Marlene Moeschke

**Marlene Moeschke-Poelzig** (\* October 22, 1894 in Hamburg as  *Helene Gertrud Martha Moeschke* ; † March 14, 1985 ibid) was a human being as well as a sculptor and architect. She was significantly involved in the creation of the Poelzig-Bauten.

Her mother, née Schaumburg, came from a wealthy Hamburg family. Her father came from East Prussia and ran a wine and tropical fruit trade.

From 1914 to 1916 she was trained at the Hamburg School of Applied Arts. She was the youngest and first female student in Richard Luksch's class. In 1917 she received a studio grant at the Prussian Academy of the Arts in Berlin.

In addition to sculpture, she also designed furniture and tombs.

Together with Hans Poelzig, whom she met in 1918 and married in 1924, she founded the Bauatelier Poelzig in 1920/21. In 14 of a total of 61 named buildings and designs of the studio she was named as a participant. It can be assumed that her actual creative involvement was much higher than that.
Numerous sketches and photographs, which gave indications of her own artistic work, were hidden by herself in a chest of drawers and only discovered in the 1990s.
In cooperation with her husband, she produced concise works, including the “palm pillars” of the Großes Schauspielhaus, where she was publicly mentioned for the first time and in whose review her work received a lot of attention.

Her last sculptural activity was a head of her husband, on which she worked for several years before destroying it.
In 1920 she and Poelzig were responsible for the film architecture of the silent film  *The Golem.*  The couple also formed a symbiosis in the further development of this cinematic project: The drawn designs by Hans Poelzig were converted into models by her. In addition, she supervised the construction work independently and in the absence of Poelzig such as during the construction of the Haus des Rundfunks (House of Broadcasting). Here, too, she was responsible for the lighting designs. In 1986 these were restored.

Several letters show that Moeschke has been overcritical of her own work. In a letter from the director of the Kunsthalle Mannheim at the time, it says: “Back then (...) you were too critical of your own things. If you don't have the courage to skip over your own imperfections over and over again, you won't be able to do anything at all. ”

In 1930 she designed the Haus Poelzig, which she lived in with her family until 1937 (the couple had three children together).

After pressure from the NSDAP, she sold the house and left Berlin. Her artistic work ended at the age of 42.

In the 1950s she made efforts to bring Poelzig's work back to mind through exhibitions and was supported by Theodor Heuss.

She spent the rest of her life in her hometown of Hamburg.

## References

1. ↑  https://www.kulturring.org/konkret/frauen-persoenitäten/index.php?frauen-persoenitäten=wissenschaft/bildung&id=114
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 S. Ehringhaus: "...übrigens im ausgesprochenen Gegensatz zur Auffassung eines Corbursier...", in: Frauen Kunst Wissenschaft Ausgabe 13, "Babylon", Berlin
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 H. Hambrock: Marlene Moeschke - Mitarbeiterin? Das wiederentdeckte Werk der Bildhauerin und Architektin liefert neue Erkenntnisse über Hans Poelzig Großes Schauspielhaus in Berlin. in: kritische berichte. Bd. 29 Nr. 3, Berlin 2001.
4. ↑  http://www.secretcitytravel.com/2016 /friedrichstadt-palast-grosses-schauspielhaus-hans-poelzig-expressionist-theatre.shtml