Hans Harders, Schalmei spielender Junge, 1920er, Bronze

Hans Harders (1875 Mörel – 1955 Berlin), Boy playing the shawm, around 1930. Dark patinated bronze with round plinth on a black marble base (2 cm high), total height 35 cm, diameter of the cast base 8 cm, weight 3.86 kg, foundry mark “Lauchhammer Bildguss” on the reverse of the plinth. Listed in the Lauchhammer catalogs as “Bildguss 26” designed by Hans Harders, unsigned.

– Slightly bumped in places, patina rubbed in places, especially on the back, upper edge of the marble base with minimal chipping, otherwise in good condition.

– The transience of sounds –

At first glance, the boy’s natural appearance suggests that Hans Harders modeled him after a young boy. In fact, the artist was inspired by Donatello’s famous putti playing music on the baptismal font in Siena Cathedral, which the Italian created in 1428. One of them, the tambourine-playing putto, has been in the Berlin Sculpture Collection since 1902. Harders obviously based the design of the limbs on the work of the Renaissance artist. Even the size corresponds to the model. And yet Harders has created an entirely unique work of art with a completely different expressive content.

The Berlin artist dispenses with the artificial yet natural-looking torsion of Donatello’s putto and instead shows his boy in a motionless, upright pose. The dancing extroversion is transformed into an inner mood related to the music. The motionless position creates a correspondence between the body and the shawm. The boy is completely absorbed in the act of making music, which is also expressed physically, especially in the puffy cheeks of the face, which is conceived in a completely different way than Donatello’s. Here, Harder studied baroque trombone-blowing angels, who also have a high forehead. In general, the whole body is a little fuller than Donatello’s – in the manner of baroque putti – which is particularly evident in the folds of fat on the thighs. The larger body volume suits the music-making on the wind instrument and also lends the imagined notes a greater volume.

If, in Donatello’s work, the putti of the Renaissance became children, although they remained winged, here we see a putto-like human boy in ancient nudity, to which Donatello also alludes. The shawm is a reminiscence of antiquity, of Virgil’s shepherds‘ bucolic music heralding the happy Golden Age. Harder’s boy, however, is not performing a joyous dance. Rather, he is completely immersed in the melody he has created, which displays a deeply melancholy quality that is not counteracted by the boy’s figure, but rather intensified. The paradise from which he comes as a putto is lost. All that remains is to listen to the sounds that fade away, just as paradise itself has faded away. And yet music itself offers the soul a temporary home, because, as the then widely read philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer explains in his work The World as Will and Representation, it offers aesthetic salvation from the constant drive of an accelerating world.

About the artist

Hans Harder’s artistic talent was already evident as a child, when he made animal figures out of clay. His parents, farmers from Mörel, encouraged their son’s talent and enabled him to study at the art academies in Berlin and Dresden. Following his artistic roots as a sculptor, he became a sculptor and medalist. Based in Berlin, his bronze works were produced by the Rosenthal & Maeder foundry and later by Preiss & Kassler. from the 1920s he also created models for the porcelain manufacturers Fraureuth and Hutschenreuther.

Hans Harders (1875 Mörel – 1955 Berlin), Boy playing the shawm, around 1930. Dark patinated bronze with round plinth on a black marble base (2 cm high), total height 35 cm, diameter of the cast base 8 cm, weight 3.86 kg, foundry mark “Lauchhammer Bildguss” on the reverse of the plinth. Listed in the Lauchhammer catalogs as “Bildguss 26” designed by Hans Harders, unsigned.

– Slightly bumped in places, patina rubbed in places, especially on the back, upper edge of the marble base with minimal chipping, otherwise in good condition.

– The transience of sounds –

At first glance, the boy’s natural appearance suggests that Hans Harders modeled him after a young boy. In fact, the artist was inspired by Donatello’s famous putti playing music on the baptismal font in Siena Cathedral, which the Italian created in 1428. One of them, the tambourine-playing putto, has been in the Berlin Sculpture Collection since 1902. Harders obviously based the design of the limbs on the work of the Renaissance artist. Even the size corresponds to the model. And yet Harders has created an entirely unique work of art with a completely different expressive content.

The Berlin artist dispenses with the artificial yet natural-looking torsion of Donatello’s putto and instead shows his boy in a motionless, upright pose. The dancing extroversion is transformed into an inner mood related to the music. The motionless position creates a correspondence between the body and the shawm. The boy is completely absorbed in the act of making music, which is also expressed physically, especially in the puffy cheeks of the face, which is conceived in a completely different way than Donatello’s. Here, Harder studied baroque trombone-blowing angels, who also have a high forehead. In general, the whole body is a little fuller than Donatello’s – in the manner of baroque putti – which is particularly evident in the folds of fat on the thighs. The larger body volume suits the music-making on the wind instrument and also lends the imagined notes a greater volume.

If, in Donatello’s work, the putti of the Renaissance became children, although they remained winged, here we see a putto-like human boy in ancient nudity, to which Donatello also alludes. The shawm is a reminiscence of antiquity, of Virgil’s shepherds‘ bucolic music heralding the happy Golden Age. Harder’s boy, however, is not performing a joyous dance. Rather, he is completely immersed in the melody he has created, which displays a deeply melancholy quality that is not counteracted by the boy’s figure, but rather intensified. The paradise from which he comes as a putto is lost. All that remains is to listen to the sounds that fade away, just as paradise itself has faded away. And yet music itself offers the soul a temporary home, because, as the then widely read philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer explains in his work The World as Will and Representation, it offers aesthetic salvation from the constant drive of an accelerating world.

