enamel on steel - dhaemers

      As I sort through the estate files and pull together pieces of art made of the same materials I have come across the medium of enamel-on-steel. As Reinhold Marxhausen ventured into sculpture it was his instructors at Mills College who guided him. Robert Dhaemers was the one who introduced Marxie to glass enamel on steel in 1961.

Below, photo of Dhaemers and two examples of his jewelry. Dhaemers was described as an organic modernist.

Robert A Dhaemers was influenced by Metal Art Guild founder Bob Winston. More on Bob Winston and  resources at http://metalartsguildsf.org/category/blog/

(Records of Reinhold Marxhausen coursework of Mills College, courtesy of Marxhausen Estate and Concordia University, Aug. 8, 2015)

(Photo of Dhaemers from Obituary, accessed Aug.8, 2015 http://easthamptonstar.com/Obituaries/2014403/Robert-Dhaemers-Artist# .) (Photos of Dhaemers jewelry, accessed Aug.8, 2015 http://www.mschon.com/damerubnk.htm)

Questions to explore further (beyond this blog post):

• How does modernism show up in Marxhausen's sculpture?

• Dhaemer paid attention to the patina and surface treatment of his sculpture, did Marxhausen display the same treatment? In which pieces? How may Marxhausen's enamel work have differed from Dhaemer's?

• Dhaemer was interested in the sculpture seen in the round. Marxhausen treated his enamel on metal works in the round as well.

 

Like his instructor, Marxhausen experimented with some ornamental forms, see ABOVE.

Sculptor Arthur Geisert remembered one specific work by Reinhold Marxhausen.

  "You dad did a sculpture. It was a bright red pomegranate. It was enamel on metal. He did enamel on metal at Mills." 

(Courtesy of phone interview with Karl Marxhausen, Sept. 16, 2014, from 2:15-2:30 pm)

"I remember the smell of baked enamel. Dad had one plate for me to scribble on and one for my brother. I don't remember the specifics, but you can look at the items yourself, and guess what that process might have been. Glass powder on metal, heated in a kiln, taken out and drawn on with a metal wire, all under the watchful eye of my father. It's seems dangerous now. But the orange enamel matches the orange used for the pomegranate. My hunch is that he shaped the metal first and then paint on the glaze and heated to melt the powder."         Karl Marxhausen

The piece Dad helped me with measured 8 by 12 3/4 inches, BELOW.
I was age 6.

My brother's piece BELOW. It measures 14 3/4 by 4 3/4 inches. He was age 3 years when Dad helped him with it.

Marxie made a work entitled "Compatibility" while at Mills College.
The enamel on steel dates the piece to 1962. Close up below.

My father also welded decorative metal flowers in the school studio for graduates. Seen next to the four-plex apartment, BELOW, at  3237 64th Street in Oakland, California, ABOVE. (City map, courtesy of Google and Douglas Johnston, an alum of California Concordia College, which was also called Triple C)

Grad student Reinhold Marxhausen

Our family (left to right):

Paul, Karl, Dorris, and Reinhold (who preferred being called Marxie)