The well-known sculptor, painter, poet, author, musician and architect of the years of rapid industrial expansion in Germany was born as Gustav Heinrich Eberlein on July 14th, 1847 in Spiekershausen near Kassel. 1855, as an 8-year-old, he moved with his parents, Johannes Josephus Eberlein and Margarethe Elisabeth Eberlein, née Bein, and his younger sister Catharina Luise Sophie to Hann. Münden (Radbrunnenstr. No. 18, now No. 40), where his father, a former soldier and frontier guard, now worked as a tax officer.

At that time already young Gustav Eberlein felt very attracted to art and beauty, but since his family did not have the money to send him to art school, he eventually – after starting of apprenticeships as a house painter, a carver for wooden sticks and a writer for a bailiff - learned the work of a goldsmith. Things changed for him 1865 when he met the wood carver Ferdinand Stromburg from Oberscheden. Inspired by his work, he created a box tree relief within the same year, „Die Verkündung der Geburt Christi“ („The Preaching of Christ’s Birth“). This work eventually attracted the attention of F. A. Kreling, the director of the Nuremberg Art School, who made it possible for Eberlein to visit that school.

1869, a scholarship given to him by the Queen of Prussia, allowed him to move to Berlin, where the neobaroque style of Reinhold Begas had a huge influence on him. Travelling scholarships, again given to him by the Queen, made it possible for him to travel to Italy several times (the love for this country should never end during his entire lifetime), where the masters of the Italian Renaissance, especially Michelangelo, became his shining examples. So the work of his first creative period (1870 – 1882) is strongly formed by ancient motifs and michelangelescian influences.

He got married 1873 to his first wife, Helene von Frankenberg; 1878 the couple had a son, Anzio Oreste, who died 1881 from diphtheria at the age of only three. At this time Eberlein made a living for his family from making fountains, war monuments and drawings for newspapers. Later, in the 80s of the 19th Century, he obviously tried to cope with the loss of his son by creating his so-called „Venus-Amor-Groups“; statues showing mother and child, to which the memory of his only child by birth might have inspired him. Generally, family members and friends of the artist have often been models for his works. About 1880, Berlinian architect Martin Gropius offered him a studio, where Eberlein created the statue of the „Dornauszieher“ („Thorn Extractor“), which was his breakthrough as an artist. Appreciated by the Emperor, he now got many public work orders, and numerous of his works received awards at diverse art exhibitions.

Despite an increasing popularity (1893, after being nominated by the art academy, the Emperor bestowed the title of a professor on him), Gustav Eberlein always was strongly bonded to his hometown, and he donated numerous of his creations to it, like 1873 the war monument with the bronze statue of the „Mundenia“ (removed around 1952) and at Whitsun 1888 the plaster relief „The Defense of the town Münden against Tilly during the 30-Years‘ War“ for the upper room in the tower of the new „Tillyschanze“, opened 1885; an equestrian statue showing Emperor William I on the other hand was rejected by the town council in 1894. Thereupon an annoyed Eberlein set up the statue in the garden of his first sommer residence in Münden, the „Eberburg“ (now a hotel), where he had moved in 1893 with his second wife, Maria Countess of Hertzberg. Later he build a second sommer residence in Münden, the „Weserkastell“ in the Göttinger Street, which had to be torn down 1958 when the trunk road 80 was expanded.

Also around 1893/94 Eberlein started setting up the Eberlein Museum in the Guelph Castle (Welfenschloß) in Münden from his own financials, which was supposed to be connected to the already existing "Ancient Museum“ and which was opened on July 29th, 1898.

At the beginning of the new century, Eberlein’s art more and more turned into the direction of Naturalism. His third creative period (1900 – 1904) mainly showed Christian motifs of a disturbing reality. He also presents himself as a politically committed artist. For example he fought against the so-called „Lex Heinze“, a morality law which tried to prohibit artists from showing nudity.

When the 20th century began, Eberlein’s work was disputable. 16 out of 32 exhibits have been removed from the Berlinian Art Exhibition of the year 1900, the naturalistic portrayal has been censored, and it was said Eberlein was ahead of the spirit of the times.

