COLLECTION NAME:
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
mediaCollectionId
ArtArtHiAAH~7~7
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
Collection
true
Image Record ID:
aahi0000260
image_record_id
aahi0000260
Image Record ID
false
Work Title (display):
Angel of Death
Work Title notes (display):
Oxford Companion to Western Art accessed 2007-10--07)
Work Title (variant):
Hovering Angel
Image Title:
installation view
Work Description:
It was dismantled in 1938 when his art was declared degenerate by the Nazi regime but subsequently restored. (Grove Art Online, from the OCWA accessed 2007-10-07>
Work Description:
For the war memorial for Güstrow Cathedral (1927) Barlach suspended a life-size figure, the Hovering Angel, in space, liberated from the earth-bound forces of gravity, eschewing the naturalistic inclusion of wings as a means of flight. (Grove Art Online accessed 2007-10-07)
Work Dates (display):
1927
Work Dates type:
creation
Work Creator (display):
Ernst Barlach (German, 1870-1938)
Work Creator gender:
male
work_creator_or_agent_gender
male
Work Creator gender
false
Work Creator notes (display):
German sculptor and printmaker. He experimented with several media because he believed that conventional forms of communication were too formulaic and often failed to make tangible the essence of artistic vision. In his plastic and literary oeuvres Barlach sought to define and externalize the inner processes of humanity and nature through depriving his subject of its superficial mask and extraneous detail. Barlach studied sculpture at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Hamburg (18889) and at the Dresden Akademie (18915), where he became the chief pupil of the sculptor Robert Diez (b 1844). After two brief visits to the Académie Julian in Paris, he returned to Germany and collaborated with his friend Karl Garbers (b 1864) on a commission for architectural sculptures for the city halls of Hamburg and Altona. Barlach's early work was influenced by the sinuous, wavy line of Jugendstil. In 1899 he moved to Berlin, where he lived for two years, but he later returned to Wedel, hoping to find inspiration in a familial environment. In the winter of 19045 he taught at the Staatliche Fachschulen für Keramik in Höhr-Grenzhausen but later returned to Berlin. A visit to his brother in Russia (AugSept 1906) provided the crucial impetus for which Barlach had been searching and influenced his emergence as a confident and resolute sculptor. Travelling through the vast landscapes of the Russian steppes inhabited by peasants, he was captivated by the monumental grandeur of the human figure silhouetted against a dramatic panorama of infinite space. For Barlach, these short, squat beggars, monks, pilgrims and peasant women (later to become his frequent subject-matter) emanated a mystical, sculptural quality in their physical closeness to the soil and their austere clothing. Barlach regarded them as living metaphors of the human condition, embodying mankind's inexorable subservience to unseen forces. On returning to Berlin, Barlach immediately began work on a series of sculptures based on the peasants and beggars he had encountered in Russia. In the Blind Beggar and Russian Beggarwoman with Bowl (both ceramic, 1906; Beverly Hills, CA, Rifkind Found.) naturalistic details are kept to a minimum; both works demonstrate Barlach's experimentation with a formal concentration that disregards anatomical verisimilitude. In these two sculptures the body is concealed under loose clothing, leaving the face and hands as the most expressive elements; these became the major stylistic features of his mature works. In 1907 the German patron Paul Cassirer offered Barlach a lucrative contract, allowing him to continue his formal experimentations without the burden of financial problems. The Russian Shepherd (1907; Stuttgart, priv. col., see Carls, 1969, p. 36) was the first in a series of sculptures (19078) to be executed in wood. Although Barlach worked in ceramics and bronze, wood became his favourite sculptural material. The methodically modelled surfaces of Rodin, Degas and Matisse never appealed to Barlach, who preferred to exploit the intrinsic coarseness of wood. In 1909 he won the Villa Romana Prize, precipitating a ten-month stay in Florence. Apart from beginning a life-long friendship with the poet Theodor Däubler, whom he met there, the visit to Italy was unmomentous. In 1910 he moved with his son and mother to Güstrow in northern Germany, where he remained for the rest of his life. At this time Barlach's oeuvre was further enriched when he embarked on a serious career as a dramatist. Der tote Tag, illustrated with 27 of his own woodcuts, was published in 1912 by Paul Cassirer. His other dramas, which were regularly performed, include Der arme Vetter (1918), Die echten Sedemunds (1920), Der Findling (1920), Die Sündflut (1922) and Der blaue Boll (1926). During World War I, Barlach served the minimum of three months in the infantry and was later discharged because of a heart ailment. Like many of his contemporaries (e.g. Franz Marc and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner), Barlach initially regarded war as a potential catalyst, capable of disrupting society's falsity and spiritual complacency, but he later witnessed the true barbarity of war, which he embodied in a sculpture entitled The Avenger (1914; Beverly Hills, CA, Rifkind Found., on loan to Los Angeles, CA, Co. Mus. A.; see fig.). Based on straight, hard-edged, crystalline shapes, the