Richard Scheibe, Herabsteigende

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Description

‘Herabsteigende’ (‘Descending’)
Biography: Richard Scheibe

Assumedly displayed at the GDK 1944, room 30.
Single unique cast (with the core still inside), see X-ray photos below.

According to the archive of Haus der Kunst, the sculpture was bought at the GDK 1944 by Dr. Luise Dolezalek, then housewife, living in the Tyrol with her two children, aged 1 and 3. In 1937, Dr. Luise Dolezalek (neé Fick), completed her doctorate at the University of Jena with her thesis ‘Die deutsche Jugendbewegung’. From 1939 to 1940 she had been working at an SS unit that was responsible for the resettlement of ethnic Germans coming from Galicia and Volhynia whilst being on partial leave from her traineeship period as a teacher in Frankfurt/Oder. This unit -set up in 1939 by the SS Officer in charge of the resettlement programme in the Warthegau, Wilhelm Koppe- was part of the Posen office of the RKF, the ‘Reichskommissar für die Festigung deutschen Volkstums’ (‘Reichs Commissioner for the Strengthening of Germandom’), headed by Heinrich Himmler since Oct. 7, 1939.
In 1940, she married SS-Untersturmführer Alexander Dolezalek, who was then Head of the Settlement Planning Department at the RKF Headquarters of Posen and Lodz.

Richard Scheibe, ‘Herabsteigende’. Depicted in the official catalogue of the Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstellung 1944.

Direct Lost-Wax Casting – the Single Unique Cast
In the direct lost-wax casting process (also named ‘cire perdue’), the sculptor begins by building a roughly modelled clay-core over a metal armature. The clay-core is baked to harden it and drive off moisture, and then a relatively thin layer of wax is applied that receives the detailing of anatomy, texture, facial features and signature. A mold is formed around the wax-model, when the mold is heated the wax melts and creates a space into which molten bronze is poured. Once the bronze is cast, the clay-core and armature can be removed to lessen the weight of the finished sculpture. Occasionally the core and armature rods are -in whole or in part- left inside the bronze. On sculptures meant to be placed outdoors, the clay-core and iron-armature are generally removed in order to avoid damage from absorption of water.
The direct lost wax technique allows the artist to cast directly off of the original model, and is ideal for wax models with complex surface textures as well as large and complex compositions. This casting method produces a Single Unique Cast from a Single Model (as opposed to one that is cast from a mold of an existing model). The original master model is lost in the casting process: producing more copies of the master model is impossible.
When X-ray photos show iron armature or internal frame inside the bronze, it is evident that the direct lost wax casting technique was used and that we have to do with the original cast/model.

X-ray photos of ‘Herabsteigende’. Clearly visible are the iron wires from the core inside.
  

Left: Richard Scheibe, art-print, ‘Herabsteigende’. This is another iron cast created in 1945 (one from five), depicted in ‘Richard Scheibe’, Rembrandt-Verlag, Berlin, 1955. The base is different then the base from the model displayed at the GDK, just like a third cast, which was sold at auctionhouse Hauswedell & Nolte in 2011 (photo right). Both casts -which must be copies from the original cast- were located in the Berlin-Hamburg area.
  

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