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“If I don’t do anything, I’ll collapse”: Otto Wesendonck from Waakirchen is still very active.
Today he can celebrate his 85th birthday.
© Thomas Plettenberg
His sculptures can be found not only in the district, but all over Germany: sculptor Otto Wesendonck, who has lived in Waakirchen for more than 50 years, is 85 years old.
Waakirchen – In the wild garden around the ancient Meserhof below the parish church of St. Martin, more sculptures than bushes grow.
For more than 50 years, the people of Waakirch have become accustomed to having Otto Wesendonck, an internationally successful sculptor, as a fellow citizen.
Today the artist turns 85 years old - and appears as youthful and dynamic as ever, with a keen eye, lively conversation, with charming kisses for every female guest and very active in his creative work.
“If I don't do anything, I'll collapse and mourn,” he explains his enthusiasm.
"That is not how it works!"
Already at the first glance at the small farm in 1968, the man from the Lower Rhine and his muse and love Ragnvi knew: This is our place.
Shortly before, the girlfriend of the well-known sculptor Bernd Heiligener had run away with his master student from “annoying Berlin” - to the Bavarian Oberland, where Wesendonck had previously felt so comfortable and inspired.
Because of the scandal, they couldn't stay in Berlin and didn't want to, as today's capital was very narrow in its insular location due to the construction of the Wall and every trip to the West was accompanied by GDR harassment.
Otto Wesendonck: His “Spirale” adorns the ZDF broadcasting center in Mainz
Settling down worked well, in the village thanks to Ragnvi's talent for communication and professionally through skill and luck in competitions with convincing designs.
In 1971, Wesendonck made his name among 100 applicants “and without connections” in the Munich University’s tender for a sculpture that was the only design to connect a basement with the first floor.
An architect suggested it for the Lerchenberg in Mainz with the new ZDF broadcasting center.
Against established competition, such as Heiligen, the young artist won the race with his huge “spiral”.
He developed his first technical aids for molding and removing the cast.
Just one step for his metallurgical improvements against slag in the melt, bubbles in the metal or unsightly welds with casting material, which even amazed experts.
Wesendonck's dissatisfaction with the casting service providers led to his own casting workshop in the old cowshed in 1980.
His – moving!
– Giant sculptures in the 1990s such as the Weidener Welle, the Phoenix in Oberhausen, the Justitia in Münster or the large Alpha in Munich and the installation for the Federal Pension Fund in Berlin in 1975, of course, had to be produced abroad, but he became a sought-after advisor.
Otto Wesendonck: On an equal footing with other art greats
Awards and prizes accompanied a career in which the sculptor met the art greats of the time on an equal footing.
He always remained down-to-earth and closely connected to his adopted home, which also adorn some of Wesendonck's works: The Venus in the traffic roundabout in Hauserdörfl, the Ludwig Erhard monument in Gmund, the world mirror in front of the future Waakirchner town hall - and his sculpture garden.
Gudula Beyse