forward-propelled movement is counteracted by the backward thrust of the sword held over the shoulder, creating an extremely dramatic and aggressive image. In 1917 the first major exhibition of his work was held at the Cassirer gallery, where 20 wooden sculptures and graphic works were shown. The exhibition was not a commercial success, although it generated critical interest. It was the exhibition of 37 wooden sculptures in February 1926 (also at the Cassirer gallery) that established Barlach's reputation. In 1925 he had been made an honorary member of the Munich Akademie der Bildenden Künste. In the 1920s and 1930s Barlach received several commissions for war memorials and religious sculptures. For the war memorial for Güstrow Cathedral (1927) Barlach suspended a life-size figure, the Hovering Angel, in space, liberated from the earth-bound forces of gravity, eschewing the naturalistic inclusion of wings as a means of flight. In 1930 Carl Georg Heise, Director of the Lübeck Museums, commissioned Barlach to carve a group of 16 figures for the façade of the Katharinenkirche in Lübeck; due to pressure from a group of right-wing radicals, Barlach completed only three of these (in situ). In 1933 Barlach received the prestigious Prussian Order of Merit, but with the escalation of right-wing repression he became the target of criticism and intimidation. Many of his public memorials (e.g. at Magdeburg, Kiel and Güstrow) were destroyed. From July to August 1937 works that had been confiscated from public collections were put on display in an exhibition entitled Entartete Kunst ('Degenerate art'), and in December he was prohibited from exhibiting his work. He died a year later in a Rostock clinic. (Grove Art Online accessed 2006-07-26)
Work Style Period:
Expressionist
work_styleperiod
Expressionist
Work Style Period
false
Work Style Period:
20th century
work_styleperiod
20th century
Work Style Period
false
Work Subject:
Entartete Kunst
subject
Entartete Kunst
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
wars
subject
wars
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
angel of death
subject
angel of death
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
angels
subject
angels
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
war memorials
subject
war memorials
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
memorials
subject
memorials
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
death
subject
death
Work Subject
false
Work Worktype:
sculpture (visual works)
work_type
sculpture (visual works)
Work Worktype
false
Work Category (VRC classification):
sculptures and installations
work_category__ucbaahvrc_classification_
sculptures and installations
Work Category (VRC classification)
false
Work Material and Technique (display):
cast bronze
Work Measurements (display):
life-size
Work Location (Repository or Site) name:
Gustrow Cathedral
Work Location (Repository or Site) role:
repository
Work Location (Geographic) name:
Gustrow, Germany
Image Rights (display):
© Ronald Wiedenhoeft. Licensed for educational use via Scholars Resource: Saskia, Ltd.
Image Rights license agreement:
SASKIA, LTD.: WHO CAN USE THIS SOFTWARE: (a) Licensee, including faculty, staff and currently enrolled students may use the Licensed Software to display and or print the corresponding graphic images without limitation for teaching and research purposes at the defined Sites, or at remote locations having electronic access to your Site(s). (b) This license include permission to use the Licensed Software on a multi-user network at the defined Site, and to permit remote access to a computer/server located at your Site. Simultaneous display in multiple locations at or connected to the Site is also permitted. (c) Licensee agrees to employ reasonable security measures designed to limit access to your faculty, staff and currently enrolled students. PROHIBITED USES AND LIMITATIONS: (a) Saskia hereby reserves all rights not expressly granted herein. (b) the License Software may not be used for preparaiton of any publication, scholarly or otherwise; or for any purpose other than teaching or research. Publication of an image from the Licensed Software requires a separate license from Saskia. (c) Licensee agrees not to resell, lease, transfer, sub-license or otherwise distribute a copy of the Licensed Software, or any image taken from the Licensed Software, in whole or in part. (d) Licensee also agrees not to modify, corrupt or alter any digital image graphic content or "digital watermark" or the like in the software provided by Saskia under this Agreement. (e) Licensee agrees not to remove, alter, cover or distort Saskia's copyright notice, trademark, or other proprietary rights notice placed by Saskia in the Licensed Software itself, or in the associated packaging, media or documentation. (f) And Licensee agrees to notify users of the Licensed Software, in writing or by sign-on screen display, of their obligations under this Agreement and solicit their cooperation and compliance with such obligations.
Work Rights (display):
public domain
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Holding Institution:
University of Colorado at Boulder
Collection:
Art and Art History Visual Resources Center
Collection info and contact:
For information about this collection, see . For specific questions, suggestions, or corrections about the descriptive data for images, contact aahvrc@colorado.edu. Please include the Image Record ID ('aahi' followed by a 7-digit number) for each image in question.