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MenuHomeUpfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon | JOBST, KurtBorn: 1905 03 29Died: 1971 Artist | |||
Kurt Jobst was born on 29 March 1905, the second of seven children. He had four sisters and two younger brothers. The youngest brother died in the last world war. Sigfried Jobst, the remaining brother, was the founder and artistic director of the Munich Youth Theatre from 1953 to 1968; this is now the Munich Municipal Youth Theatre. All four sisters are alive and live in Austria and Germany [at the time of writing]. He had two great uncles, Professors Karl and Franz Jobst, both of whom were well established artists of their time and were responsible for carrying out the commission to paint and decorate the entire Votivkirche in Vienna. During his childhood Kurt's parents lived in a community in Ascona which was part of a very avant garde movement for the times. They were vegetarians and believed in a natural and organic way of life. In the course of time, the family moved to a large house with a wild garden on the outskirts of Darmstadt in Germany and here the children thrived living a wonderfully healthy and free life. They then moved into an old farmhouse in the Rhon mountains near Fulda in order to be closer to the famous Loheland School of Gymnastics. This was founded about 1915 and was based on a system of gymnastics for the harmonious co-ordination of body and mind. Charlotte Lehmann, who was to become Kurt's wife in later years, trained as a teacher at this School. His father was a publisher and later an antique dealer. From his very early years Kurt wanted to become a gold and silversmith. He was inspired by the jewellery of Ancient Egypt in particular, illustrations of which were available to him from his father's extensive library on arts and crafts. On completing his schooling, he began to serve a long apprenticeship based on the old European tradition under Professor K. Berthold, a master goldsmith, in the town of Hanau-am-Main where he also attended the Goldsmiths' Academy. After his apprenticeship his studies were extended at the Nuremburg Academy of Crafts. Early in 1924 he had the good fortune to meet Professor Rudolf Koch, who was to have a profound influence on his work. Under Koch, at the School of Arts and Crafts in Offenbach-am-Main, he learnt silver and copper hammerwork, lettering, woodcarving and engraving. Koch was a deeply religious man and an outstanding teacher. These qualities found an expression through his own work and were conveyed to all who came within his sphere of influence. The spirit of an unwavering demand for quality in craftsmanship conveyed by Kock was firmly implanted in the work of Kurt Jobst and provided the seedbed from which all his later work issued. When his first workshop was opened in 1926, he had acquired proficiency in a number of skills; these included: Gold and silversmithing, Professor Koch thought very highly of his creative abilities and was a great friend to him. Kurt's first commissions were obtained through Koch and consisted of altar crosses, candlesticks, christening fonts, collection plates, host boxes and altar vases. In 1926 he married Charlotte Lehmann and had four children, two sons and two daughters. Both sons and one daughter now live in England and the elder daughter in the South of France [at the time of writing]. In 1935 he decided to emigrate to South Africa with his wife and four young children as the political climate in Germany became unbearable and entirely alien to his own liberal convictions. He settled in Johannesburg where he opened his own workshop. This was built up from the nucleus of traditional tools and equipment brought from Germany. Over the years the workshop took on a scale and proportion quite unique in South Africa with a design office, separate sections for jewellery making, silver and other metal work, machining and spinning lathes, wrought iron work and stained glass. All design work, without exception, was done by him personally and every stage of production was closely directed and supervised by him in a workshop staffed both by Europeans and Africans. He thrived on his work and the love he had for it enabled him to be a good teacher to those who showed a more than ordinary interest in it. Two of his most loyal and talented assistants through the years were African, one a journeyman jeweller and the other the head of the blacksmithing department. Shortly before his death, Kurt was invited to move his workshop to Swaziland (now Eswatini) to devote his energies to teaching young Africans as part of a Government training scheme. It is a loss, indeed, that this was not to materialise owing to his untimely death in a motor accident while returning from a visit to Mbabane. (Jobst & Gordimer 1979:2-3) Books by JOBST
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