The Fat & the Thin - The most photographed statue in the city

It is the most popular photo motif in Düsseldorf's old town: the statue of Karl-Henning Seemann. If you google his name, the first thing that comes up is always: the fat one and the thin one. Seemann, a sculptor and draughtsman, created the most photographed statue in Düsseldorf at the end of the 1970s. What he installed back then can still be seen on many social media channels today. If you look at Instagram, you get the impression that nothing is photographed more often in Düsseldorf.

The sculptural work "Auseinandersetzung" is located at ground level in the middle of Düsseldorf's old town, between the famous weekly market and the local breweries. Visitors and Düsseldorfers automatically walk along here. Anyone waiting in front of the popular Hinkel bakery on Fridays can't help but notice the two highwaymen. Teenagers, tourists or lovers often pose between the "father-in-law" and "son-in-law".

Karl-Henning Seemann is now 87 years old and lives in Löchgau in the Ludwigsburg district. (Editor's note: Karl-Henning Seemann sadly passed away in January 2023.) For us, he recalled the genesis of his great work. Surprisingly, Düsseldorf owes the statue not least to the Frankfurt squatter scene. And "the skinny one" could be Joschka Fischer, who played a central role there at the time.

How did you do it, Mr. Seemann?
In 1977/78, of course, I couldn't have been aware that I was creating the most photographed statue in Düsseldorf! It was a second casting of two figures from a three-figure group that I had designed in 1974 for the Braunschweig riot police accommodation. The debate about this commission took place at a particularly difficult time for the police. After the student riots, it was also the time of the Frankfurt squatter scene. 

When I presented the draft of the confrontation - this two-figure group - in a 1:10 scale model to the assembled staff in the crowded, hot summer hall of the barracks, there was an excited protest. The policemen saw the angry fat man as the hated cop and the long-haired man with the sneakers as the poor innocent lawbreaker like Joschka Fischer or whoever. In any case, my explanation was not convincing. The solution was a third, neutral figure as the embodiment of the police. This three-figure group was accepted.

In the meantime, the Düsseldorf Cultural Office had acquired a half-life-size version of the confrontation. In its place, I was then able to set up another cast of the original two life-size figures in Düsseldorf with the permission of the Hanover Regional Tax Office. After all, they are not accessible to the public on the Braunschweig police grounds.

This is how the conflict might have sounded.
My intention from the outset was to bring the generations together in this turbulent time, which I had also dealt with as a young university lecturer. As if the older generation, well-versed and angry, could throw an insult at the younger generation: "First learn and do something like us, your fathers, in rebuilding the shattered country, instead of causing unrest with loud-mouthed protests!" And the rebellious boy could reply: "You with your efficiency in reconstruction, that's what we always hear about you, but aren't you responsible for everything falling into ruins and shambles? You conceal and suppress that!"

The dialog could have sounded something like this, the conflict - it was often enough also an argument for the riot police.

Karl-Henning Seemann is not only represented in Düsseldorf's old town with the "Auseinandersetzung". He also designed the "Schuhanzieherin", which can be found on the corner of Mühlenstraße/Liefergasse.

Cover picture and last gallery: Düsseldorf Tourismus

Second gallery: Karl-Henning Seemann