Model of the 'Heilbronn Head'

Franz Bernhard (Volary, Tschechien 1934 - Jockgrim 2013)

Around 2003. Patinated bronze. H. 55 x 20 x 16 cm. Monogrammed F.B, numbered copy 1/9. This corresponds to the monumental ‘bridgeheads’ that Franz Bernhard created in 2001 at the western end of the Friedrich-Ebert-Brücke in Heilbronn. 'I don't work to create an object out of wood and iron. The material is merely a means to an end, nothing more. 'For me, it is first and foremost about an anthropomorphic symbol that embodies something like a concern,' Bernhard describes his artistic work. In his heads, he does not strive for a lifelike likeness, but rather, in a sparse and archaic formal language, offers symbolic references to the image of humanity - He is considered one of the most important sculptors of the postwar period. He studied sculpture under Wilhelm Loth and Fritz Klemm at the Karlsruhe Academy of Fine Arts beginning in 1959 and participated in documenta 6 in 1977. His predominantly large-scale outdoor sculptures are made of wood and Corten steel; among his best-known works is the “Große Mannheimerin” (Great Woman of Mannheim) from 1993. Bernhard served as the first chairman of the Artists’ Association of Baden-Württemberg from 1994 to 2001 and participated in many major annual exhibitions of the German Artists’ Association.