RENATE
STENDAR-FEUERBAUM -- IN MEMORIAM
By
Consul B. John Zavrel, Chancellor, OAG
Mrs.
Stendar-Feuerbaum and Consul Zavrel at the Noervenich
Castle. The photo shows her sculpture 'Ode to Peace' in the Alexander
Sculpture Garden in Clarence, New York.
Hamburg/New
York, March 2020: (prom) We
have heard the sad news about the passing of the German artist Frau
Renate Stendar, at he Biblical age of
nearly 100 years. This hapened
at the end of February 2020. I have known her for many,
many years. We had close, friendly ties through art. So, as an
eyewitness of her artistic work, I would like to send a last greeting
with my recollections.
Frau
Stendar was one of the great supporters of
the Museum of European Art in the United States of America. I
remember very vividly our last personal meeting at the Music School
of the Hungarian composer Lajos Tar
at Nörvenich in 2007, my last
visit to Germany. At the time, I came to Germany to inform some of
our German artist-friends about the planned opening of the Sculpture
Garden of Alexander the Great.
We
have talked in length about her youth and her life in tragic years of
the Second World War, her impressive career in the theater and her
marriage to
the actor Wolfgang Stendar
and their life and work in Switzerland. In her later years she
started to paint and then ventured into sculpture.
This
was actually why we met that day: I explained to her the concept of
out Alexander Sculpture Garden, and invited her to join other artists
to donate some of her sculptures to our project. She said yes at
once, and we went on and selected several of her unique and
expressive bronze sculptures and reliefs.
At
the time, there was a large exhibition of her works--both paintings
and bronze sculptures at the Museum Europåische
Kunst at
the historical Castle Schloß Nörvenich.
She took me personally on a tour of her works, discussing them in
detail and making photos for our archives.
The
Alexander Sculpture Garden was opened the following year, in the
autumn of 2008 in the presence of artist-friends and supporters from
Europe and the United States. Among them were Dr. Wilson Greatbatch,
the inventor of the implantable pacemaker and the Grandmaster of the
Order of Alexander the Great; the prominent Buffalo businessman Frank
McGuire, gallery owner Marco John Bodenstein
from Bonn, as well as John Gilbert Bodenstein
from the Nörvenich Castle near
Cologne. To our great disappointment, the German sculptor
and our good friend Kurt Arentz was
not able to come for sudden health concerns, as was also the case
with Frau Stendar.
On
the behalf of the Museum of European Art and the Order of Alexander
the Great, I would like to express our condolences on the passing of
this great artist, supporter and friend. She will remain in our
heart and memory!
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