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Description
‘Speerwerferin’ (‘Female Javelin-thrower’)
Biography: Wilhelm Tank
This cast was especially created for javelin thrower Ulla Rothhaus. In August 1937, Ulla Rothhaus won silver at the International University Games held in Paris. According to the heirs she had posed, at an earlier date, as a model for ‘Speerwerferin’. The inscription at the base reads: ‘Akademische Weltspiele, Paris 1937’ (‘International University Games, Paris 1937’).
As far as we know, there are only two existing casts of ‘Speerwerferin’, both executed in iron. The other cast, likely creater later, was displayed at the GDK 1942 room 38 and is in the possession of the Museum Kulturspeicher, Würzburg. However, this museum-owned sculpture is not complete; the spear is missing.
‘Germany does not need woman who can dance beautifully at five o’clock teas, but woman who have given proof of their health through accomplishments in the field of sports…The javelin and diving-board are more usefull than lipstick in promoting health’, Frankfurter Zeitung 1937.
Left: Ulla Rothaus, born 19 April 1915, depicted in the ‘Reichssportblatt 21 September 1937. The articel quotes the French newspaper ‘Le Journal‘: … ‘Die jungendeutschen sind wirklich superb. Die drei Speerwerferinnen zum Beispiel….Beim Anblick solcher Vertreterinnen der Germanischen Rasse, müssen wir feststellen das sie wirklich zur Vollendung entsaltet ist…‘
Middle: Paris, 26 August 1937. From left to right: Ulla Rothaus (second with 37,10 meters), Gerda Goldmann (first with 38,85 meters) and the English Constance Lee (third with 33,69 meters).
Right: Ulla Rothaus (at the right) depicted in a German magazine at 5 September 1937. In the middle Gerda Goldmann.
Special in the ‘Kölnische Illustrierte Zeitung’, January 8, 1942
Wilhelm Tank, creating the original model of the ‘Speerwerferin’. Depicted in the ‘Kölnische Illustrierte Zeitung’, January 8, 1942.
It is unknown when exactly the photos were taken.
Photo above: Wilhelm Tank working on ‘Speerwerferin’ in his atelier.
Below, left: working on the original model out of clay and iron-rods.
Below, right: Tank studying the movement of the javelin thrower.
Below: unpublished series of photo’s, showing the casting proces of ‘Speerwerferin’ by Wilhelm Tank.
The cult-like fascination with the naked body was already very popular in the early part of the 20th century. This trend strengthened in intensity when the Nazis garnered power. The ideas of Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, founder of the German Gymnastics Association in the beginning of the 19th century, were widely propagated. The healthy Aryan body was seen as a bastion against Latin, Asian or other foreign forms. Painting and sculpting celebrated the naked body in ecstatic poses. A new feeling for the body had emerged; the Aryan body.
Nazi magazines wrote, for example, about Lucas Cranach who dared to advance much further than the Italian Renaissance, Albrecht Dürer or the Dutch painters. ‘He restored to her proper place in life the German woman and mother who had been debased as an instrument of concupiscence by medieval asceticism, and placed her slender, naked body in its tree-like beauty as a symbol of grace and fertility amidst the budding and growing life of the German landscape’. The SS magazine Das Schwarze Korps (The Black Corps) advertised, ‘… we want a strong and joyful affirmation of body awareness, because we need it to build a strong and self-confident race’. Nudity was seen partly as a means of encouraging the ‘health of the race’.
Against this background, Wilhelm Tank’s studies, publications and drawings fell on fertile ground.
Wilhelm Tank, ‘Speerwerferin’ (Javelin Thrower). GDK 1942, room 38. Metal cast. Bought for 2,000 Reichsmark by Theo Memmel, mayor of the city of Würzburg. Currently in the possession of Museum Kulturspeicher, Würzburg. Displayed at the exhibition ‘Tradition & Propaganda’, 2013, organized by the Museum Kulturspeicher, 2015.
Left: ‘Speerwerferin’, depicted in the art catalogue of the Museum Kulturspeicher in 2013 (the spear is missing).
Right: ‘Speerfwerferin’ displayed at the GDK; photo depicted in the art catalogue of the Museum Kulturspeicher.
Photo of the GDK version (around 1942):
Left: Wilhelm Tank, ‘Speerwerferin’, depicted on official postcards issued by the Haus der Deutschen Kunst, 1942.
Right: Wilhelm Tank, ‘Speerwerferin’, postcard issued by ‘Film – Foto – Verlag, Berlin Nr. 77, Berolina Photo’, Nr. 71.
‘Speerwerferin’ by Tank. Iron cast. Displayed at the exhbition ‘Malerei, Graphik, Plastik’, in the Berliner Kunsthalle, 6 December 1941 – 31 Januari 1942. Assumable the cast shown here is is the GDK-1942-version.
| – condition | : II |
| – size | : height 63 cm, wide 57 cm |
| – signed | : at base |
| – type | : metal cast, weight 17,5 kg |
| – misc. I | : inscribed at base: ‘Akademische Weltspiele , Paris 1937’ |
| – misc. II | : with dossier from the hiers, includig the silver medal from 1937 |
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