Walter Schulze-Mittendorff

Walter Schulze-Mittendorff
Born
Walter Georg Hermann Schulze

(1893-01-31)31 January 1893
Berlin
Died14 August 1976(1976-08-14) (aged 83)
Berlin
OccupationsSculptor, film special effects artist and costume designer
Years active1920–1968
Notable workThe Maschinenmensch in the film Metropolis (1927)
Spouse
Elisabeth Liewen
​
​
(m. 1919; died 1949)​
[1]
ChildrenBertina Schulze-Mittendorff

Walter Schulze-Mittendorff (31 January 1893 – 14 August 1976) was a German costume designer, production designer, special effects artist, and sculptor. He began his career making sculptures for silent films, moved in the late 1930s to costume design, and after the Second World War became the chief costume designer for East German film production company DEFA. Later, he designed costumes for West German TV productions.

He is probably best known for his design for the Maschinenmensch robot in Fritz Lang's 1927 film Metropolis.

Biography

Set photograph of the Maschinenmensch from Metropolis (1927)
Metropolis: Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) stands below a large head statue of Hel, an effect achieved using the Schüfftan process.
Metropolis: Brigitte Helm as the false Maria, with the Seven-Headed Beast, supported by the Seven Deadly Sins.
Metropolis: the moving statue of Death

Early years

Walter Schulze-Mittendorff was born Walter Georg Hermann Schulze on 31 January 1893[2] in Berlin. He was the son of watchmaker Georg Schulze and Agnes, née Mittendorf, both originally from Lower Silesia. He officially adopted the double surname derived from his parents' birth names in 1932. Having begun an apprenticeship as a sculptor with Otto Rossius (1877–1918) at the age of 14, he received his artistic training at the School of Applied Arts and the School of Crafts in Berlin.[3]

After his military service from 1915 to 1919 (he was awarded the Order of Merit for Bravery, and the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class),[4] he continued his studies at Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin, and in 1920 he was accepted into the Meisteratelier (English: Masterclass) of the academy. That year, he was awarded the academy's Dr. Paul Schultze- Preis für Bildhauerei ("Prize for Sculpture") and in 1923 he was awarded the "Rome-Prize".[3]

Career

After the First World War, Schulze-Mittendorff began to make a name for himself as a sculptor before entering the film industry in 1920 through his fellow student and friend, the film art director Robert Herlth. He was introduced to the director Fritz Lang.[5]

Work with Fritz Lang

Some of Schulze-Mittendorff's initial contributions to cinema were for "sculptures" in several of Lang's productions, including the "Asian Deity" in Destiny,[6] and Die Nibelungen (1924).

In 1925, Lang engaged Schulze-Mittendorff's sculptural skills for the film Metropolis (1927), and he is probably best known for his design for the "Maschinenmensch" robot portrayed by Brigitte Helm. He also designed the moving statues of "Death" and the "Seven Deadly Sins" (all are mentioned in the opening credits), the "Seven-Headed Beast", and the head of "Hel".[3]

Later, he worked on Lang's film Spies (German: Spione) (1928). He worked on a Lang film for the last time with The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (German: Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse) (1933), where he created Dr. Mabuse's masks.[7](p.269)

Work with other directors 1922–1945

In 1922, Schulze-Mittendorff created the sculptures for Carl Froelich's adaptation of Intrigue and Love titled Luise Millerin, and the following year, those for Arthur von Gerlach's Chronicles of the Gray House.

In 1935, he created sculptures for Reinhold Schünzel's comedy Amphitryon, and also worked on the costume design team with the experienced stage and film art director Rochus Gliese and Manon Hahn, another costume designer making her debut. In 1937, he designed several sculptures for the film adaptation of Kleist's The Broken Jug.

In March 1940 he signed a contract as costume designer with Terra-Filmkunst GmbH. His first film as a costume designer was Clothes Make the Man (1940), an elaborate costume film set in the 19th century. Because the company was controlled by the Nazi Ministry for Propaganda, he was excused from military service and was able to protect his half-Jewish wife from persecution.[8] His designs during the final years of the Third Reich primarily enhanced high-end to top-tier entertainment productions, including The Swedish Nightingale (1941), Andreas Schlüter (1942), and The Enchanted Day (1944); he primarily designed costumes for poetic, historical, or fairytale-operetta-like stories. In 1943, he also contributed to Heinz Rühmann's Die Feuerzangenbowle.

