Ernst Barlach: Sculpture 'The Singer (Singing Monastery Pupil)' (1931), reduction in bronze

Ernst Barlach's 'Communion of Saints': Symbols of human existenceErnst Barlach was highly recognised as a writer and sculptor of figurative sculptures well into his 30s. In 1925, he became an honorary member of the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. During this time, he also created various monumental memorials that would one day achieve world renown, including the 'Güstrow Memorial', the famous 'floating angel' in Güstrow Cathedral. In 1934, however, the tide turned. Barlach, now in his sixth decade, had to experience how his works were defamed as 'degenerate' and disappeared from museums. The monuments of honour he designed were destroyed, 'The Floating Man' from Güstrow Cathedral was even melted down - and if friends had not hidden a second cast until the end of the war, the work would be lost today. The situation is similar with the sculptures 'Woman in the Wind' and 'The Singer'. They were confiscated along with around 380 other works by Barlach. Their saviour was also their patron: Carl Georg Heise, museum director in Lübeck. In 1929, he had encouraged Barlach to design an ensemble of sculptures entitled 'Communion of Saints' for the west façade of St Catherine's Church in Lübeck. There were to be 16, but only three were realised between 1930 and 1932: 'The Beggar', 'The Singer' and 'The Woman in the Wind'. Three further figures: 'The Bound', 'The Pilgrim' and 'The Hornblower' have been preserved in preliminary models. Carl Georg Heise was dismissed in 1933, but obtained the three existing figures as private property. In 1939, the year after Barlach's death, they were handed over to him, and so they survived the war period 'in boxes [...] under the veranda in my mother-in-law's house', as he later reported. It was not until 1947 that they finally found their way into the designated niches of St Catherine's Church. The spatial effect of the Gothic church and the narrowness of the niches determined Barlach's conception of form. The proximity to medieval sculpture is unmistakable; however, Barlach did not create figures of saints in Christian iconography, but rather symbols of human existence and 'suffering and transfigured human figures facing the world, each struggling in his own way with his God' (Carl Georg Heise). Sculpture 'Der Sänger (Singender Klosterschüler)': In a strictly upright posture and with a band of music in his hands, the young monk raises his voice. The gaze is drawn to the face - it is full of concentration and devotion, be it to God or to the divine power of music. Bronze after a reduced model from 1931, cast by hand using the lost wax technique and patinated. Limited edition of 980 pieces, individually numbered and with the signature 'E. Barlach' and the foundry mark. ars mundi exclusive edition, published in collaboration with the Ernst Barlach Gesellschaft. With numbered certificate of authenticity and limitation. Size 7.5 x 33 x 5 cm (W/H/D), weight 2.2 kg.