- 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
- 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
- The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.
- 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: 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
-
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