After 1945

After the Second World War had ended, Schulze-Mittendorff showed three sculptures in 1945–1946 at the Berlin exhibition of visual artists organised by the Cultural Association for the Democratic Renewal of Germany.[9]

While a resident of West Berlin, in 1947 he continued his film work with the East German film production company DEFA, which later became the state film monopoly of the German Democratic Republic, and where he later became the chief costume designer. DEFA produced socially and politically engaged films with a contemporary historical and critical background, such as Girls in Gingham (1949), The Axe of Wandsbek (1951), and Der Untertan (1951). In the early days of East German cinema, Schulze-Mittendorff was the country's leading costume designer.

However, his career with DEFA was abruptly ended by the construction of the Berlin Wall: his contract ended in 1962 and was not renewed. His designs, created up to August 1961, were used in three DEFA productions that were still in production during the winter of 1961–1962. From then on, he worked as a free-lance costume designer in West Germany, creating designs for television productions by directors including Helmut Käutner, Rudolf Noelte, and Robert A. Stemmle.

In 1964, Lotte Eisner visited him and requested that he rebuild the Maschinenmensch for the Cinémathèque Française. This second figure that he created is now in the film museum of the Cinémathèque Française in Paris.[10]

Following his work on Noelte's film adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Castle in 1968, he retired from public life at the age of 75. He died in Berlin on 14 August 1976.[11]

Schulze-Mittendorff's design for the Maschinenmensch robot has influenced many artists. Notable recent examples include:

Filmography

As sculptor or production designer

As costume designer

References

  1. ↑ Schulze-Mittendorff, Bertina. "Marriage". Walter Schulze-Mittendorff. Retrieved 3 April 2026.
  2. ↑ Birth register, registry office Berlin 3, No. 206/1893
  3. 1 2 3 "Walter Schulze-Mittendorff". filmportal.de. Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 25 March 2026.
  4. ↑ Schulze-Mittendorff, Bertina. "Wartime". Walter Schulze-Mittendorff. Retrieved 3 April 2026.
  5. ↑ Schulze-Mittendorff, Bertina. "Destiny". Walter Schulze-Mittendorff. Retrieved 3 April 2026.
  6. ↑ Schulze-Mittendorff, Bertina. "Destiny (Weary Death)". Walter Schulze-Mittendorff. Retrieved 3 April 2026.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Deutsche Kinemathek―Museum für Film und Fernsehen, ed. (2024). German Film From the Archives of the Deutsche Kinemathek. Hatje Cantz Verlag GmbH. ISBN 9783775758390.
  8. ↑ "Biography: Walter Schulze-Mittendorff". DEFA Film Library. University of Massachusetts Amherst. Retrieved 3 April 2026.
  9. ↑ "Ausstellung bildender Künstler" [Exhibition of visual artists: Exhibition catalogs from the Soviet Occupation Zone]. SLUB (in German). Berlin: Sächsische Landesbibliothek — Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden. December 1945 – January 1946. Retrieved 24 March 2026.
  10. ↑ "Close-up on the robot of Metropolis, Fritz Lang, 1926" (PDF). Éditions en ligne. Cinémathèque française. 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2026.
  11. ↑ Death Register, Registry Office Wilmersdorf of Berlin, No. 1880/1976
  12. ↑ Daniels, Anthony (2019). I Am C-3PO: The Inside Story (Hardback ed.). London: DK Publishing. p. 24. ISBN 9780241357606.
  13. ↑ Rinzler, J.W. (2007). The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film (eBook v3.1 ed.). New York: Del Rey. p. 103. ISBN 978-0-345-54286-1.
  14. ↑ Jana, Rosalind (16 February 2024). "Zendaya's Archive Mugler 'Dune' Look And Its Subtle Feminist Meaning". Elle. Hearst UK. Retrieved 27 March 2026.

Note: The official website for Walter Schulze-Mittendorff, "Schulze-Mittendorff, Bertina (January 2012). "Walter Schulze-Mittendorff – sculptor, film artist – 1893 - 1976". walter-schulze-mittendorff.com. Retrieved 5 April 2026.", was created by his daughter Bertina and contains images of many verifiable documents. Although a primary source, many other reliable sources, such as filmportal.de and DEFA Film Library, credit the site for the information they present.

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