Fritz Fleer

Fritz Fleer was a marine in Norway during World War II after graduating from high school. After the war, he studied until 1950 as a student of Gerhard Marcks and as master student of Edwin Scharff at the Hamburg state art school (later University of Fine Arts of Hamburg). From 1948 he ran a workshop for bronze casting and had his first exhibition two years later. After that, Fleer became known as a freelance artist with many works in public spaces and as art for buildings.

In 1966, Fleer was awarded the Edwin Scharff Prize by the city of Hamburg. Many of his bronze sculptures show men and women as stylized, formally stringent, and clearly designed types. He was married to the well-known photographer Erika Fleer. His last residence and workshop in Hamburg have been listed as protected monument since 2021.

In 1952 Fleer’s bronze sculpture Young Athlete was shown at the Olympic Art Exhibition in Helsinki. The identity of this work is not definitely confirmed. According to the few sources available, it was one of the sculptures designed for the Grindelberg housing estate in Hamburg by various sculptors. While the other works were placed on the surrounding greens, the Young Athlete found its place in the building that today houses the office of Eimsbüttel district. Here, the sculpture is called Little Standing Man, probably created in 1951.