Anatol Herzfeld

Quick Facts

Intro

German sculptor and mixed media artist

A.K.A.

Anatol

Places

Germany

Artist Sculptor

Work field

Arts

Gender

Male

Birth

21 January 1931 People who share this birthday

Place of birth

Chernyakhovsk, Chernyakhovsky District, Kaliningrad Oblast

Age

93 years

The details (from wikipedia)

Biography

Anatol Herzfeld (often simply called Anatol), born Karl-Heinz Herzfeld, January 21, 1931 in Insterburg (now Tschernjachowsk), East Prussia, is a German sculptor and mixed media artist. He primarily uses wood, iron or stone as his artistic material. He lives and works on the Museum Insel Hombroich.

Life and work

A student of Joseph Beuys at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he studied fine arts from 1964 to 1972, Anatol was deeply influenced by the ideas of his professor, especially by his concept of "social sculpture". Therefore, telling stories, talking about current political themes, and working with his own hands became the basis of his artistic work.

Anatol also created happenings together with Beuys. For instance, an action by Beuys and Anatol took place in the Creamcheese, Düsseldorf, 1968. Beuys's students, Joachim Duckwitz, Ulrich Meister and Johannes Stüttgen were shown handcuffed to a steel table made by Anatol and sitting upon steel chairs. Red and green signals, operated by Anatol from a corner of the room, directed each sitter as to when they could speak. Beuys stood in the opposite corner of the room silently making different gestures. On October 20, 1973, Anatol placed Beuys, who had been expelled from the Düsseldorf Academy, in a dugout canoe, which was built by himself, and crossed the Rhine from Oberkassel, where Beuys lived, to the Academy on the opposite shore, thereby having his professor strike a "Lake Genezareth pose" - a symbolic journey to mark the return of his master.

For two years, Anatol was also a student of architect Karl Wimmenauer. Furthermore, he regularly participated in "ring talks" about art theory. Besides being an artist, he worked in the Düsseldorf police traffic department for many years.

In 1975, he founded the Freie Akademie Oldenburg. From 1979 to 1981, he taught art at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. In 1982, he settled on the Museumsinsel Hombroich where he still runs his own studio in a former barn. In 1996, he was appointed honorary professor of fine arts by the University of South Dakota, Vermillion.