Book launch and discussion with Detlef Witt and Irmfried Garbe

Elias Kessler (around 1670/80-1730) was the most important sculptor of the Baroque period in Western Pomerania. His sculptures reveal a training that was orientated towards antiquity and European high art. His workshop produced altars, pulpits, baptisms, baptismal and lectern angels, hereditary funerals and epitaphs, crucifixes, town coats of arms, cast models and more. Kessler's works can be found in many places: in addition to his place of work in Stralsund and its immediate surroundings, including the island of Rügen, in Rostock, Loitz, Lassan, Görmin, Semlow and other places as far away as Nowe Warpno on the lagoon and Freyenstein in the Prignitz. Many of these works have been restored in recent years. Elias Kessler also had a lasting influence on the art of his successors in Stralsund.

In this lecture, art historian Detlef Witt (Katzenow) will present his book on the sculptor's work in dialogue with Pastor Irmfried Garbe (Beggerow-Hohenbollentin parish).

Detlef Witt
The Stralsund sculptor Elias Kessler
Baroque sculpture in north-east Germany
With records by Felix Schönrock
Berlin, Lukas Verlag 2025, 410 pages, 585 illustrations.

https://www.lukasverlag.com/neuerscheinungen/titel/der-stralsunder-bildhauer-elias-kessler.html

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