2852 - Arno Breker (1900, Elberfeld – 1991, Düsseldorf)

Arno Breker (1900, Elberfeld – 1991, Düsseldorf) "Before the Start" (also titled "Young Man" or "Standing Young Man"). Original title Bronze, patinated in shades of green and dark tones, 1977. Signed and dated “Arno Breker 1977”; “EA” copy outside the edition of 300. Foundry mark “venturi arte,” Bologna. This nude statue of a young man standing on a rectangular plinth with clenched fists and closed eyes reflects Breker’s return to classical, idealized depictions of the human body—stylized yet thoroughly sensual—in the tradition and spirit of antiquity, as is characteristic of his late work. It is part of Breker’s “Olympia” cycle, which he began in 1976. His real-life model was the successful German swimmer and participant in the Montreal Olympic Games, Peter Nocke (born 1955). In addition to Nocke himself, other athletes also posed for Breker in the same studio for, in some cases, life-size bronzes: the two swimmers Walter Kusch and Klaus Steinbach, the decathlete Jürgen Hingsen, the artistic gymnast Eberhard Gienger, and Ulrike (Nasse-)Meyfart, the Olympic high jump champion of 1972 and 1984. H. 73.5 cm. See/Lit.: Dominique Egret: “Arno Breker. A Life Devoted to Beauty,” catalog for the 1996/97 exhibition at the Arno Breker Museum, Nörvenich Castle, ill. 403–05. Provenance: from the Kai Wünsche Collection, Die Weisse Villa, Hamburg. Green and dark patinated bronze, 1977. Signed and dated “Arno Breker 1977,” “EA”—cast aside from the edition of 300. Foundry stamp “venturi arte,” Bologna.