2838 - Fritz Klimsch (1870 Frankfurt am Main – 1960 Freiburg im Breisgau)

Fritz Klimsch (1870 Frankfurt am Main – 1960 Freiburg im Breisgau) "In Wind and Sun." Original title Bronze, with a dark brown patina, 1936. Signed “F. Klimsch” on the plinth behind the right foot; foundry mark “H.NOACK BERLIN” on the rear edge of the plinth. Wvz. Braun 176. This cast is distinguished by a particularly subtle patina in nuanced shades of brown. This large bronze sculpture, “In Wind and Sun,” ranks among the sculptor’s most graceful nude statues and was also described by Klimsch himself in retrospect in 1948 as “one of my most beautiful figures.” In depicting this young woman with her still very youthful figure and robust physique, Klimsch succeeded in freeing the figure from rigid statuary conventions. In all her naturalness, she surrenders herself freely and effortlessly to the experience of wind and sun. Hermann Braun praised it in his 1991 catalog raisonné: “In hardly any other work from the 1930s have the opposing poles of ‘stillness’ and ‘movement’ been so artfully and convincingly combined. The merely hinted-at motif of a step is—before it takes effect—reinterpreted as a standing pose; the movement is entirely shifted into the rotation of the body (...). The bent left arm, braced against the hip, supports this sequence (...). This type of girl is certainly not ‘Nordic’; her face is peculiar: It appears lovely in profile, austere from the front.” (quoted from: Braun, p. 382). Aesthetically balanced proportions are inherent in Klimsch’s sculptures, especially those from the 1930s. At the same time, whether consciously or unconsciously, he was also reflecting the ideals of perfection, femininity, and beauty of his era. In 1936, Klimsch entered “In Wind and Sun” in the art competition for the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. In 1937, the nude statue was also exhibited at the World’s Fair in Paris, and in 1942 at the Great German Art Exhibition in Munich. The Noack foundry produced several casts beginning in 1936, which are now in private collections and public ownership. By 1941—when bronze castings were banned in Germany due to World War II—only four copies of the large statue had apparently been produced. One of these early copies has stood in the Botanical Garden in Berlin since 1975; it is believed to have come from the state collection; it may have been handed over for relocation by Klimsch himself in 1943 or may once have been in the garden of Joseph Goebbels’ Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda in 1936. Other casts are located in the garden of the Giersch Museum in Frankfurt am Main, in the Grugapark in Essen, and at the Moritzburg Art Museum in Halle an der Saale. Alongside Georg Kolbe, Klimsch is considered one of the most significant German figurative sculptors of the first half of the 20th century, who devoted himself primarily to female nudes. Trips to Italy and Greece shaped his style, as did Auguste Rodin, Adolf von Hildebrand, and Aristide Maillol. Together with Max Liebermann and Walter Leistikow, Klimsch founded the Berlin Secession in 1898, and his work was regularly featured in its exhibitions. From 1921 to 1935, he taught as a professor at the United State Schools for Fine and Applied Arts in Berlin. He was able to continue his success during the Weimar Republic into the “Third Reich”; from 1937 to 1944, he was regularly represented at the Great German Art Exhibition in Munich. H. 146 cm. See/Lit.: Uli Klimsch: “Fritz Klimsch. The World of the Sculptor,” Berlin 1938, p. 52, ill. pp. 102–103; Walter Mangold: “Fritz Klimsch,” in “Die Kunst für Alle,” vol. 55, 1939–40, pp. 108ff, ill. p. 110; Egbert Delby: “Fritz Klimsch,” Berlin 1942, p. 34 (with ill.); Hermann Braun: “Fritz Klimsch. Works,” Hanover 1980, no. 28, p. 72 (with ill. on p. 73); Hermann Braun: “Fritz Klimsch. A Documentation,” Cologne 1991, no. 176, pp. 382–83, ill. pp. 228–29 (as in his previous publication, Braun lists the height as 148 cm). Exhibitions (other instances): XIth Olympic Games, Berlin 1936. Olympic Art Competition, July 15–August 16, 1936, cat. no. 138, p. 24 (listed there under the title: “Relaxation”); World’s Fair, Paris 1937; special exhibition “Fritz Klimsch. Sculpture,” exhibition hall at Tiergartenstrasse 21a, Berlin, March 26–May 4, 1938, No. 10; “Great German Art Exhibition 1942 at the Haus der Deutschen Kunst in Munich,” cat. no. 527 (p. 44, Hall No. 17). Dark brown patinated bronze, 1936. Signed; Noack foundry stamp.