Blacksmith in Art

[Scott NC]

  This from a old catalog that sold anvils, chisels and who knows what.  Bizzare way of advertising goods.

[JHCC]

Cupid sharpening his arrows, and the devil sharpening his tail. That's a full-service operation!

[Scott NC]

  I can't tell 100%, but from the original, it looks like the logo on the grinder pedestle say's "Shady MFG Co."   I'm pretty sure it was a Kimbark catalog.

Shady or Shifty.  I'll get out the magnifiying glass in morning.

[Scott NC]

  I found these photo's of murals online.  I found the brand marks on each interesting.

About this Item
Title
A downtown mural depicting blacksmithing, an important Old West business, in San Angelo, the seat of Tom Green County, Texas
Names
Highsmith, Carol M., 1946-, photographer
Created / Published
2014-03-07.

Rights Advisory
No known restrictions on publication.

[JHCC]

Discussion will now commence as to the specific models of power hammer and bender....

[Scott NC]

  The bender looks like it belongs in a Dali painting.  

  But then again, I would probably walk into a brick wall, trying to see more.

[Daswulf]

I don't see a power hammer. The thing in the middle picture looks more like a drill press to me. 

[JHCC]

It's not a straight-on view, more like from behind on the left side. If you look closely at the leftmost wheel on the top, you can see one arm of the Dupont linkage sticking out on the outside.

[Frosty]

On the floor at the far end is the sow block's anvil cone. (whatever it's really called I don't recall)

Thanks for the pics Scott. I might have to look up the brands registry online. I had it saved but on a now dead computer. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

Facebook just suggested to me a link for an art gallery selling a sculpture entitled "The Blacksmith of Solingen" by Wilhelm Albermann (1835-1913). Here are some photos:

And here's the description from the website:

Quote

Wilhelm Albermann (1835 Werden an der Ruhr - 1913 Cologne), The Blacksmith of Solingen, after 1895. Bronze-color patinated zinc cast on plinth, 47 cm (height) x 20 cm (width) x 16 cm (depth), weight 5.5 kg. Signed “Albermann.” on the plinth and identified as a cast by “AKT.[TIEN] GES.[ELLSCHAFT] GLADENBECK BERLIN”. Dedication on the front: “Mr. Ing. F. Kuhlmann to the wedding. Management and officials of the Hannoversche Waggonfabrik. Aircraft construction department".

- The zinc showing through in spots, the patina somewhat stained, the right upper arm under the sleeve retouched in black.

- The Double-edged Sword -

The figure is a reduction of Wilhelm Albermann's 1895 fountain figure of the armourer of Solingen, who has always been identified with the historical blacksmith Peter Hahn. In 1839, Karl Simrock wrote the poem “The Blacksmith of Solingen" and thus coined the legendary figure. The first and penultimate verses read:

A blacksmith spoke to Solingen
With every bayonet,
That came to his diligence:
"Oh, that Fritz had it!"

The war took its course,
Many battles were fought,
Which often made him fearful and anxious
In his soul.

The blacksmith had given up his trade to fight for Frederick the Great. Not least because of his strength and will to fight, the battles were won. With his fountain sculpture, Albermann has given the legendary blacksmith a figurative form and at the same time created a landmark for the city of Solingen, which was once famous for the art of sword forging and today still stands for the production of high-quality knives. During the bombing raid in November 1944, the fountain was destroyed along with the entire old town of Solingen. Only the head remained.

The broad-shouldered blacksmith stands securely behind his anvil, his leather apron tied around him, and has just finished a sword blade with his own "weapon" - the blacksmith's hammer. His entire body shows the strength with which he wields the hammer, but also the strain of this activity, as evidenced by the wide open shirt, the somewhat 'untidy' apron, and especially the furrowed face. However, the blacksmith does not look at the finished work, but resolutely and at the same time thoughtfully into the distance, in line with the quoted verse from Simrock's poem that the battles "often made him fearful and anxious in his soul". There is certainly something melancholy in his gaze, fed by the knowledge of the necessity of forging swords and taking up arms and their deadly use - experiences Albermann had to make during his own war missions. The flowing full beard gives his gaze into the distance an almost prophetic character.

