Gerhard Marcks

Sculptor and graphic artist Gerhard Marcks taught at the Weimar Bauhaus starting in 1919, moving in 1925 to the School of Applied Arts in Halle, which he headed from 1928. During this time, he made several study trips to European countries. He was dismissed for political reasons in 1933 and settled in Ahrenshoop on the coast of the Baltic Sea. In 1937, 86 of his works were seized and five were shown in the exhibition “Degenerate Art.” Marcks was banned from working and taking part in exhibitions. After World War II, Marcks was named professor at the Hamburg Art School (in 1946) and the Art Working Schools in Köln (in 1950).

Marcks was initially an expressionist before he was influenced by Greek archaic art and turned to simpler forms. He designed sculptures, especially human figures and animals, and drew and created woodcuts. In 1953 his most famous work, the statue of the Bremen Town Musicians, was placed in the center of Bremen, followed in 1956 by the Albert Magnus Statue at Albert-Magnus-Square front of the University of Cologne. In 1972 he designed the winners’ medals for the Olympic Games in München.

The Runners were designed in the year 1923. Casts of the 19.5 cm high and 22 cm wide group of brass figures are shown in the Sculpture Collection Dresden and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Only one example was cast in bronze of the Boxers group from the year 1930, in the catalog raisonné under the title Boxers with referee. The whereabouts of the approximately 40 cm high sculpture are unknown. The Swimmer from the year 1933, awarded with an “Honorable Mention” in 1936, is a 167 cm high plaster statue. In 1938, the plaster was revised and formed into a second, much more famous version as a life-size bronze. In 1952, Marcks produced a third version.