Label TextErnest Barlach was influenced by the work of Van Gogh, Russian folk carvings, and Gothic sculpture, and belonged to the German Expressionist group of painters and sculptors who flourished prior to World War I. Although his work is far removed from the Neo-Classical movement in France, as represernted in the Coffin Collection by Maillol, yet both artists show a closeness of perception in their generalization of form. The addition of the Barlach to the Coffin Collection closes a gap between sculptures in that collection and later more abstact forms represented by such men as Lipchitz in the Rosenfield Collection. Source: Bulletin, February 1960.
Exhibition History"From Body to Being: Reflections on the Human Image," Des Moines Art Center, Feb. 1 - May 4, 1997
"Degenerate Art: Censorship in Nazi Germany", Des Moines Art Center, May 9 - July 19, 1992
Published ReferencesTHE NATHAN EMORY COFFIN COLLECTION, a portfolio of fifty selections from the collection, pub. by the Des Moines Art Center in 1981 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Nathan Emory Coffin, b/w ill.
DES MOINES ART CENTER: SELECTED PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES AND WORKS, a catalog of selections from the permanent collection published in 1985, cat. ref. and ill. p. 28, pl.9 (exhibitions, references and reproductions mentioned are of another cast)
Exhibition History"From Body to Being: Reflections on the Human Image," Des Moines Art Center, Feb. 1 - May 4, 1997
"Degenerate Art: Censorship in Nazi Germany", Des Moines Art Center, May 9 - July 19, 1992
Published ReferencesTHE NATHAN EMORY COFFIN COLLECTION, a portfolio of fifty selections from the collection, pub. by the Des Moines Art Center in 1981 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Nathan Emory Coffin, b/w ill.
DES MOINES ART CENTER: SELECTED PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES AND WORKS, a catalog of selections from the permanent collection published in 1985, cat. ref. and ill. p. 28, pl.9 (exhibitions, references and reproductions mentioned are of another cast)
DimensionsOverall: 17 × 23 1/4 × 8 1/4 in. (43.2 × 59.1 × 21 cm)
Accession Number 1960.2
Classificationssculpture
CopyrightPublic Domain
SignedE. Barlach (center front top flat surface of base)
InscriptionsH. Noack Berlin (u,r side of base)
Provenance(Fine Arts Associates, New York); Des Moines Art Center [purchased from the previous, 1960]
