Georg Kolbe
Singende
1928
Bronze Height 34.5 cm. Mounted on marble base Monogrammed 'GK' (joined) on the left side of the neck. Foundry mark "H. NOACK BERLIN FRIEDENAU" on the back. Only known cast. - Fine gold-bronze patina.
“On the one hand the head is a portrait of Kolbe's daughter; on the other hand it stands for a musical genius” writes Ursel Berger in her expert report on our piece, which is both a likeness of Kolbe's daughter Leonore, known as Nora or Nux, and the inspiration for the figure of “Rufender Genius” in the group of three figures forming his “Beethoven-Denkmal”, which is to be found in Frankfurt's Taunus park and depicts the composer flanked by “Sinnender Genius” and “Rufender Genius”. Like all of Kolbe's bronzes, our unique cast was created at Berlin's Noack foundry; according to Berger, the cast is to be dated to the late 1920s and thus in the immediate context of the period in which it was created.
Certificate
With an expertise from Ursel Berger, Berlin, dated 23 February 2018
Provenance
Galerie Vömel, Düsseldorf; Paul Girardet, Düsseldorf (in family possession until 2012); Gronert Kunsthandel, Berlin (2013); in private collection since, Berlin
Literature
Rudolf G. Binding, Vom Leben der Plastik. Inhalt und Schönheit des Werkes von Georg Kolbe, Berlin 1933 (6), p. 35 with illus.