Richard Martin Werner, Kneeling Woman, 1920s, Bronze

Fine and rare bronze sculpture
"kneeling young woman
before 1949
Monogrammed in the base RMW
Height 42,5 cm
by Richard Martin Werner
born 2. January 1903 in Offenbach am Main;
died October 2, 1949 in Oberursel
Werner was a son of Adam Werner, a turner, and Maria Keller.
He was married to the painter and art teacher Gerda Jo Werner.
from 1920 to 1923, Werner studied at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main.
from 1924 to 1929 he was a student of Richard Scheibe. In 1929 Werner received a scholarship from the Villa Massimo in Rome. He then worked as a freelance sculptor in Offenbach, Frankfurt, and (since 1937) in Oberursel im Taunus.
After 1933 Werner mainly created nudes and portraits (e.g. of Franz Liszt and Ricarda Huch). In his works he strove for simple, grand form in the spirit of antiquity. He exhibited several times at the Great German Art Exhibition (1937-1944 in Munich) before becoming a participant in the war.
Since 1945 Werner was a member of the Darmstadt Secession[ and in 1948 co-founder of the Taunus Artists' Association in Bad Homburg.
In Biedenkopf he led a sculpture class at the local district vocational school.
Werner's best-known work of art is the Tree Planter. It depicts a kneeling woman planting an oak seedling. Werner created the work in 1949 in the aftermath of the 1948 currency reform as a design for a plaster model that was used as the reverse of the 50-penny coin of the young Federal Republic of Germany. For Werner, the 50 pfennig piece was the last major commission. Until he died in October 1949, the artist had not held any of the coins minted according to his design. The client was the Bank deutscher Länder.