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A sculpture of figure lunging forward on one bent knee holding an upraised sword in both hands.

The sculpture shows a barefoot figure wearing a long garment with sharply defined folds that spread out horizontally and fan down. The right knee is bent, the left leg is stretched straight out behind, he lunges forward, head upraised and framed by upraised arms. The figure holds a sword in both hands, the sword is extended back, over the right shoulder.

Gallery Text

Barlach deeply admired the work of Käthe Kollwitz, and like her relief nearby, this expressionist bronze, first sculpted in 1914, is a response to the Great War. Like many of his artist contemporaries, Barlach was a hopeful nationalist at the outset of the conflict. As the fighting dragged on and disillusionment increased, however, Barlach envisioned war less as a noble sword-bearer and more as, in his words, “a hammer-wielding butcher.”

Although he worked in many different materials, including ceramic, terracotta, and bronze, Barlach’s greatest affinity was for wood. He made the first version of this work in clay and plaster in 1914, calling it his “raging Barbarian,” but carved a larger one in wood eight years later. In the postwar iteration, he changed the face slightly, subduing it to an almost mournful mask. It was this version from which an edition of ten numbered bronzes were produced, eight of which were completed before 1934.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
BR72.57
People
Ernst Barlach, German (Wedel, Germany 1870 - 1938 Rostock, Germany)
Title
The Avenger
Other Titles
Original Language Title: Der Rächer
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
1914 (cast before 1934)
Culture
German
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/222524

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1500, Modern and Contemporary Art, Art in Germany Between the Wars
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
44.5 x 22.9 x 61 cm (17 1/2 x 9 x 24 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: on base: E Barlach
  • inscription: on base at l.r., top, incised: 4/10 [edition no.]

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
Schult 167

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Gift of Norbert Schimmel
Accession Year
1972
Object Number
BR72.57
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Friedrich Schult, ed., Ernst Barlach. Das plastische Werk, Dr. Ernst Hauswedell & Co. (Hamburg, Germany, 1960), no. 167
  • Peter Nisbet and Emilie Norris, Busch-Reisinger Museum: History and Holdings, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1991), p. 73, ill.
  • Peter Nisbet and Joseph Koerner, The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, ed. Peter Nisbet, Harvard University Art Museums and Scala Publishers Ltd. (Cambridge, MA and London, England, 2007), p. 83

Exhibition History

  • Works from the 20th Century Collection of the Busch-Reisinger, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 06/15/1980 - 09/01/1980; Wildenstein Gallery, New York, New York, 09/23/1980 - 10/24/1980
  • Deutsche Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts aus dem Busch-Reisinger Museum, Stadtische Galerie im Stadelschen Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt, 10/23/1982 - 01/16/1983; Bauhaus-Archiv, Berlin 30, 02/10/1983 - 04/17/1983; Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, 05/08/1983 - 06/26/1983
  • German Sculpture, 1500 - 1960: A New Installation, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 09/05/1984 - 12/31/1984
  • German Sculpture from the Permanent Collection, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 01/21/1986 - 03/10/1986
  • 32Q: 1500 Art in Germany Between the Wars (Expressionism-Interwar), Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 03/13/2023 - 01/01/2050
  • 32Q: 1510 German Expressionist Sculpture, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 06/06/2022
  • Private Practice, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/27/2015 - 01/12/2016

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu