 |
|||
Description
‘Design for the Reichstag-paintings of the Bundesratssitzungssaal in the German Reichstag, Berlin’ (‘Assembly Hall of the Federal Council in the German Reichstag-building’)
Biography: Raffael Schuster-Woldan
The Reichstag-paintings by Raffael Schuster Woldan
The Reichstag building (Reichstagsgebäude) was constructed to house the Imperial Diet (Reichstag) of the German Empire. Legislation was shared between the Reichstag and the Bundesrat, the Federal Council which was represented by reigning princes of the German States. The Reichstag-building was opened in 1894 and housed the Diet until 1933, when it was severely damaged after it was set on fire. After World War II, the building fell into disuse; the parliament of the German Democratic Republic met in the Palast der Republik in East Berlin, while the parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany (the Bundestag) met in the Bundeshaus in Bonn. In 1999, nine years after the German reunification, it once again became the meeting place of the German parliament: the modern Bundestag.
The construction of the building, designed by Paul Wallot, took ten years. Eventually, on 29 June 1884, the foundation stone was laid by Emperor Wilhelm I. The decorative sculptures, reliefs, and inscriptions were by sculptor Otto Lessing. Raffael Schuster-Woldan executed the ceiling and the nine large wall paintings of the Bundesratssitzungssaal, a masterwork completed after ten years in 1911. The central painting on the ceiling disappeared at the end of the war (still lost).
Names of the wall paintings, executed on canvas on wood, were:
– ‘Triumph der Kultur‘ (‘Triumph of Culture‘)
– ‘Landbaues und die Schreitende Jagd‘ (‘Agriculture and Hunting‘)
– ‘Friede und Ruhm‘ (‘Piece and Honor‘)
– ‘Land- und Seemacht‘ (‘Land- and Naval forces‘)
– ‘Handel und Kolonien‘ (‘Trade and Colonies‘)
– ‘Der Geschichte, Das Gesetz und Die Auslegung‘ (‘History, Law and Interpretation‘)
– ‘Das Vergehen und Das Werden‘ (‘Vanishing and Arise‘)
– ‘Das Leiden und Den Trost‘ (‘Suffering and Consolation‘)
Left: Reichstag-building, Bundesratssitzungssaal, around 1928.
Right: Reichstag-building, Bundesratssitzungssaal, 1911. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst für alle‘, March, 1911.
Reichstag-building, Bundesratssitzungssaal, depicted in ‘Velhagen & Klasings Monatshefte’, 1913/14.
Left: ‘Landbau und Jagt’
Right: ‘Friede und Ruhm’
Left: ‘Land- und Seemacht’
Right: ‘Handel und Kolonien’
| – condition | : III |
| – size | : 158 x 65 cm |
| – signed | : signed |
| – type | : oil on canvas |
| – provenienz | : on request |
============================================ § ============================================