Georg Kolbe (15 April 1877 – 20 November 1947) was a German sculptor. He was the leading German figuresculptor of his generation, in a vigorous, modern, simplified classical style similar toAristide Maillol of France.[1]
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Kolbe was born inWaldheim,Saxony. Originally trained as a painter inDresden,Munich, andParis, he began sculpting during a stay inRome at the turn of the century under the technical guidance of sculptorLouis Tuaillon.
In 1905, Kolbe joined the 'Berliner Sezession', which in 1913, he left to join the 'Freie Sezession'.[2] His artistic breakthrough came in 1912 with his sculpture masterpiece "Die Tänzerin", his most famous work. As he was very interested in Asian faces, D. N. Mazumdar, father of Indian novelistAnita Desai, sat for him, resulting in a bust and a torso.[3] In 1929, he also collaborated withLilly Reich andMies van der Rohe for his sculpture in theBarcelona Pavilion; Mies placed Kolbe'sAlba (Dawn)[4] in a small water basin. As the last president of the Deutscher Künstlerbund, he devoted himself to the promotion of fellow artists who were classified as "degenerate".
Kolbe also made ninety-nine prints, beginning with lithographs around 1900, primarily literary illustrations. In 1919–1920, Kolbe practically did not work as a sculptor. During this time small-size sculptures and drawings became central in his works.[5] In the 1920s, encouraged by Cassirer, he made drypoints of dancers and nudes in motion, subjects he favored in his sculpture.[6] His work was part of thesculpture event in theart competition at the1928 Summer Olympics.[7]
Kolbe executed important commissions throughout his long career, including many for theNational Socialists during the last 15 years of his life, even requesting to make a bust of Hitler though this request was denied.[8] The Nazis appropriated his late style of monumental, idealized athletic nudes. From 1937 to 1944, Kolbe participated regularly at theGroße Deutsche Kunstausstellung, organized by theHaus der Kunst, Munich. His uncharacteristically bombasticVerkündigung (Proclamation) (1924) was a focal point of the 1937 German Pavilion.[9] Commissioned by the German-Spanish economic organization Hisma in 1939, Kolbe created a portrait bust of the Spanish dictatorFrancisco Franco, which was given to Hitler as a birthday present the same year. In 1944, in the final stages of World War II, Hitler andJoseph Goebbels included Kolbe in theGottbegnadeten list of the twelve most important visual artists. Only after Kolbe's death, aBeethoven monument (1926−47) and theRing der Statuen were installed inFrankfurt am Main. The realization of aFriedrich Nietzsche memorial in Weimar failed because of Hitler's appeal.
Kolbe died ofbladder cancer in St. Hedwig-Krankenhaus inBerlin on 20 November 1947.
In 2009, an exhibition of Kolbe's Blue Ink Drawings was presented by theState Hermitage Museum, inSt Petersburg.[5] In 2017 an exhibition about his artistic, architectural and social network yook place at theGeorg Kolbe Museum, inBerlin.
Many of Kolbe's 1000 sculptures were destroyed by confiscation, bombing and melting for war purposes. His sculptures are included in many museum collections in Europe, the USA and Russia, among them theMuseum of Modern Art,[6] New York, and theModerna Museet, Stockholm.
The studio where Kolbe lived and worked from 1929 to 1947 is located inBerlin-Westend, in Sensburger Allee. It was built in 1928/29 based on Kolbe's designs by architect Ernst Rentsch (and architect Paul Linder) and borders on a sculpture garden. Today it serves as the Georg Kolbe Museum, a museum dedicated to sculpture of the 20th century and contemporary art.[10]
Among others, the museum has in the past mounted solo exhibitions ofErnesto de Fiori (1992),Aristide Maillol (1996),Bernhard Hoetger (1998),Henry Moore (1998), Karl Hartung (1998),August Gaul (1999),A.R. Penck (2000),Wilhelm Lehmbruck (2000), Gerson Fehrenbach (2000),Bernhard Heiliger (2000–2001), Wilhelm Loth (2002), Michael Croissant (2003),David Nash (2004),Wieland Förster (2005),Hermann Blumenthal (2006),Max Klinger (2007),Antony Gormley (2007), Johannes Grützke (2007–2008), Otto Herbert Hajek (2008),Ah Xian (2008), Anton Henning (2009),Renée Sintenis (2013/2014), Ruprecht von Kaufmann (2014), Vanitas (withAlicja Kwade,Lucca Trevisani,Dieter Roth,Tomas Saraceno,Thomas Schütte andPawel Althamer) 2014,Jean Arp - The Navel of the Avant-Garde (2015),Auguste Rodin and Madame Hanako (2016).
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