. Located in the Gruga-park, Essen. Photo: 2015.
Joseph Enseling, ‘Trauer’ (‘Mourning’). War Memorial, created in 1929. Located at the cemetery of Essen (Südwestfriedhof in Essen).
Left: ‘Trauer’ photographed in 2017.
Right: ‘Trauer’ photographed in 1945 (likely at that time still located in the Gruga-park in Essen).
Joseph Enseling, ‘Ehrenmal für die Gefallenen Kasino-Mitglieder der Kruppschen Gusstahlfabrik‘ (Memorial for the fallen senior employees of the Krupp-Gussfabrik‘), city of Essen, 1922. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst für alle‘, 1925/26. Also depicted in ‘Deutscher Ehrenhain, für die Helden von 1914/18‘, 1931.
Joseph Enseling, ‘Brunnenfigur’ (‘Fountain-figure’). Plaster. Displayed at the ‘Frühjahrs-Ausstellung’, 1942, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf. Depicted in the exhibition catalogue. Also displayed at the GDK 1942 room 29.
Margarethenhöhe
The Margarethenhöhe-Garden-City in Essen, model of urban architecture, was founded by Margarethe Krupp in 1906. The garden city with its 3092 units in 935 buildings on an area of 115 ha (of which 50 ha are woodland) is considered the first of its kind in Germany. All buildings follow the same stylistic concept, with slight variations for each one. Although originally designed as an area for the lower classes (as residential buildings for employees of the Krupp plants) with quite small flats, the old part Margarethenhöhe I has developed into a middle class residential area and housing space has become highly sought after.
The town was created between 1909 and 1935 in several stages of construction. Social reformist ideas associated with the garden city movement were reflected in the architecture here. The quality of life in the first German garden city is accentuated by the two forest parks -Sommerburgtal and Nachtigallental- which were donated by Margarethe Krupp in 1907.
Left: Joseph Enseling, ‘Säerin‘ (‘Female Sower‘). Displayed at the exhibition ‘Aufbruch im Westen‘, Ruhr Museum, Essen, April 2019 – January 2020.
Right: ‘Säerin’, created in 1934, located at the Margarethenhöhe, in Essen; allegorical figure of the founder of the Margarethenhöhe Mrs. F.A. Krupp. After the exhibition the sculpture will be brought back to its permanent location at the Margarethenhöhe. Depicted in ‘Joseph Enseling, -Skulpturen’, 1986.
Below: ‘Säerin’ at its permanent location, the Margarethenhöhe.
Joseph Enseling, ‘Schatzgräberbrunnen‘ (‘Treasure-digger Fountain’), located at the Margarethenhöhe, city of Essen. Revealed at 29 July 1912. The fountain, commissioned by the city of Essen, was in honour of Margarethe Krupp/ the 100-year existence of the Krupp Company. The engraved text reads: ‘Grabt Schätze nicht mit Spaten, sucht sie in edlen Taten‘, or ‘do not dig treasures with shovels, but find them in honorable deeds’. Below an old postcard depicting the fountain.
Left: Joseph Enseling, War Memorial in the city of Peine, 1928. Depicted in ‘Deutscher Ehrenhain, für die Helden von 1914/18‘, 1931.
Right: the memorial was later permanently placed in the Hall of Honour of the Museum Folkwang in Essen. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst für alle‘, 1936/37.
Joseph Enseling, ‘Liegende‘ (‘Laying‘). Depicted in ‘Die Kunst für alle‘, 1925/26.
Joseph Enseling, ‘Mädchenfigur‘ (‘Girl‘), bronze, 1927, height 127 cm. Also named ‘Mourning Girl‘. War Memorial commissioned by the ‘süddeutschen Eisenbahngesellschaft‘, Erzhof Essen. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst für alle‘, 1936/37.
Joseph Enseling, ‘Ehrenmal zu Vreden i. Westf‘ (‘Memorila in Vreden, NRW‘). Depicted in ‘Deutscher Ehrenhain, für die Helden von 1914/18‘, 1931.
Left: Joseph Enseling‘, War Memorial in the city of Coesfeld, 1928. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst für alle‘, 1936/37.
Right: the memorial in the year 2019.
Joseph Enseling’s memorial in the city of Coesfeld, depicted in ‘Deutscher Ehrenhain, für die Helden von 1914/18’, 1931.
Joseph Enseling, ‘Tänzerin‘, displayed at the ‘Grosse Kunstausstellung Düsseldorf‘, 1920. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst für alle‘, 1919/20 and again in 1925/26. A cast was displayed at the exhibition ‘Aufbruch im Westen‘, Ruhr Museum, Essen, April 2019 – January 2020.
Joseph Enseling, bronze life size statues ’Bettler’ (‘Beggar’), ‘Geldzähler’ (’Money Counter’) and ‘Mutter mit Kind’ (‘Mother with Child’). The three statues, created in 1929, were placed above the entrance of the Sparkasse Essen (they are still in possession of the Sparkasse).
