Werner Peiner, Flügellöwe, Berlin’s House of Representatives

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				Price: € 5.500

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‘Flügellöwe’ (‘Winged Lion’)
Biography: Werner Peiner

Orignal design of the mosaic work for the hallway of the ‘Haus der Flieger’, nowadays the ‘The Berlin House of Representatives’ (‘Abgeordneten Haus von Berlin’), the seat of the State Parliament of Berlin.
In August and September 1937 Werner Peiner created 4 designs for 4 monumental mosaic works for the hallway of the Haus der Flieger: two Winged Lions and two Winged Horses. Notice below how the rounded upper edges of the design correspond with the shape of the walls in the Hall of the Berlin House of Representatives.

Werner Peiner, ‘Flügellöwe, Mosaik im Haus der Flieger, Berlin’. Depicted in the book ‘Werner Peiner’, Kanter- Bücher, 1940.

Werner Peiner, ‘Flügellöwe’ (‘Winged Lion’). Huge mosaic work in the hallway (‘Wandellhal’) of the Haus der Flieger, around 1937. The picture on the right was in reality 70 cm x 54 cm.**
Depicted in ‘Die Kunst im Dritten Reich’, 2. Jahrgang, Juli 1938, page 220 and 221.
   

Werner Peiner, Karton of one of the Flügellöwe. Displayed at the ‘Werner Peiner Ausstellung unter der Schirmherrschaft des Ministerpräsidenten Generaloberst Göring’, in the Prussian Art Academy, Berlin, Februar 1938. Foto depicted in ‘Die Bildende Künste im Dritten Reich’, Joseph Wulf, 1966. Left from Göring his wife Emmy.
Its is plausible that Peiner copied the original designs onto huge cartons, before the mosaik works were created (just like the procedure with the gobelins).

Left: hallway of the ‘Haus der Flieger’, Niederkirchnerstraße 5, around 1937. Peiners ‘Flügelross’, depicted in ‘Deutsches Mosaik’, J.L. Fischer’, 1939, Tafel 54. Mosaic work in the Haus der Flieger; notice how the rounded upper edges of the offered design correspond with the shape of the walls in the hallway.
Right: Right: Werner Peiner, ‘Flügelross’, depicted on the cover of the book ‘Werner Peiner’, Kanter-Bücher, 1940.
  

Left: Werner Peiner, ‘Ausschnitt Geflügeltes Pferd’, Haus der Flieger, Berlin. Displayed at the ‘Herbstausstellung Neuköllner Künstler’, in den Festräumen des neukölner Rathauses, Oktober 1942. Depicted in the exhibition catalogue.
Right: original close-up photograph of the mosaic by Werner Peiner, ‘Geflügelte Pferd’ in the Haus der Flieger. Photo in the possession of the Wolfsonian-Florida International University/ FIU Library Collection (accession number xc2010.02.27).
   

Left: Werner Peiner, ‘Jagdzene‘ (‘Hunting-scene‘). Gobelin located in the Haus der Flieger, Berlin. Depicted in ‘Deutsche Kunstbetrachtung‘, Georg Schorer, 1941.
Right: three Harvest-paintings by Peiner, located in the ‘Haus der Flieger’, Berlin. Depicted in ‘Werner Peiner, Kanter-Bücher, 1940.
   

‘The Berlin House of Representatives’; Haus der Flieger.
In 1899, the Preussian House of Representatives (‘Preussische Abgeordnetenhaus für die 2. Kammer Preussens’) moved into the neo-Renaissance style building on the Niederkirchnerstraße 5. The Landtag of Prussia (‘Preußischer Landtag’, or ‘Prussian State Assembly’) was the representative assembly of the Kingdom of Prussia implemented in 1849, a bicameral legislature consisting of the upper House of Lords (Herrenhaus) and the lower House of Representatives (‘Preußisches Abgeordnetenhaus’, the Second Chamber).
During the German Revolution of 1918–1919 the Reichsrätekongress (national Workers’ and Soldiers’ Council) held its assemblies in this building from 16 to 20 December 1918. On 1 January 1919, the Communist Party of Germany was founded on this location. In March 1921 the building was used again by the Prussian House of Representatives.
In the 1932 State elections, the Nazi NSDAP became the strongest party in national parliament and after Hitler’s appointment as Reich Chancellor, the last sitting of the Prussian House of Representatves took place in May, 1933. From 1933 on the building in Berlin was a representative office -named ‘Haus der Flieger’ (‘Aviator’s House’)- of Hermann Göring, the Reich Aviation Minister (‘Reichsminister der Luftfahrt’). Göring also served as the Commander in Chief of the Luftwaffe (‘Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe’). The ‘Haus der Flieger’ functioned more or less as a second Reichs Chancellery. After 1941 it was also used by the Reich Main Security Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt). In the Second World War the building was partly bombed.
After 1945, the building was the seat of the first DDR-Government. In 1960 the Stasi (East German state security service) established its headquarters here.
In 1993, four years after the fall of the Wall, the Berlin House of Representatives (‘Abgeordneten Haus von Berlin‘) held its first meeting in the building.
The Berlin House of Representatives is the state parliament (‘Landtag’) of Berlin and is chosen every five years. It consists of at least 130 representatives (Berlin is the capital of Germany and one of the 16 states of Germany).

‘Haus der Flieger’, nowadays the ‘Berlin House of Representatives’ (‘Abgeordneten Haus von Berlin’). Foto: Berlin, 2013.

Left: hallway of the ‘Preussian House of Representatives’, Niederkirchnerstraße 5, around 1900.
Right: hallway of the ‘The Berlin House of Representatives’, Niederkirchnerstrasse 5, around 2014.
  

In August and September 1937 Werner Peiner created four designs for monumental mosaic works for the hallway of the Haus der Flieger: two Winged Lions and two Winged Horses. The creation of these designs is, like all his works, carefully noted in his administration-book (below). It is unknown whether the mosaic works were destroyed or are plastered over.
Administration of Werner Peiner, 1937, with the four designs.
  

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