Marcks received his education under the tutelage of the renowned sculptor Richard Scheibe in his atelier. His preferred medium for sculpting at the time was terra-cotta animals. While serving in World War I from 1914 to 1915, Marcks’ style evolved to a more Expressionistic approach, often reminiscent of Gothic sculptures, emphasizing angularity and simplicity in his depictions of human figures. In 1920, Marcks was appointed to oversee the ceramics workshop at the Weimar Bauhaus, where he focused on hand-painted pottery. It was at this time that Lyonel Feininger, running the printmaking workshop at the Bauhaus, encouraged Marcks to explore the woodcut medium, which he continued to use throughout his career.
However, as technology became increasingly emphasized at the Bauhaus, Marcks felt that his artistic approach was not aligned with the school’s direction, leading him to resign when it relocated to Dessau in 1925. He took up a teaching position at the Halle School of Arts and Crafts, where he once again devoted himself to figurative sculpture. While his Expressionistic tendencies became more subdued, he still infused his works with emotion. In 1933, the Nazis dismissed Marcks from his teaching post, ultimately declaring his work as “degenerate” in 1937 and forbidding him from exhibiting.
Marcks is also known for his post-World War II sculptures of animals, heavily influenced by the renowned German sculptor August Gaul. Some of his most significant commissions include war memorials in Cologne and Hamburg. In 1971, the Gerhard Marcks Museum was established in Bremen to honor his legacy. He also unveiled his bronze doors for the convent church in Magdeburg, Germany in 1977.
www.ftn-books.com has now the 1951 Curt Valentin publication available.
