Vol. 5 of the AGK magazine 'Zur Geschichte des Kartonmodellbaus' released

The "Arbeitskreis Geschichte des Kartonmodellbaus (AGK) e.V". is pleased to announce vol. 5 of its annual magazine "Zur Geschichte des Kartonmodellbaus" (on the history of card modeling). As usual it contains many articles about the histiry of card modeling by several authors.

In cooperation with the J. F. Schreiber Museum in Esslingen the AGK was able to organize an exhibition about Hubert Siegmund, a model designer who was chief designer of the publisher J. F. Schreiber for many years. We are particularly pleased that there is a richly illustrated companion book that captures the latest research results. Barbara Hornberger tells us about the life and work of the congenial designer for whose life work the exhibition is a hommage. In addition the AGK has posthumously published his "Villa Blumenthal" model, an unpublished model from his legal estate (see the corresponding press relase). Dieter Nievergelt explains the background of the historical building as well as the design characteristics of the model. How important our contacts to museums are is reflected in the article about the exhibition "Schiffe aus Papier - Kartonmodellbau heute" (paper ships - card modeling today) at the Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum in Bremerhaven. Siegfried Stölting gives a graphic description about the topics presented in that exhibition. There is also a large, illustrated companion book for this exhibition.

In vol. 4 we could present a first scientific assessment of the earliest know card model, Georg Hartmann's sundial crucifix of 1529 (see the corresponding press release). This marked a new known beginning of card modeling. In the current volume Katharina Siefert closes another gap that remained in the history of card modeling: She reports about the card models for children that were published in Karlsruhe in Christian Wilhelm Döring's magazine for children, between 1831 and 1839. The architectural models were aimed at a young audience and were the first of their kind. Dieter Nievergelt throws a light on the cultural and sociologic aspects of card modeling when he correlates the image of an ideal world, which people looked for in the "untouched" Alps since the early 18th century, with popular models of the time. He highlights, among other things, the role that Switzerland and the "Swiss chalet" played as objects of yearning.

The AGK always has tried to expand the research beyond the German-speking nations. Today we can say that there is a foundation for an international cooperation of scientists and collectors. In previous issues of "Zur Geschichte des Kartonmodellbaus" we already had articles from several European countries. We had articles about the British model designer Roger Pattenden (born 1946) and his Heritage Models (vol. 1) and about the publisher Paper Shipwright of David Hathaway in Cambridge (vol. 2). In the same volume we learned about the Danish designer Hans Christian Madsen (1872-1939) who was presented as the founding father of Scandinavian card modeling. Volume 3 and 4 saw extensive articles about the Polish publisher and magazine Maly Molarz (Warsaw) from its beginnings in 1957 to the present. The results could immediately brought to bear to catalogue the Stopfel collection (vol. 4) in the Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe. We had first compilations about Italian (vol. 4) and Spanish (vol. 2) card models and the development of card modeling in these countries. Francesc d'Assis López Sala continues his studies on card modeling in Spain in the current volume by describing the production of models of means of transport of both the fascist and the republican sides during the Spanish civil war. As announced previously, Fritz de Lijster from the Netherlands has contributed an article about the designer Sjoerd Hekking from Amersfoort.

There are two topics relating to the immediate present: Fred Bauer and Dieter Nievergelt present the "Manhattan 1524-2005" project of the Swiss graphics designer Ruedi Bannwart. Here we see another aspect of card modeling, i. e. modeling as an artistic way to express oneself. On another tune, Axel Huppers discusses both the potential and the dangers the new media represent for the modeling hobby.

Karl-Harro Reimers presents the designer Hellmuth Roßman, Dieter Nievergelt the publisher Ed. Büttner. Hennig Budelmann fulfills a sad duty with his obituary for Joachim Schulze who did so much for card modeling.

Futher information about card modeling:
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