7079 - Sintenis, Renée

Sintenis, Renée The Boxer Erich Brandl Stucco, painted brown. 1925. Approx. 41 x 16 x 17 cm. Signed “R Sintenis” on the plinth behind the right foot. See Berger/Ladwig/Wenzel-Lent 070. The sculptor captures the boxer’s intense concentration—caught between attack and defense—in this incisive depiction, in which the tuft of hair charmingly mirrors the movement of the outstretched arm. Sintenis vividly models every muscle on the surface of the youthful, slender, yet well-trained—and here completely unclothed—body. “Sintenis thus followed the contemporary perception of the young athlete, who—not least through the nude photographs by the photographer Frieda Riess, which appeared at the same time in *Querschnitt* (Vol. 5 [1925], No. 9), had been stylized as the reincarnation of the classical ideal of beauty and a modern sex symbol.” (Maike Steinkamp, smb.museum, accessed Sept. 21, 2026). The figure of middleweight boxer Erich Brandl, then still in the early stages of his career, was created in bronze; one copy was owned by Max Schmeling, “who, surprisingly, claims to have served as the model for this figure” (quoted in Berger/Ladwig/Wenzel-Lent, p. 101). From the 1920s through 1933, during a period of intense enthusiasm for sports in the Weimar Republic, Sintenis created several sculptures of famous boxers, likely at the suggestion of the gallery owner Alfred Flechtheim, who was a great fan of the sport. Another stucco model is documented at Hauswedell & Nolte, Hamburg, auction June 12–13, 1992, lot 782 (mounted on a wooden base). Extremely rare. Provenance: Formerly Galerie Flechtheim, Berlin/Düsseldorf (with its adhesive label under the plinth, inscribed there as “B 114 74 / D 11 196” and “Renée Sintenis Boxer Brandl”) Private collection, Berlin - Please request condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not specified in the catalog. - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog.