Tauzieher

The Tauzieher (German for "rope puller") is a limestone sculpture by Nikolaus Friedrich which was erected in 1911 in Rheinauhafen, Cologne. It depicts a man making a heavy rope or hawser fast to a bollard and is 6.5 metres (21 feet) in height. In 1980, it was listed as one of the first heritage sites in Cologne.

The Tauzieher in 2012

History

Nikolaus Friedrich was a German sculptor, born in Cologne and working in Charlottenburg. In the 1908 art show of the Association of Cologne Artists at the Flora und Botanischer Garten Köln, he exhibited a sculpted male figure that excited considerable admiration in art circles.[1] A plan was devised to install a version of the work, about twice the size of the original, on an appropriate site in the city. The Cologne friends of the arts took up a collection and when the amount collected was insufficient, the city pledged the remainder.[2][3] The chosen location was a vacant piece of ground next to the timber market, opposite the new harbour. Erection of the scaffolding began on 21 September 1910. The statue was unveiled on 4 March 1911.[1][4][5] It was the first free-standing sculpture in public space in Cologne.[6]

Detail of the statue from a different angle

The work is approximately 6.5 metres (21 ft) tall, of which the base makes up a little more than half.[7][8] A reporter wrote in the Kölnisches Tageblatt:

The Herculean naked man has climbed upon the bollard, which emerges at its base from unformed rock, and, leaning forwards, is hauling the rope up in order to secure it to it. His legs are clamped around the wood [of the bollard], and while his right [hand] is busy pulling the big hawser up with all his strength, the left firmly grasps the bollard.[7]

In the pose and the modelling of the naked and muscular upper body, the statue is reminiscent of the Belvedere Torso.[6]

Together with the nearby swing bridge and the railing on the pier, the Tauzieher was listed as a historical monument (number 66) on 1 July 1980 shortly after the North Rhine-Westphalia state law for the protection of monuments went into effect that day.[4][9]

Tauzieher has been the subject of one of Tatzu Nishi's transformations, Obdach (1997).[10]

References
  1. Peter Bloch; Brigitte Hüfler (1984). Rheinland Westfalen und die Berliner Bildhauerschule des 19. Jahrhunderts: eine Ausstellung der Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz Berlin: vom 18. Oktober bis 9. Dezember 1984 im Quadrat Bottrop Moderne Galerie: vom 18. Dezember 1984 bis 17. März 1985, Schloss Cappenberg: vom 31.Marz bis 19. Mai 1985 im Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum Aachen (in German). Berlin: Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz. p. 113. ISBN 9783886093106.
  2. Kölner Localanzeiger issue 83, 27 March 1910.
  3. "Vermischtes", Kunstchronik, New Series volume 21 (1909/1910) issue 21 (1 April 1910) pp. 348–49 (Online at University of Heidelberg digital library) (in German)
  4. Helmut Fussbroich; Marie Hüllenkremer (2000). Skulpturenführer Köln: Skulpturen im öffentlichen Raum nach 1900 (in German). Cologne: Bachem. p. 43. ISBN 9783761614150.
  5. Hiltrud Kier (ed.) with Fried Mühlberg: Denkmälerverzeichnis. volume 12.1 Köln Stadtbezirk 1 (Altstadt und Deutz). Landeskonservator Rheinland. Cologne: Rheinland Verlag, 1979, ISBN 3-7927-0455-2, p. 72.
  6. Helmut Fußbroich, Tauzieher Archived 2013-02-11 at Archive.today m.skulpturenfuehrer.de. (in German) Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  7. Kölnisches Tageblatt issue 435, 22 September 1910: "Der herkulische nackte Mann ist auf den Pfahl geklettert der aus unten ungegliedertem Gestein sich entwickelt und zieht, vornüber gebeugt, das Tau empor, um es an dem Pfahl zu befestigen. Die Beine umklammern das Holz und während die Rechte mit aller Kraft das große Tau emporzureißen sich bemüht, hält die Linke sich oben fest am Pfahl.
  8. August Sander; Michael Euler-Schmidt (1988). Rolf Sachsse (ed.). Köln wie es war (in German). Cologne: Kölnisches Stadtmuseum. p. 210. OCLC 75040661.
  9. Joseph Theele (1925), Hermann Wieger (ed.), Handbuch von Köln (in German), Cologne: Verlagsanstalt Hermann Wieger, pp. 239–40, OCLC 18461473 Missing or empty |title= (help); |contribution= ignored (help)
  10. Ben Parry; Sally Medlyn; Myriam Tahir, eds. (2011). Cultural Hijack: Rethinking Intervention. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. pp. 172–73. ISBN 978-1-84631-751-4.

Further reading
  • Wilfried Hausmann. "Der 'Tauzieher' am Kölner Rheinauhafen". Denkmalpflege im Rheinland 2 (1989) 1–4 (in German)
  • Media related to Tauzieher at Wikimedia Commons

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