January 2, 1870 – October 24, 1938 German Sculptor and Printmaker
Ernst Barlach was a confident and resolute sculptor, who worked in the German Expressionist manner. He was dedicated to creating a ‘total artwork’ that united the disciplines of the human condition from various perspectives. In his late career he served as a pioneer in the woodcut revival, which profoundly impacted his younger Expressionist colleagues.
Barlach studied sculpture at art academies in Hamburg and Dresden. Later he spent time studying at the Academie Julian in Paris. After the completion of his studies, he returned to Germany. He primarily lived in Berlin where he completed commissions and served as a teacher at a local academy.
Barlach traveled to Russia to visit his brother; there he found the inspiration for which he had been searching- recluses. Returning to Berlin, he produced a sculptural series that focused on the marginal society he encountered in Russia. He believed this group to be living metaphors of the human condition, which he portrayed through their faces and hands rather than their anatomical forms.
He was not afraid to experiment with motif, approach, or material, which led to financial support from his affluent patron, Paul Cassirer. The financial security provided him the opportunity to work with wood. He created wooden sculpture that exploited the coarseness of the material. He also produced woodcuts for the numerous literary dramas he created and published.
He served in WWI, after being discharged due to a heart ailment. His first exhibition was held in the Cassirer Gallery; after which he began focusing on the aggressive nature of war, which embodied his late sculptures. His second exhibition was much more successful than his first, which prompted the numerous commissions for war memorials and religious sculptures he received in the 1930s.
Although he was a recognized German Expressionist, in his late career, his work became the target of intense criticism. After being made a member of the Munich Akademie der Bildenden Kunste and receiving the Prussian Order of Merit, Barlach’s work was collected and displayed as ‘Degenerate Art’ by the Nazi regime.
January 2, 1870 – October 24, 1938
German Sculptor and Printmaker
OxfordArt Online: Barlach, Ernst: http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T006392?q=Ernst+Barlach&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit
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