Widow of the sculptor Lothar Fischer: "He had so much to say!"

Created: 06/08/2022, 16:00

By: Andrea Kästle

"I was always very enthusiastic about art, even before I knew Lothar," says his wife Christel Fischer.

© Andrea Kästle

Christel Fischer remembers the time with her husband, the well-known "Spur" sculptor Lothar Fischer

Baierbrunn –

You and Lothar Fischer got married in 1959, when did you actually meet?

A year earlier, in March 1958, in a hut above Kitzbühel.

Lothar was at the hut with a group of students, I was with friends from Hamburg.

He then asked which of us would like to build a snow sculpture with him.

I went along with that.

He talked a lot about art, actually at that moment it was all over for me.

And what happened next?

In the evenings he drew in the hut, animals in all positions.

And then we went skiing together after all, he gave me a little lesson.

Then I visited him in Munich – he then talked about the “Spur” group.

It was only half a year back then.

Did you hear a lot from the others, were you present at meetings?

Yes, of course, if only because many of the meetings took place in our apartment in der Au.

But: The four of them also went to the museum a lot together, at first they looked at Kandinsky almost every day.

Probably none of those involved had much money at the time.

I could usually only afford 50 grams of minced meat at the butcher, so I made a Bolognese out of it.

Once the butcher, who wanted to support us, ordered a sculpture made of fat and lard from Lothar.

She then put them in the shop window and we got a piece of meat for it.

We immediately invited the other Spur members to roast pork.

Lothar Fischer, Heimrad Prem, HP Zimmer and Helmut Sturm (from left): The Spur members at a scrap yard in the Au.

Photographed by Christel Fischer.

© Andrea Kästle

You can find more current news from the district of Munich at Merkur.de/Landkreis München.

It is said of Helmut Sturm that you had to think twice before meeting him for a glass of wine in the evening.

Because it could well be that you still sat with him in the morning.

Did your husband also like to discuss?

He tended to be quieter, Sturm was the intellectual.

At first, when everyone was sitting together, it bothered me when Lothar seemed rather reserved.

Because he had so much to say!

Was there one of the co-founders with whom your husband was particularly connected?

Yes, with Heimrad Prem.

From time to time he also painted works by Lothar.

Both came from the Upper Palatinate, just like Sturm.

Only half board room was Berliner.

The Spur members have also worked together, which is a special feature.

This well-known architectural model was created in our studio in der Au.

And at Zimmer they later made the 'painting game pictures', someone started to paint a picture, passed it on in turn, everyone added something.

Despite all the intellectuality, there seems to have been a lot of playfulness in the group?

Definitely, one of the manifestos says: 'We engage the whole world for our fun'.

I really liked that.

Did Lothar Fischer let you participate in his artistic work?

Very.

When we went for walks along the Isar, it was almost always about art.

He also liked having me around when he was working in the studio.

Like Helmut Sturm, he also listened to music while working.

He loved Bach's Goldberg Variations, which he listened to while drawing.

And then he had a Bruckner passion, which I didn't share.

He heard Bruckner lying on the sofa.

Lothar Fischer was incredibly versatile and went through a number of artistic phases.

Who influenced him?

Even as a child he had helped his father, who was also a sculptor, a lot.

Perhaps he took over the great subject of riders from his father, who also liked to copy horse and rider.

Otherwise, the following were certainly formative for him: Alberto Giacometti, Marino Marini and of course Toni Stadler, professor at the art academy.

Fischer's sculpture "Flat female torso" is in Baierbrunn town hall.

© Andrea Kästle

In 1961 you spent nine months together in Rome, at the Villa Massimo.

That was a great time!

We were out almost every day to explore museums, churches and the city.

At that time Lothar had the order for a fountain in Neumarkt, coincidentally Toni Stadler was working on a fountain for Frankfurt at exactly the same time.

He and his wife visited us in Rome, the four of us went off and discovered fountains.

You say your husband rejected anything conservative.

He didn't want to be restricted at all.

For example, for a long time he refused to get a driver's license because he didn't want to obey traffic rules.

You were in Rome when Spur's blasphemy trial began.

What did you learn about it?

Like the others, Lothar was summoned to the vice squad, and although he immediately said that he was involved in the confiscated magazine, he was not charged.

The process did a lot of harm to the group.

For a time, Spur artists were no longer shown at Haus der Kunst, and Prem was rejected as a professor at the Munich Art Academy.

In the last years of his life, your husband helped plan a lot for the museum that was built for him in his hometown of Neumarkt.

Exactly.

He was very closely connected with the architect, Johannes Berschneider, who has now died.

Once Lothar visited him in his house.

And before the two of them greeted each other, my husband went straight to a sculpture that was there and rotated it 90 degrees.

Incidentally, he also did this with friends - he would then straighten a carpet if it wasn't parallel to the sofa.

When you and Lothar Fischer moved to Baierbrun in 1979, he had a professorship in Berlin.

They commuted back and forth between the big city and the village.

Where did you feel more comfortable?

We liked both places.

However, the Berliners were less interested in Lothar's art than the Bavarians.

And: We had more social life here with collectors and artists.

(By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular district Munich newsletter.)