Walter Arnold

Walter Arnold (27 August 1909 – 11 July 1979) was a German stonemason and sculptor. Between 1957 and 1964 he was the president of the Association of Visual Artists (DDRA / Verband Bildender Künstler) in East Germany.

Life

Early years Walter Arnold was the son of a Leipzig Stonemason. He trained between 1924 and 1928 in wood carving and stone sculpture. He then returned to the Academy in Leipzig where he was designated an emeritus professor in 1974, but continued to give master classes.

Political progress Arnold became a member of the East German Academy of Culture in 1952. From 1952 to 1962 he was a Candidate for the Central Committee of The Party, being a member of it from 1958 till 1961.

In 1958 he succeeded Otto Nagel as the president of the country's Association of Visual Artists (DDRA / Verband Bildender Künstler).

Some works

in bronze

Wäscherin, 1947 Bauarbeiter, 1947 Tanzpause, 1947 An early Memorial to the victims of Fascism at the Southern Cemetery, Leipzig, 1949 Jugend – Baumeister der DDR, 1951: Ausgangspunkt für den ersten Nationalpreis der DDR an einen Künstler Traktoristin (woman driving a tractor), 1953 Befreite Arbeit – schöneres Leben (Liberating work – beautiful life), 1961 Ernst-Thälmann-Denkmal in Stralsund, 1962 Bäuerin – (Farmer's wife) Year unknown, exhibited in front of the Agricultural Museum at Wandlitz from 1975 till 2008: now in storage Clara Zetkin Memorial in Leipzig, 1967 in the Leipzig Johanna Park (formerly the Clara Zetkin Park)

wood carvings

Das Grauen 1934 Das Leid 1946: aus einer gespaltenen Bohle gearbeitet, erinnert an seine Kriegsgefangenschaft Vietnam klagt an (Viet Nam complains), 1966 Vorwärts und nicht vergessen – die Solidarität (Onwards and don't forget – Solidarity), 1967 Venceremos (We shall overcome), 1974 Anette Es gibt kein fremdes Leid

portrait-busts and statuettes Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, 1947 in the Leipzig neighbourhood Musikviertel Carl Maria von Weber, 1952 Ernst Thälmann, 1956 Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, 1957 Otto Buchwitz, 1962

in memoriam Inge, 1949 Badende, 1961 Aphrodite, 1971