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Public and Private Commissions
Public space is not a museum. Here, people with diverse perspectives, experiences, and interests encounter one another. Here, sculpture must engage and stimulate thought even among those unaccustomed to contemporary art, without becoming populist or abandoning its artistic integrity. Fundamental statements about physical presence and both accessible and open-ended conceptual bridges pose timeless questions. My goal is long-term impact, and I aspire to provide an impulse for those who encounter the sculpture to embark on a journey into their own world of associations.
City of Biberach an der Riß, 2023
During the Second World War, the Lindele camp was a prisoner-of-war and internment camp in Biberach an der Riß (South Württemberg). The camp primarily held deportees from Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands. In November 1944, 149 Oriental Jews with British passports, who had originally been imprisoned in the Italian Giado concentration camp in Libya, were confined here. In January 1945, they were joined by 133 prisoners from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, predominantly Dutch Jews who were actually intended to be transported to Switzerland as ‘exchange Jews’. The Jews who died in Biberach during this period were buried in the Jewish cemetery in Laupheim in 1945.
The camp was liberated by the French army on April 23, 1945. It was named after a moraine hill planted with lime trees—the “Lindele”. Today, the former camp grounds house training buildings for the Biberach Police University.
On April 23, 2023, the memorial sculpture “THE SCREAM” (DER SCHREI), created by the Ravensburg steel sculptor Robert Schad, was inaugurated on the grounds of the Police University in Biberach. The street names Guernseyallee, Jerseyweg, and Tunnelweg in the neighboring Hochvogelstraße residential area serve as reminders of the Lindele camp. A town twinning partnership has existed between Biberach and Guernsey since 1997.
MORITZ UND DAS TANZENDE BILD
A sculpture commemorating the Hanau painter Moritz Daniel Oppenheim (1799–1882)
The monument honoring Moritz Daniel Oppenheim (1799-1882) has become a well-known landmark in public space. It is now one of the most photographed subjects in our city. The monument by sculptors Robert Schad and Pascal Coupot is explained in detail on an information panel at Forum Hanau:
“Moritz Daniel Oppenheim was born in 1799 in the Hanau Judengasse, today’s Nordstraße. He spent his childhood and youth in Hanau. When the French occupation introduced civil liberties from 1806 onwards, Oppenheim was able to attend the Hohe Landesschule in 1809 and the Hanau Drawing Academy at the age of just 14. From 1817 to 1819 he completed his studies at the Art Academy in Munich. Between 1820 and 1825, study trips took him to Paris, Florence, Rome and Naples before he finally settled in Frankfurt. In 1828 Moritz Daniel Oppenheim married Adelheid Cleve. After her death he married Fanny Goldschmidt in 1839. He had six children in total. In 1882 Oppenheim died as a renowned painter in Frankfurt. Moritz Daniel Oppenheim attracted worldwide attention with his cycle “Pictures of Traditional Jewish Family Life”, first published in 1866.
He painted portraits of members of the Rothschild family, Fanny Hensel, Heinrich Heine and Ludwig Börne, among others. On Goethe’s recommendation, he was awarded the title of professor at the Weimar Academy in 1827. Oppenheim was the first significant Jewish painter of the 19th century who was committed to the idea of emancipation. In his life and work he engaged intensively with the religious tradition of Judaism and confidently advocated for its equal rights in Germany. Today Oppenheim’s works are represented in all major museums. The Historical Museum Hanau Schloss Philippsruhe and the Hanauer Geschichtsverein 1844 e.V. possess a remarkable collection of his paintings and drawings.
In 2006 the “Förderkreis Denkmal Moritz Daniel Oppenheim” and the Gesprächskreis Kultur of the city of Hanau proposed to create a lasting memorial to the painter. Political decisions were made in 2007. The Hanau urban redevelopment in 2008 provided the opportunity to initiate an international competition for a monument on the new Freiheitsplatz. A jury composed of renowned experts and a citizens’ advisory council recommended in 2013 to realize the proposal “Moritz and the Dancing Picture” by the renowned steel sculptor Robert Schad, which the magistrate and city council decided in 2014. The two-part artwork was placed in the center of Hanau city life in June 2015. The sculptor’s idea: “During an evening walk through Hanau, Moritz Daniel Oppenheim sees a large picture that seems to dance. Nothing in it is as he has known it before: horizons collapse, objects fall out of the picture. The artist takes the apparition with him in memory and tries to paint what he sees. Only almost 100 years later do painters succeed in creating pictures that do not depict people, objects and landscapes. Moritz was the first to see such a picture without ever having captured it on canvas.”
The Dancing Picture is a monumental frame drawn into space, broken multiple times, traversed by diagonal horizons, with a column and an elliptical form. In its expansive form and daring statics it forms a diametrical partner to the Biedermeier-dressed Moritz and simultaneously responds to the strict architecture of the city loggia. That Moritz confidently confronts the new and unknown is a challenge to us to do the same. Only through confident engagement even with seemingly insurmountable obstacles can seemingly unsolvable tasks be solved and society develop further. For this, a calm forward-looking view, as practiced by Oppenheim, is a fundamental prerequisite. The tilted frame is transparent, does not obstruct space and inscribes itself into it. When passing by and walking through, viewers experience changing perspectives that create dynamism. Despite weighing tons, the sculpture appears light and dance-like.
From the jury’s statement: “Through the monument, Robert Schad creates an urban and confident city landmark in dialogue between figurative and abstract design. The design creates an ideal interplay between clearly structured building facade and powerful yet playful sculpture. The monument integrates organically into the architectural environment. An open space for thought and art is created. The artwork can be immediately grasped while simultaneously giving free rein to the viewers’ imagination.”
Press release from the Cultural Office of the City of Hanau, 2015
