3699 - Ernst Barlach, “Christ the Teacher”

Ernst Barlach, “Christ the Teacher” Sketch 1931, signed E. Barlach 1931, foundry mark ‘arsmundi’, numbered 39/980, bronze with a brown patina, a seated Christ in Barlach’s characteristic minimalist style, in simple robes and with an open posture, hands resting openly on his knees, well preserved for its age, H 27.5 cm. Artist’s biography: born Ernst Heinrich Barlach, a significant German sculptor, graphic artist and writer (1870, Wedel - 1938, Rostock), spent his youth in Ratzeburg; from 1880 a pupil at the Hamburg School of Applied Arts under Thiele and Woldemar; from 1891 studied at the Academy in Dresden; from 1892 a master student under Diez; 1895-96 at the Académie Julian in Paris; 1897-99 at the Hamburg School of Applied Arts; from 1900 at the Berlin Academy; from 1904 a teacher at the Höhr School of Ceramics; a member and, at times, a board member of the Berlin Secession and the ‘Freie Sezession Berlin’; from 1919 a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts; in 1933-45 defamed as ‘degenerate’ and banned from exhibiting; worked in Berlin, Paris, Hamburg and Güstrow, amongst other places; Source: Thieme-Becker, Vollmer, AKL, Dressler and Wikipedia.