This volume follows Barlach on his artistic woodworking paths and takes a closer look at the creation of his larger wooden sculptures. Barlach regarded himself primarily as a woodcarver.2 On the occasion of his 150th anniversary of his birth on the 2nd January 2020, the Ernst Barlach House – Foundation Herman F. Remtsma in Hamburg embarked on a photographic project documenting 72 of 85 known and surviving works and brought them together in this publication. 29 of them are still in the collection of the Ernst Barlach House in Hamburg today.
The most familiar theme in Barlach's work are images of destitute, homeless and war-ravagged people, beggars, quarrelling folks and outlaws - placeding these marginalised people at the centre and acknowledging their existence. His rather non-conformist approach to artistic work manifested itself very early on. In 1894, as a master student at the Dresden Academy of Art, he presented “Woman Gathering Herbs” as his graduation work, telling his friend Friedrich Düsel (1869–1945) about “a peasant girl stooping to gather grass exposes an unpleated skirt covering an enormous behind”.3 Putting a part of a body at the centre of the attention that the classical art of sculpture had previously paid little attention to. Categories of the marginalised, remote and unseemly were given positive connotations in an idiosyncratic way. The decision to favour the lowly material ‘wood’ seemed the logical consequence.
Interestingly, Barlach did not favour specific or preferred types of wood. Throughout his life, he remained open and keen to experiment. He only acquired his skills as a wood sculptor after completing his formal training at the Dresden Art Academy. Each of his wooden sculptures was preceded by a clay model, which initially formed the basis for a plaster model, leading to the execution in wood. The impact of his sculptures was enhanced by applying a tinted coating, whereby the choice varied from waxes to opaque paints that also reflected his experimental approach to materials.
Individual figures based on Barlach's cycle “The Fries of the Listeners” created by first year students from the theatre sculpture department at the HfBK can be seen in the library during opening hours until 25th April 2025. The sculptures are executed in lime wood. The works are by Anne Knaus, Josefine Jüttner, Lara Heinzmann, Hannah Kraft, Annabell Wellhöfer and Frieda Kirch.
1 Ernst Barlach : Die Briefe. Kritische Ausgabe in vier Bänden, hrsg. Von Holger Helbig, Karoline Lemke, Paul Onasch und Henri Seel. Berlin 2019, Bd. 4, Nr. 1734 (6. Januar 1935), S. 12
2 Ebd., Bd. 1 Nr. 385 (an Reinhard Piper, 29. August 1914), S. 592
3 Ebd., Bd.1, Nr. 95 (1. Januar 1895), S. 232
