Modern Bronze – The Flute Player (1936) – Signed Ernst Barlach

As all of the bronze products in our shop, this exhibit is hand-cast in our own foundry and subject to our strict quality inspections throughout the entire process of fabrication. All of our sculptures are exclusively compounded with the help of lost-wax casting.

 

The creator of this masterpiece, Ernst Barlach, was born on January 2, 1870 in Wedel, a small north German town. His father was the doctor George Gottlieb Barlach, his mother was Johanna Loiuse, born Vollert. After graduating school Barlach studied in Hamburg and in Dresden under the great Robert Dietz. He experienced World War I as well as the events leading to World War II until he died in 1938 on October 24 after he suffered a heart disease. Due to these experiences as well as his studies of human behaviour and every day life not only in Germany but also in France, Italy and Russia. Ernst Barlach can be considered one of the best sculptors of the realistic and expressionistic era. Ernst Barlach mostly used wood and bronze to create his fascinating sculptures. Ernst Barlach descendant’s estate is nowadays exhibited in Güstrow and managed be the well-known Ernst-Barlach-Foundation in Germany. The most famous sculpture he ever made was “The Singing Man”, created in 1928. This sculpture is nowadays exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York. Some of his artwork was posthumous exhibited at the documenta I and the documenta II and the Leopold Museum in Vienna dedicated a retrospective to Barlach and his work in 2009.