Artist of the Day, June 27, 2026 : Hermann Glöckner, a German painter and sculptor (#2564)

Hermann Glöckner (1889 – 1987) was a German painter and sculptor. He was an important representative of constructivism.

Glöckner was born in Cotta near Dresden. He attended the vocational school in Leipzig in 1903 and worked as a designer for textiles. From 1904 to 1911 he attended the evening classes at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Dresden, where he became friends with Kurt Fiedler. Among their lectures were Oskar Seyffert and Carl Rade, who later was a renowned professor at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts and remained a friend of Glöckner for many years. Glöckner was mainly interested in drawings, but also in projections and geometry. From 1914 to 1918 he served in infantry divisions in France, Russia, and Poland.

After World War I, Glöckner earned some money with the copying of paintings for the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister. At the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts he studied with Otto Gussmann from 1923 to 1924. Hans Grundig was among his fellow students. His experimental style, however, did not find everyone's appreciation and Glöckner left the academy again. As a freelancer he turned to constructivism ever deeper during the following years. In 1932 he became a member of the re-founded Dresdner Sezession. The Nazis refused him any opportunities to exhibit and sell his paintings and graphics. So he turned to sgraffito to earn his living.

Glöckner lost his home during the bombing of Dresden in World War II and moved to Loschwitz. Because of his formalist style, the officials of the GDR refused him the appreciation he deserved for a long time. His rehabilitation began with an exhibition of his graphical work in the Kupferstichkabinett, Dresden in 1969. In 1979 he received a permanent visa for the Federal Republic of Germany. Finally, in 1984, he was awarded with the National Prize of the GDR and the DEFA dedicated a film to him. Centrally in the area of the Technische Universität Dresden he was allowed to erect a sculpture, which had been banned just a few years before. Another sculpture was erected one year later in the park of the Hotel Bellevue, Dresden's first address that time.

In his later years Glöckner regularly visited West Berlin, where his cohabitee lived and where he died in 1987. Glöckner's urn was entombed in Loschwitz. A street in Loschwitz, newly built in 2008, is named after him.

Glöckner made his works from objects he had on hand: twine, cardboard, match boxes, and wood scrapes. These common objects were put together in a unique way to create something entirely new. This art was private with the only audience being his wife.

© 2026. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Hermann Glöckner or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only

Hermann Glöckner

Right-Angled Penetration: Sign F on Black, 1932

Altrosa Faltung auf Gelb (Dusk Pink Folding on Yellow) 1933

Gefaltete Streifen in Rot und Weiß auf Schwarz 

(Folded Strips in Red and White on Black) 1933

Aufbau aus U-förmig gebogenen Quadraten 
(Structure of U-shaped Bent Squares) 1935

Modell einer beweglichen Säule 
(Model of a Movable Column) 1935

Pfeiler aus U-förmig gebogenen Quadraten 
Pillar of U-shaped Bent Squares) 1935

Reste harmonieren (Harmonizing Remains) 1935

Zwei verschlungene Bänder (Two Intertwined Bands) 1935

Gefaltete weiße Streifen auf Schwarz mit Rot 
(Folded White Strips on Black with Red) 1956

En face, 1956-57

Flächenteilung in Schwarz und Weiß 
(Division of Surface in Black and White) 1957

Flächenteilung in Schwarz und Weiß 
(Division of Surface in Black and White) 1957

Dreiecke in Schwarz-Weiß-Grau (Triangles in Black-White-Grey) 1958

Drei schwarze und zwei weiße Rechtecke, vertikal verschoben, 
in der Mitte an einer silbernen Platte fixiert 
(Three Black and Two White Rectangles, Vertically Displaced, 
Fixed in the Middle to a Silver Plate) 1963

10 Handdrucke (10 Handprints) 1963-74

Durchbruch (Breakthrough) 1965

Drei gelbe Rechtecke (Three Yellow Rectangles) 1968

Paar symmetrischer Körper aus gefalteten Elementen 
(Pair of Symmetrical Bodies Made of Folded Elements) 1968

Profil, 1970-84

Räumliche Brechung eines Rechtecks 
(Spatial Refraction of a Rectangle) 1972

Begegnung zweier gezackter Formen 
(Meeting of Two Jagged Forms) 1974

Aufrichtung von drei Streichholzschachteln, über zwei liegenden in Rotbraun 
(Erection of Three Matchboxes over Two Lying in Red-Brown) 1975

Mast mit zwei Faltungszonen (Mast with Two Folding Zones) 1975

Schwarz-Weiße Aufgipfelung vor Violett

(Black and White Summiting before Violet) 1976

Zwei verklammerte Scheiben (Two Clamped Discs) 1976

Nach links oben (To the Top Left) 1977-78

3 Phasen" (3 Phases - Sheet 1) 1980

Zwei Dreiecke, Durchdringung, symmetrisch 
(Two Triangles, Penetration, Symmetrical) 1980

Drei weiße Dreiecke, Schwarz über Blau 
(Three White Triangles, Black over Blue, 1981

Broken Band, 1982-85

Schwarz und Weiß, ineinander, auf Blau
(Black and White, Intertwined, on Blue) 1983