Karl Albiker (16 September 1878 – 26 February 1961) was a German sculptor,lithographer and teacher offine arts. Albiker studied withAuguste Rodin in Paris. From 1919 to 1945 he was a professor at theDresden Academy of Fine Arts. His monumental statues, like those ofGeorg Kolbe, reflected National Socialist heroic realism. Albiker created the relay racers forBerlin'sReich Sports Field and various war monuments, including those inKarlsruhe,Freiburg im Breisgau, andGreiz.
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Albiker was born inÜhlingen-Birkendorf and studied at theAcademy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe; after college he was a friend of, among others, the expressionist painterKarl Hofer. During the years 1899 and 1900 he attended theAcadémie Julian in Paris and the studio ofAntoine Bourdelle. In Paris he met his admired sculptorAuguste Rodin, who became his teacher with time. Later Karl Albiker lived for a time inMunich (1900–1903), and then took a study trip to Rome (1903–1905). In 1905 he moved into a home studio inEttlingen. The award of theVilla Romana prize in 1910 allowed him to stay inFlorence, where he met the philosopherLeopold Ziegler, who dedicated to Albiker his work on art entitledFlorentinische Introduktion (1911).
In 1919 the artist Albiker was a professor at theDresden Academy of Fine Arts and was hired by the local art school. He was one of the important teachers of these schools, and in 1927 he founded both the Secession of Baden and the New Munich Secession.
TheNational Socialist government, attracted by their involvement in architectural projects, used sculptors such as Karl Albiker,Richard Scheibe andJoseph Wackerle, who had already made names for themselves in the 1920s, during the creation of large sculptures for the public and for administrative buildings, including the reconstruction project of the Berlin Forum on Sport, theReichssportfeld. Albiker was commissioned to design the sculptural program collectively, under the supervision of the architectWerner March, who was in charge of the overall design. Albiker in the 1930s formed part of the jury of "German art".
During the bombing of theSecond World War, his house and studio were destroyed. In 1947 he returned to his home region of Baden, and established the Karl Albiker Foundation, through which, his own works and those of his private art collection, including more than 80 works byKarl Hofer, were passed into the possession of the Museum of the City of Ettlingen.
Karl Albiker died in 1961 at the age of 82 inEttlingen.
His son, Carl Albiker (1905–1996), was an art historian and photographer.
In addition to his sculptures for public spaces, Karl Albiker made models for the manufacture ofmajolica pieces fromKarlsruhe (Meissen porcelain). He also designed medals, medallions and lithographs.
His works are included in the Gallery of the City ofEttlingen, Ettlingen Castle, and the Municipal Museum ofZwickau, among others.
Among his most outstanding works are the following:
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