Bednorz, Robert

Sculptor, draughtsman, university lecturer, writer

Born: 18.05.1882 in Pilzendorf, Upper Silesia (today Grzybowice, district of Zabrze, Poland)

Died: 06.04.1973 in Erbach im Rheingau

Bednorz studied sculpture at the Königliche Kunst- und Kunstgewerbeschule in Breslau and at the Königliche Akademie der Künste in Berlin from 1903-10. In 1910, he won the so-called Rome Prize, which enabled him to spend time in Rome in 1911/12.

After the First World War, he was appointed to the Wroclaw Academy of Arts and Crafts in 1924, where he was a professor in the sculpture class until its closure in 1932. He had been a member of the Silesian Artists' Association since 1917 at the latest and a member of the Wroclaw Working Group for Art of the "Cultural-Political Working Group" since 1919. After his dismissal from the civil service in 1933, which was accompanied by a ban on participation in state exhibitions, he initially worked as a freelance sculptor, then taught at the Academy of Art in Krakow from 1941-43 and again in Wroclaw from 1943-45. In 1946, Bednorz arrived in Wiesbaden via various refugee camps.

In addition to architectural sculptures and large sculptures in stone, Bednorz preferred to create small sculptures and portrait heads in a wide variety of materials such as plaster, clay or bronze. Bednorz had a reserved attitude towards contemporary trends. In Wiesbaden, he created portraits of Theodor Heuss, Gerhart Hauptmann, Joseph von Eichendorff and Hermann Stehr, among others. In 1949, Bednorz designed the bronze Goethe plaque, the highest award of the Hessian Ministry of Science and Art. Since 1953, works by Bednorz have been repeatedly presented at the Nassauischer Kunstverein e.V., most recently in 1990 as part of the exhibition "200 Years of the Breslau Art Academy".

Bednorz was awarded the Grand Federal Cross of Merit in 1952 and the Upper Silesian Culture Prize in 1966. His grave is located in the North Cemetery.