Walter Lenck

• Name — Walter Lenck • Birth Name — Walter Lewy • Born — 2 September 1873 • Birthplace — Berlin, Germany • Died — 13 August 1952 • Place of death — Johannesburg, South Africa

He was born in Berlin on September 2, 1873, son of banker Oscar Lewy and his wife Rosalie, née Samuelson, first cousin of her husband. From a young age he was fond of drawing animals at the zoo and illustrating scenes from Greek mythology, with a special interest in the saga of the Argonauts. Dissatisfied with the work in his father's bank he did sketches of clients. Despite his fondness for drawing he began his artistic career with musical studies and became a virtuoso cellist. Having always been interested in sculpture, he then devoted himself to this branch of art at the Royal Academy in Berlin as a disciple of the sculptor Paul Friedrich Meyerheim, simultaneously continuing architecture studies, and then in Paris, where he was influenced by the school of Antoine-Louis Barye and in Brussels with Constantin Meunier. After completing his studies, he made a living painting portraits until he earned a reputation as a sculptor. In 1910, the German government sent his monumental sculpture Jason to the International Railway and Land Transportation Exhibition, one of several held that year in Buenos Aires on the occasion of the centenary of Argentine independence. Still as Walter Lewy the artist traveled from Hamburg, embarking on the steamer König Friedrich August on May 21. At the International Art Exhibition, held at San Martín Square, he presented three bronze sculptures. The reason is not known, but by the end of 1913 and perhaps when he moved to Vienna he had already changed his surname, since he appeared as Walter Lenck, cellist, in a December announcement that year of a concert to be held there in January 1914. He would spend fourteen years in Vienna where, without neglecting his sculpture, he developed a wide-ranging musical activity as a cello and viola da gamba instrumentalist, and participated in design contests for public monuments. In 1916 he organized an exhibition of his architectural and sculptural works in a room at the Musikverein, which he personally rented. The contract stipulated that the association would receive in payment the amount collected from the sale of tickets, once the installation and administrative expenses incurred by the artist had been covered. The show would open on May 2 and would extend, in principle, for a month; it received favorable reviews. That same year, Lenck was one of the founders of the Collegium Musicum in Vienna, an organization dedicated to rescue and disseminate works of ancient music by German composers, performing frequent concerts in which he played the cello and viola da gamba. In September 1922, Gertrude Richardson Brigham, a correspondent for The Washington Times, met Lenck during a visit to Vienna as part of a tour of European capitals. She was interested in contacting painters and sculptors for an exhibition of modern art planned by the newspaper, to be held the following season in Washington. She describes him in an article published on October 22 that included photos of two works by the artist, written under her pseudonym, Viktor Flambeau: Viktor Flambeau He lived in Berlin until his emigration to South Africa in 1936, where he continued his sculptural work; the catalog of a solo show in Johannesburg in 1945 lists more than a dozen bronzes of animals, his great specialty, and portrait busts, oil paintings and drawings. He did not neglect his activity as a musical composer and dramatist, although he had to stop playing the cello for medical reasons. He died in Johannesburg on August 13, 1952, aged 78, and was buried there.

• Illustration — Reinhold Völkel: Perspective of the Monument to Peace (Walter Lenck) Lenck designed several monuments, none of which were built, but he presented the plans and models at his 1916 exhibition in Vienna. The Monument to Peace and Alliance stood out; it was conceived to be built on the side of a hill at the border between Bohemia and Saxony, in homage to the unity between Germany and Austria-Hungary. The model appears in photographs published in newspapers, in the poster designed by the architect Otto Polak for the exhibition and in a charcoal perspective by Reinhold Völkel. The great central tower of the mausoleum is surrounded by terraces and galleries, decorated with sculptural groups on pilasters, of two of which Lenck exhibited plaster models. In 1915 he designed a memorial to the sinking of the Austro-Hungarian submarine U-12 and its commander, Lieutenant Egon Lerch, to be erected in Vienna. The sinking, witnessed by ships of the Italian navy during the war, took place on August 7, 1915, at the Venice lagoon entrance, apparently when the submarine hit a mine. The design combined the figure of the submarine and the letter U into a plastic unit. Another design was for a Bulgarian Monument, depicting the meeting in Serbia of three riders – one Austrian, one German and one Bulgarian.

Numerous reviews of concerts in newspapers of the time highlight his successful professional career in Vienna as a performer of the cello and the then little-known viola da gamba. His works as a composer, in practically all forms but preferring the symphony, were well received in Germany. In 1936 he was working on a dramatic trilogy, Emmanuel, a play with musical interludes.

The following is established of origins and background. Born in 1873 at Berlin. Lenck died in 1952 at Johannesburg. Recorded at birth as Walter Lewy.

The following works and productions are recorded by name or by count. Recorded with the occupation sculptor. Recorded with the occupation draftsperson. Institutional cataloguing adds that walter Lenck is recorded with the occupation painter. Recorded with the occupation architect. Recorded with the occupation cellist. Institutional cataloguing adds that walter Lenck is recorded with the occupation composer. Institutional cataloguing adds that walter Lenck is recorded as a citizen of Germany. Recorded with the gender male. It is also recorded that walter Lenck was born on 2 September 1873. Lenck worked at Berlin. Lenck died on 13 August 1952.