About the artist

Hans Harder’s artistic talent was already evident as a child, when he made animal figures out of clay. His parents, farmers from Mörel, encouraged their son’s talent and enabled him to study at the art academies in Berlin and Dresden. Following his artistic roots as a sculptor, he became a sculptor and medalist. Based in Berlin, his bronze works were produced by the Rosenthal & Maeder foundry and later by Preiss & Kassler. From the 1920s he also created models for the porcelain manufacturers Fraureuth and Hutschenreuther.

GERMAN VERSION

Hans Harders (1875 Mörel – 1955 Berlin), Schalmei spielender Knabe, um 1930. Dunkel patinierte Bronze mit runder Plinthe auf schwarzem Marmorsockel (2 cm Höhe), Gesamthöhe 35 cm, Durchmesser des gegossenen Sockels 8 cm, Gewicht 3,86 kg, auf der Rückseite der Plinte Gießereimarke „Lauchhammer Bildguss“. In den Lauchhammer Katalogen als von Hans Harders entworfener „Bildguss 26“ angeführt, unsigniert.

– Vereinzelt etwas bestoßen, Patina insbesondere am Rücken stellenweise berieben, obere Kante des Marmorsockels mit minimalen Abplatzungen, sonst in gut erhaltenem Zustand.

– Die Vergänglichkeit der Töne –

Auf den ersten Blick wirkt es aufgrund des natürlichen Anscheins des Knaben, als ob Hans Harders ein Junge Modell gestanden hätte. Tatsächlich lässt sich der Künstler hier jedoch von Donatellos berühmten musizierenden Putten auf dem Taufbecken des Domes von Siena inspirieren, die der Italiener 1428 geschaffen hat. Einer von ihnen, der Tamburin spielende Putto, befindet sich seit 1902 in der Berliner Skulpturensammlung. Hinsichtlich der Gestaltung der Körperglieder orientiert sich Harders offensichtlich am Werk des Renaissancekünstlers. Selbst die Größe entspricht dem Vorbild. Und doch schafft Harders ein ganz eigenes Kunstwerk, das einen gänzlich anderen Ausdrucksgehalt aufweist.

Der Berliner Künstler verzichtet auf die artifizielle und dennoch natürlich wirkende Torsion von Donatellos Putto und zeigt seinen Knaben stattdessen in einer unbewegten aufrechten Haltung. Die tänzerische Extrovertiertheit wird in eine innerliche, auf die Musik bezogene Gestimmtheit überführt. Die Schlussstellung bewirkt eine Entsprechung des Körpers mit der Schalmei. Der Knabe geht ganz im Akt des Muszierens auf, der auch körperlich zum Ausdruck kommt und insbesondere den aufgeblähten Backen des ganz anders als bei Donatello aufgefassten Gesichts abzulesen ist. Hier wiederum hat Harders barocke Posaune blasende Engel studiert, die ebenfalls eine hohe Stirn aufweisen. Überhaupt ist der ganze Körper – barocken Putten entsprechend – etwas fülliger als bei Donatello, was insbesondere durch die Speckfalten an den Oberschenkeln augenfällig wird. Das umfangreichere Körpervolumen passt zum Muszieren auf dem Blasinstrument und verleiht auch den imaginierten Tönen ein größeres Volumen.

Werden mit Donatello die Putten in der Renaissance zu Kindern, die allerdings geflügelt bleiben, steht hier ein puttohafter menschlicher Knabe in antiker Nacktheit vor Augen, auf die sich auch Donatello bezieht. Die Schalmei ist ebenfalls eine Reminiszenz an die Antike, an Vergils vom frohen Goldenen Zeitalter kündende Hirtenbukolik. Harders Knabe vollführt aber keinen freudigen Tanz. Vielmehr ist er ganz in die von ihm selbst hervorgebrachte Melodie versunken und weist dabei einen tiefsinnig-melancholischen Zug auf, der durch die Knabengestalt nicht konterkariert, sondern noch verstärkt wird. Das Paradies, dem er als Putto selbst entstammt, ist verloren. Was bleibt, ist einzig den Tönen zu lauschen, die verklingen, wie das Paradies selbst verklungen ist. Und doch bietet die Musik selbst der Seele eine temporäre Heimstatt, da sie, wie es der seinerzeit viel gelesene Philosoph Arthur Schopenhauer in seinem Werk Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung darlegt, eine ästhetische Erlösung aus dem beständigen Getriebensein einer sich beschleunigenden Welt bietet.

zum Künstler

Bereits als Kind zeigte sich Hans Harders künstlerisches Talent, indem er aus Lehm Tierfiguren formte. Die Eltern – Bauern aus Mörel – förderten die Begabung ihres Sohnes und ermöglichten ihm ein Studium an der Berliner und der Dresdener Kunstakademie. Seinen künstlerischen Wurzeln als Plastiker folgend, wurde er Bildhauer und Medailleur. In Berlin ansässig, führten die Bildgießereien Rosenthal & Maeder und später Preiss & Kassler seine Werke aus. Ab den 1920er Jahren schuf Harders zudem Modelle für die Porzellanmanufakturen Fraureuth und Hutschenreuther.
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