Reconstruction of ‘Water Spout’ sculpture

Richard Haizmann (1895–1963) was a painter, sculptor and ceramicist. In 1930, his ‘Wasserspeier’ (Water Spout) sculpture was installed in the playground on Humboldtstrasse in Barmbek.

‘Degenerate’ art
After 1933, Haizmann was branded a ‘degenerate artist’. His sculpture was dismantled by the Nazis in 1937 and included in their ‘Degenerate Art’ exhibition. The sculpture was destroyed afterwards, like many other works of art from the exhibition. The artist himself left Hamburg in 1934, moved to Niebüll – where he was neighbours with Emil Nolde – and retreated into a state of ‘inner emigration’. After the end of the Nazi regime, Haizmann received a small sum of money in 1951 as ‘compensation’ for the destruction of his fountain sculpture. 31 years after his death, a replica of the ‘Water Spout’ was created and placed at the edge of the children’s paddling pool in the Stadtpark in 1994. A panel embedded in the footpath explains the history and impact of the sculpture.