Ernst Barlach was born in Wedel, west of Hamburg in 1870. He studied at the Gewerbeschule in Hamburg, but because of his artistic talent went on to study at the Royal Art School in Dresden under Robert Diaz where he created his first major sculpture, "Die Krautpflückerin" (The Herb Plucker). He then continued his studies in Paris at the Académie Julian. After his studies he worked as a sculptor in Hamburg, mainly in the Art Nouveau style and drawing for the Art Nouveau magazine, Jugend.
He worked for the art dealer Paul Cassirer, where his style developed to focus mainly on the hands and feet of the human form while reducing other parts of the body. He also progressed onto wooden sculptures in heavy drapery like those in gothic art and in dramatic attitudes expressive of powerful emotions with a spiritual yearning. As well as sculpture he began to write for the German journal, Simplicissimus, and started to produce literature.
Before World War I, Barlach was a patriotic supporter of war, which he felt would bring about a new artistic age, seen in works such as Der Rächer (The Avenger). However after joining as an infantry soldier he returned a pacifist, against the war, the horror he had seen influencing his work from then on.
Although Barlach's fame increased after the First World War and he became a member of the Prussian Art Academy and the Munich Art Academy, his new found popularity did not change his pacifist views, which went against the rise of Nazism. His commission of the Magdeburg Cenotaph to show the heroic German soldiers of World War I showed French, German and Russian soldiers in pain and in a state of desperation from war. The following controversy resulted in the removal of the sculpture, which his friends managed to hide until the end of the war when it was returned to Magdeburg Cathedral. Yet attacks on Barlach continued until his death.
In 1936, Barlach's works were confiscated during an exhibition together with the works of Käthe Kollwitz and Wilhelm Lehmbruck, and the majority of his remaining works were confiscated as "degenerate art". He was subsequently prohibited from working as a sculptor and his membership to the academies was cancelled. His work before his death in 1938 shows this rejection.
He worked for the art dealer Paul Cassirer, where his style developed to focus mainly on the hands and feet of the human form while reducing other parts of the body. He also progressed onto wooden sculptures in heavy drapery like those in gothic art and in dramatic attitudes expressive of powerful emotions with a spiritual yearning. As well as sculpture he began to write for the German journal, Simplicissimus, and started to produce literature.
Before World War I, Barlach was a patriotic supporter of war, which he felt would bring about a new artistic age, seen in works such as Der Rächer (The Avenger). However after joining as an infantry soldier he returned a pacifist, against the war, the horror he had seen influencing his work from then on.
Although Barlach's fame increased after the First World War and he became a member of the Prussian Art Academy and the Munich Art Academy, his new found popularity did not change his pacifist views, which went against the rise of Nazism. His commission of the Magdeburg Cenotaph to show the heroic German soldiers of World War I showed French, German and Russian soldiers in pain and in a state of desperation from war. The following controversy resulted in the removal of the sculpture, which his friends managed to hide until the end of the war when it was returned to Magdeburg Cathedral. Yet attacks on Barlach continued until his death.
In 1936, Barlach's works were confiscated during an exhibition together with the works of Käthe Kollwitz and Wilhelm Lehmbruck, and the majority of his remaining works were confiscated as "degenerate art". He was subsequently prohibited from working as a sculptor and his membership to the academies was cancelled. His work before his death in 1938 shows this rejection.
