Heinrich Kirchner
»The essential law of being is that of change and of transformation.«
A quotation from Heinrich Kirchner
Biography
| 1902 | Born in Erlangen |
| 1923 – 1924 | Studied history of art at the University of Erlangen |
| 1924 – 1932 | Studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich under Professor Hermann Hahn |
| 1926 – 1927 | Studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and at the Académie Julian in Paris |
| From 1927 | Self-taught experiments with bronze casting |
| 1931 | State examination for the art master’s teaching office |
| 1931 | Travel bursary to visit Assisi, Verona, Perugia, Rome, Naples and Pompeii |
| 1932 | Completion of sculpture studies; began employment at the foundry of the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich; commissioned to set up a workshop for bronze casting using the lost-wax method |
| 1937 – 1952 | Head of the foundry of the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich |
| 1939 – 1945 | Military service as a radio operator deployed in Regensburg |
| 1947 | Joined the »Neue Gruppe« (New Group) artists’ association (founded 1946) |
| 1950 | Awarded the City of Munich Art Prize |
| 1952 – 1970 | Professor of sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich |
| 1953 | Member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts in Munich |
| 1956 | Member of the Academy of Arts, Berlin |
| 1965 – 1969 | Head of the Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts (founded in 1953 as the »School of Vision« by Oskar Kokoschka, who was the head of the school until 1963) |
| 1970 | Received emeritus status and moved to Pavolding. The former fishing farm of Seeon Abbey on the Chiemsee lake became the centre of his life. |
| 1982 | Opening of the Heinrich Kirchner Sculpture Park on the Burgberg in Erlangen; Awarded an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Theology in Bamberg |
| 1984 | Died in Traunstein |
Heinrich Kirchner together with Paul Fuchs setting up the figures in the Burgberggarten.
Exhibitions
| 1932 | Art exhibition in the Deutsches Museum in Munich |
| 1933 | State art exhibition in the Glaspalast in Munich |
| 1934 – 1936 | Large art exhibition in the Neue Pinakothek art gallery in Munich |
| 1936 | Venice Biennale |
| 1947 | Exhibition in the Lenbachhaus museum in Munich with the »Neue Gruppe« |
| 1958 | Venice Biennale Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Art |
| 1959 | documenta II, Kassel |
| 1975 | Erlangen Rathausplatz |
| 2002, 2009 | Städtische Galerie Erlangen |