In keeping with the craft of the perfectly formed art of blacksmithing, the detailed casting reproduces the respective materials depicted in perfect form: the leather apron convincingly conveys the impression of leather and lies - also in the back view - like a second formed layer over the body, while the shirt and trousers illustrate their own textile qualities.

Due to its masterful execution and profound content, the “Blacksmith of Solingen”, which has survived in its cast reproductions, remains Albermann's most famous work to this day.

 

[Julianb]

I think I have at least one of those lying around. I'll dig it up.

[Michael]

Stumbled across this a while ago. Makes a good printed copy for the shop. Van Gogh 1882.

Also stumbled across the Detlefsen painting, triggering a memory of this mass produced image hanging in my grandparents home, and have since found a smaller, laminated to a board version, also for the shop.

[JHCC]

On 10/26/2024 at 9:50 PM, Michael said:

Van Gogh 1882.

Better image:

[Scott NC]

That horn looks askew and the heel looks busted off at an angle.

[Frosty]

And what shop guy leans things up directly behind him/er, like the shovel behind the smith. Definitely impressionist painting by someone who didn't look around a smithy first.

On the other hand I'm having fun trying to think of what someone would an anvils like that for. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Scott NC]

  Why I criticize Van Gogh, I don't know.

[Frosty]

Ahh, it's more of an observation than a criticism and maybe if Van Gogh had someone to critique his paintings more of us would understand them. 

Yeah, you guessed it I'm not a Van Gogh fan I guess I'm a little more reality oriented. 

(Please note, no ear jokes!)

I've been trying to throw together a quick concept sketch and keep getting lost in details. <sigh>

Frosty The Lucky.

[Scott NC]

  I find I don't have to understand them to appreciate them.

  What I would like to see is Dali's expression of a blacksmith or forgery and what he would have produced in steel or iron.  I bet he would have burned out trying...

  You've seen my concept sketches...

[Scott NC]

45 minutes ago, Frosty said:

I guess I'm a little more reality oriented.

  Oops, never mind.  

[Frosty]

Okay, that sounds interesting, Black-Dali-Smithing sculptures. They'd be a lot easier to cast than forge. I look forward to seeing what you come up with. 

Yeah, I've even tossed ideas at you from your concept sketches. 

I'm a mechanical drawing guy, spent years taking classes at Dad's insistence and I don't think I ever good better than a "mercy" D in art classes. 

I think I've got close enough on the sketches for Angiolino, now if I can just NOT turn them into blueprints! 

Speaking of mechanical drawings. Does anybody out there know of a freeware drawing program that isn't filled with useless "rendering" bells and whistles? 

Great, I see you and I are typing simultaneously, this could get confusing for the normals out there.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Scott NC]

  Have you been keeping up on what Artificial Intelligence is capable of doing.  It is moving very fast and in many fields.  

[Scott NC]

  But then again, I watch old film noir and black and white movies to avoid technology and YOU know that for a fact.... 

[Frosty]

Yes, computers are getting very fast and powerful but, "Artificial Intelligence" is nothing but marketing hype. Not one has come close to passing the simplest tests, Touring test I think?.

If you're talking about drafting programs AI has made them prohibitively complex to use, I have a couple and you have to select through several menus just to draw a line from point to point. I can draw faster with a T square, triangles and scale.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Scott NC]

  Do you believe that exponential growth just gets tired and dies out?  This is a rabbit hole that we could talk about on the side.  This time I deleted and spared you a long ramble.  Sorry I mentioned it on this topic.  I never meant to imply a computer could put a line on paper faster than you.  Seems you were asking about drawing programs.  I better clam up now.

[Frosty]

You're right Scott, I forgot we weren't PMing each other. Actually I was complaining about modern drawing programs. 

In this case exponential growth had unintended consequences, after a point you can't predict where it's going. Unfortunately . . . Nevermind.  (delete gripes about ITs)

Back to metal stuff.

Frosty The Lucky.