carving question - r p marxhausen

Monday December 5th I was in Concordia, Missouri, on the campus of St. Paul's Lutheran High School, to look at works my father had made.

Thanks to the Director of the school Paul Mehl and the Advancement Director Bart Mueller, I was shown a marvelous wood-carving on the lobby wall of Krueger Dining Hall.

A bas-relief carved from a single piece of wood. Roughly measuring two feet wide and three and a half feet tall and a depth of one inch. Here, Bart Mueller holds a ruler next to the carving. Double click to make image larger.

Paul Mehl told me it was called "Paul In The Face Of Christ."

Look closely to see a face within a face. The way the two persons meld in the design reminded me of the illustrations by William Blake.
Could this exquisite piece have been carved by Reinhold P. Marxhausen of Seward, Nebraska?

That work raised many unanswered questions.

Today Dec 7 I found two other carvings my father had chiseled out of stone.

The Eagle which hung around our house when all of us lived on Columbia Avenue. We had moved there in 1964.

The tall marble cylinder that was among many works Dad had on his studio deck, next.

The Head of Christ, above. Below, photo of Reinhold cutting on the marble cylinder, in his office space studio - on the third floor of Founders Hall. Early in his teaching career as Art instructor at Concordia Teacher College in Seward, Nebraska. He started teaching in the fall of 1951. My guess, that photo is no later than the mid-1950s.

How did Reinhold get connected doing artwork for St.Paul's College in Missouri?

A couple thoughts: his bride Dorris Steinbrueck was from Blackburn in Lafayette County. That campus was nearby. There is the Missouri Synod Lutheran connection. It is hard to say. But I am hoping to hear from others who know something about St. Paul's College and High School and more about this unusual wood-carving.

tissue layers plastic packing strap pencil wheel pencil

a stiff packing strap 
from which all other elements suspend
blends into the white ceiling tiles above
   colors flutter
   lines and dashes hover
   a short yellow pencil present in the mix

 

double click image to enlarge

Two minutes. Sculptures in my wife's art room at Adams Elementary School. Jan Marxhausen asked me to make something for her students to look at.

transparent packing pillows

colorful adhesive vinyl 

my goodie bag of salvaged materials, including the four sharpened pencils, domino game labels, crayola labels, yarn, and the toy truck tire I found.

View 2015 assemblage, click http://karl-marxhausen.blogspot.com/2015/08/what-is-red-and-black-and-clear.html

 

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)