"Serpent Staff of Aesculapius"
"Serpent Staff of Aesculapius"
Quick info
limited, 199 copies | numbered | signed | bronze + marble | height 43 cm
Detailed description
"Serpent Staff of Aesculapius"
The professional symbol of the physicians recalls the transformation of Asclepius. In 293 BC, a delegation arrived at his sanctuary of Epidauros so that the god could free Rome from a terrible plague. Ovid reports in the "Metamorphoses" that Asclepius boarded the Roman ship disguised as a serpent and brought salvation to Rome. Hohberger set a monument full of vitality and vigour to the god of healing.
Edition in bronze. Total height 43 cm including marble base, base 10 x 10 cm. Limited world edition: 199 copies, signed and numbered. Cast using the Lost-Wax-Process.
Producer: ars mundi Edition Max Büchner GmbH, Bödekerstraße 13, 30161 Hanover, Germany, [email protected]
About Peter Hohberger
Born in 1939, former actor, now sculptor and painter
The sculptor Peter Hohberger, born in Silesia on 12 November 1939, was already involved in drawing and modelling as a child. After a successful career as an actor, he has devoted himself to painting and the fine arts for many years. He sees himself quite consciously as a sculptor in the classical sense.
His basic aesthetic understanding is influenced by nature. The beauty of the human body is what fascinates him and which he translates into his nudes and portrait busts unaffected by modernisms. His role models are the masters of ancient Greece, Auguste Rodin and above all Arno Breker, who instructed him personally. He has learned from all of them, and not only in the accuracy with which he knows how to depict the beauty of the female body.
Hohberger says: "Art that enriches life and makes people happy outlasts any kind of so-called zeitgeist".
An alloy of copper with other metals (especially with tin) used since ancient times. It is an ideal metal for high-quality artistic castings, capable of enduring for millennia.
When casting bronze, the artist usually applies the lost-wax technique which is dating back more than 5000 years. This is the best, but also the most complex method of producing sculptures.
First, the artist forms a model of their work. This model is embedded in a liquid silicone rubber mass. Once the material has solidified, the model is cut out, leaving a negative mould. Liquid wax is then poured into the negative mould. After cooling down, the wax cast is removed from the mould, provided with sprues and dipped into ceramic mass. The ceramic mass is hardened in a kiln, where the wax melts away (lost mould).
Finally, the negative mould is ready, into which the 1400° C hot molten bronze is poured. After the bronze had cooled down, the ceramic shell is broken apart, reavoling the sculpture.
Next, the sprues are removed, the surfaces are polished, patinated and numbered by the artist or by a specialist, following their instructions. Thus, each casting is an original work.
For lower-quality bronze castings, the sand casting method is often used, which, however, does not achieve the results of a more elaborate lost-wax technique in terms of surface characteristics and quality.
Term for an art object (sculpture, installation) that, according to the artist’s intention, is produced in multiple copies within a limited and numbered edition.
Multiples enable the "democratization" of art by making the work accessible and affordable for a wider audience.
A plastic work of sculptural art made of wood, stone, ivory, bronze or other metals.
While sculptures made of wood, ivory, or stone are carved directly from the material block, in bronze casting, a working model is prepared at first. Usually, it is made of clay or other easily mouldable materials.
The prime time of sculpture after the Greek and Roman antiquity was the Renaissance. Impressionism gave a new impulse to the sculptural arts. Contemporary artists such as Jorg Immendorf, Andora, and Markus Lupertz also enriched sculptures with outstanding works.