Hermann Nonnenmacher


Hermann Nonnenmacher was a sculptor, painter and teacher, born in Coburg, Germany, who later lived in London.

Biography

Nonnenmacher served in the German Army during World War I and sustained some hearing loss. He studied at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, and was a member of the Association of German Artists.
In 1919 he married the sculptor Erna Rosenberg. They lived and worked in Berlin at Potsdamer Str. 29, the former studio of Lyonel Feininger.
Before the rise of Nazism, Nonnenmacher was a well-known sculptor whose works adorned many public buildings in Germany. The prominent Berlin-born Australian sculptor, Inge King studied under Nonnenmacher during 1936-1937 in preparation for her entry to the Berlin Academy of Arts. Hermann and Erna's sculptures was classified as Degenerate art by the Nazis, and much of their public works were destroyed. Erna was persecuted as a Jew and they emigrated to London in 1938.
During World War II Hermann and Erna were interned on the Isle of Man, where Hermann continued to make and exhibit artwork. After the war they set up a studio in a house off Archway Road, London.
From 1949 to 1970 Nonnenmacher taught modelling and pottery at Morley College. In 1982 Hermann Nonnenmacher was awarded the German Federal Cross of Merit by the West German government.
Nonnenmacher died in London in August 1988.

Exhibitions and commissions

Public collections

Solo and two-person exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Commissions

Nonnenmacher was awarded several commissions for public sculpture in Germany before the rise of Nazism. Most or all of this work was destroyed.
Public commissions in England included sculpture for: