Monthly Archives: June 2026

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Martin Meyer-Pyritz, sculptor, was a friend of Hermann Radzyk

As my mother told me, my grandfather, Hermann Radzig-Radzyk, had art friends. However, the only art friend my mother mentioned by name was Arthur Hoffmann – I have talked about him in my latest blog.

Besides Arthur Hoffman, I identified more friends by guessing. One of them is Martin Meyer-Pyritz. The indication: We own two small bronze figures signed by him. With these two figures, we grew up, never asking who has made them.

 

Martin Meyer-Pyritz made the two little figures

The two little figures owned by us are an ash-tray with a charming dachshund sitting up and begging…

and a small child with one arm stretched out.

The artist engraved his name on the ashtray…

… and on the child sculpture.

Only recently, I have taken notice of the engraving.

 

My memories connected with the two figures by Martin Meyer-Pyritz

I remember that my mum told me about an art friend of my grandfather’s that was very tall and used to put the ash trays high on the cupboards or book shelves. Perhaps this tall artist was Martin Meyer-Pyritz, and may be he offered the ash tray with the dachshund to apologize that my grandparents had to climb ladders to take down the ash trays again. Well, I have no evidence that Martin Meyer-Pyritz was tall, but it would make up a nice story which is not totally implausible.

In my memory, the small child used to carry a wedding ring on the left arm stretched out. Whenever my father returned home, he took off his wedding ring and gave it to the child. It was a clear sign, our dad was at home. And we were always happy, when he was at home. He was a wonderful father; sometimes he had two small chocolate mice wrapped in silver foil for his two girls. He left us in 1970, too young, but nevertheless we still see the wedding ring on the left arm of this small child and then think lovingly of our father.

 

Martin Meyer-Pyritz decorated two U3 metro stations at Berlin – first the Rüdesheimer Platz

The metro station Rüdesheimer Platz reflects what Rüdesheim is about: Wine and vineyards. Already, the grapes above “Rüdesheimer Platz” underline that.

Martin Meyer-Pyritz was asked to decorate this metro station.

Photos of grape bunches and leaves create the atmosphere of vineyards. They are separated by columns with small medallions.

It is rather dimly lit here, you have to look carefully to see, what these small medallions are about.

They represent animals in the vineyards, beetles, lizards, snails, frogs…

More beetles decorate the ceiling.

And the lamps are again surrounded by grapes.

The passengers rush by with their heads down. The small animals populating the vineyards go unnoticed. Neither have I noticed them so far. What a pity, they make up a charming illustration of vineyards.

 

Martin Meyer-Pyritz decorated a second U3 metro station, the Breitenbachplatz

Paul von Breitenbach was a Prussian politician and railway planner. Railways are the topics of the metro station Breitenbachplatz. Joachim Szymczak created the paintings of the station in 1988 commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Prussian railways, as an explanatory panel in the metro station says.

Martin Meyer-Pyritz created various medallions with animals, plants and research instruments. I found about fifteen different medallions that are repeated along the wall.

Here are some examples, the deer, …

… the fox with the prey, …

… and the owl.

Also these medallions go unnoticed by the passengers that rush by entering and leaving the metro, while the voice says each time “U3 nach Warschauerstrasse (or Krumme Lanke) – einsteigen bitte – zurücktreten bitte.” (U3 to Warschauerstrasse (or to Krumme Lanke) – get in please – step back please).

 

Who is Martin Meyer-Pyritz?

In 1870, Martin Meyer-Pyritz was born in Pyritz, now called Pyrzyce. Hence, he was 9 years older than my grandfather and, like him, he also had Silesian roots. Martin Meyer-Pyritz studied at the Academy of Arts in Berlin and, like Hermann Radzyk, he participated in the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung.

Martin Meyer-Pyritz died in Berlin in 1942. The Bethlehem cemetery at Berlin Kreuzberg has installed a memorial place for him.

In 2023, the Preussische Allgemeine wrote about Martin Meyer-Pyritz that not every artist succeeds in modelling animals real-to-life. His dachshunds, other dogs, donkeys, eagles or marabous were popular. Because of his talent, he was called Tiermeyer” (translated: “animal-Meyer”). Still today, his sculptures can be acquired at auctions.

Martin Meyer-Pyritz also created animal sculptures for the Berlin zoo, however I could not find out, what the statues are – perhaps they have not survived the war.

 

Martin Meyer-Pyritz – an art friend of my grandfather?

Though my mother (and daughter of Hermann Radzyk) never mentioned the name of Meyer-Pyritz, I am pretty sure, he was a friend of my grandfather, as we own the two sculptures and as they both participated in the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung.

Whenever I look at the ashtray with the pretty dachshund, I imagine it being somewhere high up in the apartment of my grandparents, and they have to climb a footstool or even a ladder to take it down again.

Once more, my grandparents have opened my eyes for something I had never taken notice of before, namely the decoration of the two U3 metro stations Rüdesheimer Platz and Breitenbachplatz.

Nice to have met you, Mr Martin Meyer-Pyritz!

 

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Arthur Hoffmann, sculptor and friend of Hermann Radzyk

My mother always told me that my grandfather Hermann Radzyk had many art friends. One of them was Arthur Hoffmann.

In 1929, my grandfather painted his friend Arthur Hoffmann.

The portrait was dated and signed with Hermann Radzig-Radzyk, it has no title though.

 

How do know, this is Arthur Hoffmann?

Why do I know, the portrait shows Arthur Hoffmann? The answer comes in two steps.

First step: Arthur Hoffmann modelled Hermann Radzyk’s daughter Marion, when she was a teenager (our mother).

He signed the bust with his name (with “Artur”, usually he goes by the name “Arthur”); the bust is undated. In 1932, Arthur Hoffmann showed the bust called “Marion” at the Verein Berliner Künstler; I saw the exhibition catalogue in their archive. Hence the bust was sculpted in 1932. Then, Marion, the daughter, was 16 years old.

I remember, my mother told me, she had to sit down long hours for this bust and had to catch up at school after that.

Second step: A Telegraf article is attached to the bust. I made a quick photo with my smartphone.

Later I looked at the article in more detail. It is from May 15th 1955. It talks about Arthur Hoffmann and his antelope. I compared the photo with the portrait… look at the raised left eyebrow and the prominent chin! The photo and the portrait both show Arthur Hoffmann. On the photo of 1955, he was just 26 years older that in 1929, when my grandfather had painted him.

This is how I knew that my grandfather had portrayed Arthur Hoffmann.

 

The antelope will return to the Preussenpark at Berlin – and the antelope DID return

The Telegraf article of 1955 talks about the antelope that will return to the Preussenpark. The antelope was a bronze sculpture made by Arthur Hoffmann that had been destroyed during the Second World War. The mold still existed, and in 1955 Arthur Hoffmann offered to recast the antelope. The younger brother of Hermann Radzyk, Ferdinand Radzig, sent the article to my mother, and he added in handwriting that, before the war, the antelope was so true-to-life amidst the bushes of the Preussenpark.

Well, the antelope DID return to the Preussenpark. I saw it for the first time in 1966, when I visited Berlin with my mother. I have kept on visiting the antelope again and again, whenever I was at Berlin.

Now, end of May 2026, I am again in Berlin, and as always, I greet the antelope of Arthur Hoffmann in the Preussenpark. Later, I learn from the Wilmersdorfer Magazine of May 2026 that the antelope had been set up at the Preussenpark exactly 100 years ago, in May 1926. It disappeared in 1944 (maybe it was melted down), and, as I knew already from the Telegraf article, it had been recast in 1955. The original was donated by the Berliner Strassenbahn GmbH.

 

The chandelier – also a work of Arthur Hoffmann?

I believe that this chandelier is also a product of Arthur Hoffmann, though it has no signature.

My grandfather Hermann Radzyk painted the chandelier standing in the corner of their apartment in Charlottenburg, as his daughter/my mother told me. Hence the chandelier was painted before 1935/1936 (before my grandparents moved from Charlottenburg to Kleinmachnow).

Now, chandelier and painting are reunified and I had the chandelier repaired.

Well, the chandelier is unsigned, but it looks just like the Art  Nouveau dancers of Artur Hoffmann that auction houses still sell today.

 

About Arthur Hoffmann (1874-1960)

Born in 1874 at Potsdam, Arthur Hoffmann was 5 years older than Hermann Radzyk. They studied together at the Königliche Akademische Hochschule für die Bildenden Künste; they met for just one semester in winter 1902/03 (see UdK Archiv). Arthur Hoffmann received the Grosser Staatspreis (Grand State Prize) in 1903 (see invaluable and Wilmersdorf Gazette).

In 1953, my mother visited Arthur Hoffmann, when she was at Berlin for the funeral of her mother Helene Radzyk. Arthur Hoffmann told her that life as an artist was difficult in Berlin now (according to my mother’s diary of 1953).

Arthur Hoffmann died at Berlin in 1960.

The Wilmersdorfer Gazette says that Arthur Hoffmann was one of the major artists shaping the art scene at Berlin in the late imperial era and during the Weimar Republic in the 1920’s. Like other artists from those years he has been largely forgotten now. However, auction houses still sell his elegant sculptures, above all graceful dancers.

 

Dreaming near the antelope…

Now I am sitting on the bench near the antelope commemorating Arthur Hoffmann and dreaming about my grandfather Hermann Radzyk with his house open to artists (certainly supported by his wife Helene). My memories move on to their daughter Marion, my mother: She was a Berliner, and she felt like a Berliner; she took me to her city 60 years ago, then showing this antelope to me and opening my eyes for her city.

 

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