Saint Barbara Sculpture In Metal Heinrich Moshage

After a four-year apprenticeship with a wood carver, Moshage studied from 1912 to 1926 with Heinrich Waderé at the Munich School of Applied Arts. From 1919 he continued his studies as a wood carver at the famous wood carving school in Bad Warmbrunn under the direction of Cirillo Dell'Antonio. After 1926 he was a student of Joseph Wackerle at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich until 1931. In the 1920s he was one of the Munich artists who designed the most numerous annual plaques for the art foundry “Lauchhammer Kunstguss GmbH”. He made study trips to France, Belgium, Italy and Austria until he finally settled in Düsseldorf in 1932. He then worked as a sculptor in Düsseldorf and Munich. Moshage was a master of medal and portrait carving. He notably contributed to the revival of artistic fonts. He worked particularly well with the Buderus iron foundry. At Moshage's suggestion, Buderus decided to establish an art foundry in Hirzenhain in 1950.[1] His works are now in galleries and state collections at home and abroad. Mines and mining museums still preserve the cast statue of Saint Barbara, 1.30 meters high, whose shape Moshage had already designed in 1930.