Walter Arnold (sculptor)

Walter Arnold (27 August 1909 – 11 July 1979) was a German stonemason and sculptor. Between 1957 and 1964 he was the president of the in East Germany.
Life.
Early years.
Walter Arnold was the son of a Leipzig Stonemason. He trained between 1924 and 1928 in wood carving and stone sculpture. Between 1928 and 1932 he studied the shapes of sculptures and ceramics under Alfred Thiele at the School of Craftsmanship at Leipzig. After finishing his studies he worked as an assistant to Thiele until 1933, after which he worked as a freelance artist, supporting himself with contract work, including grave stone business and stonework renovation jobs. He was a soldier during the war, ending up in a prison camp just outside Bad Kreuznach. Returning home to Leipzig, in November 1946 he joined what was shortly to become ruling SED (party) of what was in the process of becoming the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). 
Academic progress.
1946 was also the year in which Walter Arnold started to teach at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig. In 1949 he accepted an invitation to move to the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts where he worked as a professor until 1970. His students included Reinhard Dietrich. He then returned to the Academy in Leipzig where he was designated an emeritus professor in 1974, but continued to give master classes.
Political progress.
Arnold became a member of the East German in 1952. From 1952 to 1962 he was a Candidate for the Central Committee of The Party, being a member of it from 1958 till 1961.
In 1958 he succeeded Otto Nagel as the president of the country's . Arnold retained this position till 1964.
Last things.
Walter Arnold died in 1979 in Dresden, where he is buried, now with his wife Maria, in the Loschwitz Cemetery, under an image created by himself.