Lederer, Hugo (1871-1940)

Lederer, Hugo

SCULPTOR, MEDALIST (GERMANY)

BORN 16 Nov 1871, Znaim, Südmähren - DIED 1 Aug 1940, Berlin
GRAVE LOCATION Stahnsdorf, Brandenburg: Wilmersdorfer Waldfriedhof, Bahnhofstraße 2 (Feld F V-S II-5/5a)

Hugo Lederer is known as the sculptor of many fountains and monuments. His father was the carpenter Edmund Lederer. He was educated in Berlin (1885-1888) and became assistant to Johannes Schilling (1828-1910) in Dresden in 1890. In 1892 the sculptor Christian Behrens (1852-1905) called him to Breslau and in the same year he went to work for Robert Toberentz (1849-1895) in Berlin. Lederer married Anny Lauffs (1877-1952) and they had three children between 1905 and 1912.

From 1895 onwards Lederer worked for himself as a sculptor and in 1906 he created one of his major works, the 15 meters high Bismarck Monument in Hamburg. In 1912 Lederer was appointed Professor at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Berlin and in 1919 he became a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin. For a while (untill 1924) he worked in a building at Siegmundshof 11 in Berlin where August Gaul and Käthe Kollwitz also had their studios. After that he had a studio in the Academy of Fine Arts at Hardenbergstrasse 34. In 1923 he received the Order Pour le mérite and in 1929 the Maximiliansorden. But after 1933 his work received little attention. In the nazi era his work wasn't classified as 'entartet', but it wasn't regarded as true German art either. In 1934 he didn't sign the Appeal of Cultural Workers that supported Adolf Hitler. By that time he was already ill with progressive paralysis and he died in 1940 in Berlin.

Lederer was buried at the Wilmersdorfer Friedhof in Berlin. In 1952 his widow Anny was buried beside him.

Works:
'Das Schicksal' (Friedhof Ohlsdorf, Hamburg, 1905);
Bärenbrunnen (Berlin, 1928);
Stierbrunnen (Berlin, 1934];
Heinrich Heine Monument (1926-1933, Stadtpark, Hamburg, removed by the nazis and destroyed in 1943 to extracxt metal).

Events

Images
The grave of Hugo Lederer at the Wilmersdorfer Waldfriedhof in Berlin. Picture by androom (23 Aug 2006)	The Bismarck statue by Hugo Lederer in Hamburg. Picture by Androom (29 Jan 2008)	"Das Schicksal". (Hamburg: Ohlsdorfer Friedhof)
Sculpture by Hugo Lederer at the Ohlsdorfer Friedhof in Hamburg. (Hamburg: Ohlsdorfer Friedhof)