Tauzieher

{{Italic title}} {{Infobox artwork | title = Tauzieher | painting_alignment = | other_language_1 = | other_title_1 = | other_language_2 = | other_title_2 = | wikidata = | image = Skulptur Der Tauzieher Koeln2007 straight.JPG | mapframe = yes | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | artist = Nikolaus Friedrich | year =  | completion_date =  | catalogue = | medium = | movement = | subject = | height_metric =  | width_metric = | length_metric = | diameter_metric = | height_imperial =  | width_imperial = | length_imperial = | diameter_imperial = | dimensions = | dimensions_ref = | metric_unit = cm  | imperial_unit = in  | weight = | designation = | condition = | museum = | city = Rheinauhafen, Cologne, Germany | coordinates =  | owner = | accession = | preceded_by =  | followed_by =  | module = | website =  }} The '''''Tauzieher''''' (German for "'''rope puller'''") is a limestone sculpture by Nikolaus Friedrich which was erected in 1911 in Rheinauhafen, Cologne. It depicts a man making a heavy rope or hawser fast to a bollard and is 6.5 metres (21 feet) in height. In 1980, it was listed as one of the first heritage sites in Cologne.

==History== Nikolaus Friedrich was a German sculptor, born in Cologne and working in Charlottenburg. In the 1908 art show of the Association of Cologne Artists at the Flora und Botanischer Garten Köln, he exhibited a sculpted male figure that excited considerable admiration in art circles.<ref name="BlochHüfler1984"/> A plan was devised to install a version of the work, about twice the size of the original, on an appropriate site in the city. The Cologne friends of the arts took up a collection and when the amount collected was insufficient, the city pledged the remainder.<ref>''Kölner Localanzeiger'' issue 83, 27 March 1910.</ref><ref>"Vermischtes", ''Kunstchronik'', New Series volume 21 (1909/1910) issue 21 (1 April 1910) pp. 348–49 ([http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/kunstchronik1910/0182/scroll?sid=831707c699abc125466edc9a840febf4 Online] at University of Heidelberg digital library) {{in lang|de}}</ref> The chosen location was a vacant piece of ground next to the timber market, opposite the new harbour. Erection of the scaffolding began on 21 September 1910. The statue was unveiled on 4 March 1911.<ref name="BlochHüfler1984">{{cite book|author1=Peter Bloch|author2=Brigitte Hüfler|title=Rheinland Westfalen und die Berliner Bildhauerschule des 19. Jahrhunderts: eine Ausstellung der Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz Berlin: vom 18. Oktober bis 9. Dezember 1984 im Quadrat Bottrop Moderne Galerie: vom 18. Dezember 1984 bis 17. März 1985, Schloss Cappenberg: vom 31.Marz bis 19. Mai 1985 im Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum Aachen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=50_qAAAAMAAJ&q=Tauzieher+1911|year=1984|publisher=Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz|location=Berlin|isbn=9783886093106|page=113|language=German}}</ref><ref name="FussbroichHüllenkremer2000"/><ref>Hiltrud Kier (ed.) with Fried Mühlberg: ''Denkmälerverzeichnis''. volume 12.1 ''Köln Stadtbezirk 1 (Altstadt und Deutz)''. Landeskonservator Rheinland. Cologne: Rheinland Verlag, 1979, {{ISBN|3-7927-0455-2}}, p. 72.</ref> It was the first free-standing sculpture in public space in Cologne.<ref name=skulpturenfuehrer>Helmut Fußbroich, [http://m.skulpturenfuehrer.de/http%3Apoims-cms.gjuce.com/de/skulpturenfuehrer-koeln/ort/der-tauzieher Tauzieher] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130211211517/http://m.skulpturenfuehrer.de/http%3Apoims-cms.gjuce.com/de/skulpturenfuehrer-koeln/ort/der-tauzieher |date=2013-02-11 }} m.skulpturenfuehrer.de. {{in lang|de}} Retrieved 11 October 2012.</ref> thumb|upright|left|Detail of the statue from a different angle The work is approximately {{convert|6.5|m|ft}} tall, of which the base makes up a little more than half.<ref name="Kölnisches Tageblatt Nr. 435"/><ref name="SanderSachsse1988">{{cite book|author1=August Sander|author2=Michael Euler-Schmidt|editor=Rolf Sachsse|title=Köln wie es war|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2cRLAQAAIAAJ|year=1988|publisher=Kölnisches Stadtmuseum|location=Cologne|language=German|oclc=75040661|page=210}}</ref> A reporter wrote in the ''Kölnisches Tageblatt'': <blockquote>"The Herculean naked man has climbed upon the bollard, which emerges at its base from unformed rock, and, leaning forwards, is hauling the rope up in order to secure it to it. His legs are clamped around the wood [of the bollard], and while his right [hand] is busy pulling the big hawser up with all his strength, the left firmly grasps the bollard."<ref name="Kölnisches Tageblatt Nr. 435">''Kölnisches Tageblatt'' issue 435, 22 September 1910: "Der herkulische nackte Mann ist auf den Pfahl geklettert der aus unten ungegliedertem Gestein sich entwickelt und zieht, vornüber gebeugt, das Tau empor, um es an dem Pfahl zu befestigen. Die Beine umklammern das Holz und während die Rechte mit aller Kraft das große Tau emporzureißen sich bemüht, hält die Linke sich oben fest am Pfahl.</ref></blockquote>

In the pose and the modelling of the naked and muscular upper body, the statue is reminiscent of the Belvedere Torso.<ref name=skulpturenfuehrer/>

Together with the nearby swing bridge and the railing on the pier, the ''Tauzieher'' was listed as a historical monument (number 66) on 1 July 1980 shortly after the North Rhine-Westphalia state law for the protection of monuments went into effect that day.<ref name="FussbroichHüllenkremer2000">{{cite book|author1=Helmut Fussbroich|author2=Marie Hüllenkremer|title=Skulpturenführer Köln: Skulpturen im öffentlichen Raum nach 1900|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YHRKAQAAIAAJ|year=2000|publisher=Bachem|location=Cologne|isbn=9783761614150|page=43|language=German}}</ref><ref>{{Citation| author =Joseph Theele |editor=Hermann Wieger |contribution=Denkmäler und Brunnen |title=Handbuch von Köln |year=1925|publisher=Verlagsanstalt Hermann Wieger | location=Cologne |pages=239–40 |language=German |oclc=18461473}}</ref>

''Tauzieher'' has been the subject of one of Tatzu Nishi's transformations, ''Obdach'' (1997).<ref name="Parry2012">{{cite book|editor=Ben Parry|editor2=Sally Medlyn|editor3=Myriam Tahir|title=Cultural Hijack: Rethinking Intervention|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AWO1Kx-GSD0C&pg=PA173|year=2011|location=Liverpool|publisher=Liverpool University Press|isbn=978-1-84631-751-4|pages=172–73}}</ref> {{clear}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== * Wilfried Hausmann. "Der 'Tauzieher' am Kölner Rheinauhafen". ''Denkmalpflege im Rheinland'' 2 (1989) 1–4 {{in lang|de}}

==External links== * {{Commons-inline|Category:Der Tauzieher (Rheinauhafen Köln)|''Tauzieher''}}

Category:Monuments and memorials in Cologne Category:Outdoor sculptures in Germany Category:Sculptures of men in Germany Category:Limestone sculptures Category:Statues in Germany