Nevertheless, he created some of his most important works during the following years, the Richard-Wagner-Monument in Berlin, which has been officially presented to the public in 1903, and the Goethe-Monument in Rome. When that monument was officially opened, Eberlein got the „Commander Award“ of the Italian Crown. When the flood of monument orders decreased after 1905, Eberlein dedicated more of his time to the creation of little sculptures and paintings.

He still spent the summer months mainly in Münden and did a lot for his home town. 1907 was a year of fate for the artist. Plans for exhibiting his paintings failed, and a whole lot of little sculptures showing dancing young people did some damage to the reputation of the meanwhile 60-year old. In November of the same year Eberlein and his wife eventually travelled to America, as an „ambassador“ and „the Emperor’s favourite sculptor“, so to speak.

During the following year, 1908, he was ordered to build the Argentinian Liberty Monument, which has been finished 1910. At that time Eberlein travelled to South America several times and finished working on the „German Well“ in Santiago de Chile in 1911.

Between these journeys, Eberlein always enjoys to return to his hometown, and he donated numerous of his works to his museum and also made a sculpture bust showing Gauß for the opening of the Gauß-Tower in Dransfeld. For 1914, he planned to print his poetry and writing, which was supposed to include 4 books. The outbreak of World War I put an end to these plans. 1917 he got divorced from his second wife, Maria.

At the beginning of the war, Eberlein’s creations first showed patriotism, obviously he shared the initial enthusiasm of the Germans; but later he expressed an increasing desire for peace with his reliefs „Phidias“ (1916) and „Homer“ (1917)- After the end of the war, Eberlein’s work more and more caused a lack of understanding: He, formerly true to the Emperor, now also makes busts showing Marx, Bebel and Lasalle; but Eberlein is referring to himself as „non-party“ and wants his art to be understood as the duty „to show greatness and the creative progress of mankind in pictures“.

Eberlein still spends a lot of time in Italy and his hometown Münden, where he suggests 1920 to reopen the Fayence Manufature which has been closed in 1855. The year 1922 was dedicated to monumental paintings. 1924 his last sculptures have been made, his „Mother and Child“-creations, inspired by the birth of his adoptive grandson, Anziano Bernardi.

Being hit hardest by the inflation, Eberlein eventually had to sell his summer residence „Weserkastell“; he spent the final years of his life with the family of his adoptive daughter Emma Bernardi. He didn’t only have to deal with poverty, but also with a rapidly aggrevating health. It was said he had stomach cancer.

During the fall of 1925, he once again planned a trip to Münden, but this wasn’t supposed to take place. Gustav Eberlein died on February 5th, 1926 in Berlin, at the age of 78; bitter and with the feeling of being underestimated all his life. His grave can be found on the „Old Matthew Cemetery“ („Alter Matthäi-Friendhof“) in Berlin, where he was buried next to his mother and his son Anzio Oreste.

Some of his works are still preserved, for example the relief shown here in this room or the larger-than-life statue „God Aspirates the Living Breath into Adam“ in the parkway of our town. But many of his creations found a tragical ending: 1932 a fire in his former studio at the „Eberburg“ destroyed numerous of his works, probably also 5 books with his memoirs, which he had written before his death. The Eberlein Museum doesn’t exist anymore. Eberlein had donated more than 300 of his creations and had ordered that they will be given to the town Münden after his passing. Later, these creations experienced a sad fate: Already during the time of the Third Reich (1933 – 1945) the then 170 exhibits have been reduced to 40, and 1972 the public was informed about the destruction of about 150 of the artist‘s creations, smashed to plaster chunks supposed to fill the space under planks and found at the attic of the Guelph Castle in Münden.

In the town’s museum of today, there are only 12 sculpture busts left (two of them showing Eberlein’s second wife, Maria), and the statues of the „Thorn Extractor“ („Dornauszieher“) and the „Water Bearer“ („Wasserträgerin“). At this point I would like to mention the Gustav-Eberlein-Research e.V. (Gustav-Eberlein-Forschung e.V.), which did a lot to preserve and rescue his work and which makes sure that the rememberance of this great artist will be suitably honored.

(Text: K. Scheffel, 2003)