Jörg Maaß - Wilhelm Lehmbruck

Wilhelm Lehmbruck (1891-1919)

Wilhelm Lehmbruck was born the son of a laborer in Duisburg. During a relatively short career from 1901-1919, he explored the entire spectrum of modern sculpture. He was inspired by works by Jules Dalou, Constantin Meunier, Auguste Rodin as well as Michelangelo's works for the tombs in the Medici chapels in Florence. However, most Lehmbruck scholars agree that his work becomes truly interesting in 1911 when he moved to Paris. It was then that he broke free of his fascination with Rodin and developed an Expressionist style by elongating the human figure and emphasizing its ability to convey emotions, ethical attitudes and ideas. At the time, artists like Constantin Brancusi abandoned the human figure as a carrier of symbols and pitted the human figure or objectivity against the "inner sound" of abstraction.

Prior to World War I, Lehmbruck was included in many important exhibitions. In 1912, he exhibited with Egon Schiele at the Folkwang Museum in Hagen. Later that year, his watercolors and sculpture were featured in that museum's Moderne Kunst exhibition thereby demonstrating his abilities as a two-dimensional artist as well. He was also featured in the 1912 Westdeutscher Sonderbund International exhibition which included works by Van Gogh, Cézanne, Gauguin, Munch and Picasso. His sculptures also traveled to the famous 1913 Armory Show in New York.

When World War I broke out in the summer of 1914, Lehmbruck left Paris and became a medic for the German army. Due to this horrifying experience, he began to create male rather than female figures. These figures were symbols of the war dead and in particular the fate of European youth at the time. His famous sculpture, The Fallen Man, influenced Max Beckmann with whom he joined the New Freie Sezession.

Despite his artistic notoriety, Lehmbruck committed suicide in 1919.

Graphic works by Lehmbruck often relate to his sculptures. Signed works by the artist are rare as most bear the Estate stamp due to his untimely and unexpected death. His sculptures are in the collections of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.