Beethoven - Genius – All Works

Label Text This bronze, cast posthumously, was originally made in 1927 and was designed to be part of a memorial to Beethoven. This sculpture is unusual in Kolbe's body of work in two respects: (1) the figure is draped, whereas most of the artist's figures during the 1920's were of nudes and (2) the composition is highly a dramatic one. The hips, shoulders and head are turned and twisted in sharp contrast to the usual direct frontality of his works. The drapery itself billows up and swirls over the torso adding to the movement and drama of the figure. Kolbe was born in Waldheim, a town about 40 miles west of Dresden. At the age of 14 he enrolled in an art school in Dresden and continued his studies for the next decade in Munich, Paris and Rome. By 1900 he had turned his attention to sculpture, a course he pursued from his studio in Berlin until the end of his life. Source: Bulletin, September-October, 1977.
Published ReferencesDMAC Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1977, cover ill.

DES MOINES ART CENTER: SELECTED PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES AND WORKS ON PAPER, Des Moines Art Center, 1985, ref. pp.131 & 132, b/w ill. pl.72, p.132

DMAC Annual Report, June 30, 1980 to July 1, 1981, cover ill.

DimensionsOverall: 43 3/4 × 19 1/2 × 15 in. (111.1 × 49.5 × 38.1 cm)

Accession Number 1975.26

Classificationssculpture

CopyrightPublic Domain

InscriptionsMonogram: GK (back lower anatomical right) H. Noack cast (posthumous cast)

ProvenanceKolbe Museum, Berlin, Germany. Cantor Fitzgerald Art Foundation; Des Moines Art Center [gift of the previous, 1975]