Above: the three bronzes displayed at the exhibition ‘Aufbruch im Westen‘, Ruhr Museum, Essen, April 2019 – January 2020.
Sparkasse Essen around 1930, visible are above the entrance the three sculptures. From left to right: ‘Geldzähler’, ‘Mutter mit Kind’ and ‘Bettler’.
Joseph Enseling, ‘Männer mit prähistorischen Tieren‘ (‘Men with pre-historic Animals’), 1912. Depicted in ‘Joseph Enseling, Skulpturen’, Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf, 1986. The sculptures were placed on top of the building of the ‘Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte‘ in the city of Halle.
The sculptures on top of the ‘Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte’, around 2016.
‘Joseph Enseling, ‘Tafels aus der Ehrenhalle für die 3000 gefallenen Werksangehörigen der Friedr. Krupp A.G.‘ (Commemorative tables in the Hall of Honor of the administrative building of the Krupp concern, for the 3000 fallen employees of Krupp A.G.’), 1926, city of Essen.
Left and middle: both tables are depicted in ‘Deutscher Ehrenhain, für die Helden von 1914/18‘, 1931. Left: ‘Zusammenbruch‘ (‘The Fall‘). Middle ‘Wiederaufstieg‘ (‘Rising Up‘).
Right: ‘Zusammenbruch’, displayed at the exhibition ‘Aufbruch im Westen‘, Ruhr Museum, Essen, April 2019 – January 2020.
The tables in the ‘Ehrenhalle der Verwaltungsgebäude der Firma Krupp’, depicted in the ‘Kruppsche Monatshefte’, August/September 1927.
Joseph Enseling, student of Maillol
Joseph Enseling (1886 – 1957) sun of a carpenter, was a German sculptor who began as an apprentice from 1905-1910 at the Arts and Crafts School (Kunstgewerbeschule) in Dusseldorf. His teachers include, among others, Rudolf Bosselt, Wilhelm Kreis and Peter Behrens. He was a student of Aristide Maillol from 1910 until 1912 at the Academy Colarossi Paris. Later in 1912 he opened an atelier in Düsseldorf. In 1913 he was appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Folkwangschool in Essen. During World War I he went into military services from 1914 to 1916. From 1938 until 1952 he was employed at the Dusseldorf Academy of Art (Kunstakademie).
Enseling worked in stone, wood, bronze and ceramic. He created numerous monumental sculptures, and architectural and industrial statues in the Rhine-Ruhr region of Westphalia. Many of his works are reminiscent of the area’s industrial-cultural heritage of the 1920s and 30s. Furthermore, many expressionistic portraits from personalities of this time are conserved. He also created many war memorials honoring the fallen German soldiers of WWI.
In 1927 Enseling created a bust of Hindenburg. 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. 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, one in possession of German Art Gallery, 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.
In 1941 Enseling took part in the exhibition ‘Rheinische Kunstausstellung’, Wien; his ‘Kopf eines Ruhrbergarbeiters’ (‘Head of a Ruhrberg mine-worker’) was displayed under the name ‘Hüttenarbeiter’; a year later he participated in the ‘Frühjahrs Ausstellung’, 1942, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf.
Nine of Enselings sculptures were displayed at the Great German Art Exhibitions, among them ‘Eisenhüttenmann’ (GDK 1942 room20), ‘Tänzerin ‘(GDK 1937 room 36) and ‘Kopf eines Ruhrbergarbeiters’ (GDK 1940 room 15). In 1943 he took with three works part at the ‘Ausstellung Düsseldorfer Kunst der Gegenwart’ in the Strozzi-Palast in Florence: ‘Maschera tragica’ (‘Tragische Maske’ or ‘Tragic Mask’), ‘Figura sdraiata’ (‘Laying Figure’) and ‘Fanciulla che danza’ (‘Tänzerin’).
Joseph Enseling died in 1957 in Düsseldorf.
Works by Enseling were displayed at exhibitions in 1958 (‘Gedächtnisausstellung‘), 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1975, 1984, 1985. In 1986 his sculptures were shown at the exhibition ‘Joseph Enseling, Skulpturen‘, Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf. In 2011/12 at the Joseph Beuys Exhibition at Museum Schloss Moyland, Enselings ‘Stehender Knabe‘ from 1930 was shown (Beuys was a pupil of Joseph Enseling). Tens of works by Enseling were displayed at the exhibition ‘Aufbruch im Westen‘, Ruhr Museum, Essen, April 2019 – January 2020; i.a. ‘Kopf eines Rurhbergarbeiters’, ‘Hindenburg’, ‘Säerin‘ and the ‘Tafel aus der Ehrenhalle für die 3000 gefallenen Werksangehörigen der Friedr. Krupp A.G.‘ (‘Commemorative table in the Hall of Honor, for the 3000 fallen employees of Krupp A.G.’, 1926, city of Essen). A bronze bust of Hindenburg by Enseling was displayed in 2020/21 at the exhibition ‘The German Kaiser and the Third Reich’ in Museum Huis Doorn, The Netherlands, –the Kaiser’s residence-in-exile from 1921 to 1941.