Gerhard Marcks

Here, he worked as head of the ceramics department; furthermore, his occupation with print graphic techniques, woodcuts and etching began here. He worked at the Arts and Crafts School in Halle from 1925. Marcks received significant artistic impulses through travels to Greece in 1928. The dismissal from his teaching post in 1933 was followed by the defamation as a “degenerate” artist and an exhibition ban in 1937. From 1946, Marcks taught at the State School of Arts Hamburg; in 1950, he relocated to Cologne where he worked as a freelance sculptor. The 1950s and 60s were characterised by numerous travels, honours, and prolific exhibition activities; moreover, he created many commissioned works. Contrary to his early works, which were close to Expressionism, the artist developed a classic, simple language of forms after the Second World War. His sculptures – mostly female figures that could be life-size or over life-size and often be taken from antique mythology – and his animal sculptures have a calm, timeless beauty. Alongside Ernst Barlach, Georg Kolbe and Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Marcks is counted among the best-known representatives of 20th century German sculpture.