Hope Salamone
Doctor Gilby
Modern and Post Modern Art
November 4, 2017
German Expressionist Artworks by Wilhelm Lehmbruck
Wilhelm Lehmbruck was an artist in the early 1900’s who was greatly impacted by the cultural events during his life. Lehmbruck created many artworks such as etchings, drawing and most importantly sculptures. He created life size and smaller scale figures of both woman and men. Lehmbruck’s artwork shows the progression of how he felt about himself and how his ideas changed due to the impact of societal influences, such as the Great War.
His artwork goes through a progressive transformation that shows his feelings towards the present state of himself in correlation with the events happening around him. The early works show his training and education. He became engrossed on the relationship between mother and child. He created three sculptures relating to this theme of connection or bond of a mother and her child (Hoff, 1969). One example is a sculpture of Mother and Child shown in Figure 1, this is just one of the three he created connecting back to the theme. When first discovering his choice of medium he started off working with wood. He then would go on working with marble until finally discovering his favorite material to work with, casted bronze or cement. Figure 1 is an example of the casted bronze sculptures he would create. Also in this sculpture you can see a woman seated supporting her body with her right arm while she holds her baby in her lap with her left hand. The woman is resting on her legs directly looking at her child. She has an expression of a gentle nature that was a reoccurring theme that he investigated through his sculptures. This is one of his earlier sculptures dating to 1907 (Hoff, 1969). This imagery of him capturing a specific and delicate moment between mother and child. In Figure 5, Mother and Child the theme of the mother and child is prevalent but this being one of the last sculptures he made there is a clear distinction between the styles in which they were created. Figure 5 is much smaller than Figure 1, only being 21 x 7.5 x 15 in. while Figure 1 is life size (Michael Werner Gallery, Artnet). Figure 1 was shown in a more literal way when representing the relationship between the two figures. They both have open eyes, with the mother looking with a tender expression on her face. The completion of Figure 1 shows his interest in creating life size sculptures giving them a realistic appeal. In contrast to the later sculpture Figure 5 with the eyes half way open but still having a kind look that expresses concerned for her child. The baby is this time swaddled within the mothers clothing staying close to her chest for safety and comfort. This sculpture was created in 1918, a little over ten years later compared to Figure 1. There are different textures on the sculptures, having the later one be a rougher surface and only of the upper shoulders of the woman. This is a more spiritual connection between them compared to the first one having it be a literal interpretation of the relationship between mother and child (Hoff, 1969). Toward the end of Lehmbruck’s life he investigated the spiritual nature within himself and woman. The war affected him in searching for a meaning after seeing horrific images of people dying and putting a strain on his mental state (Patrick J. Quinn and Steven Tout, 2001).
Lehmbruck spent four years in Paris (1910-14) creating and expanding on the ideas of spirituality in connection with oneself. He created Figure 2, Ascendant Youth during this time. This sculpture is made out of casted stone and stands at seven feet eight inches (MoMA). This sculpture is a reflection to what Lehmbruck himself was feeling at this time. The war had just started a year prior to him creating this sculpture. The subject matter is of a young man who is sculpted to look larger than life but he has his head hung symbolizing the weigh that he feels with life. His body is very long and has mass to him showing that he is a strong being, having to undergo all the downsides of life. His posture is shown as the world beating down upon him and his hand gesture suggest that he is going somewhere above him, maybe heaven or another realm? This sculpture is also a front runner of its time when it comes to the structure of how it was built. It is a free standing sculpture meaning that it does not need any support beams to keep it from falling over. This is can be tied to the architecture and how they started making buildings without showing the internal structure of the building. Giving it an illusion of a floating being in space. Leaving the young man alone not only in space but with himself to contemplate everything that he is feeling and having to deal with (Hoff, 1969).
During the time Lehmbruck was alive he had to endure The Great War. He was a paramedic who saw horrific images when trying to save people’s lives (Patrick J. Quinn and Steven Tout, 2001). The Great War had a massive death total that Europe had not seen since the age of the Black Plague (Charles Harrison, 1992). This war was not only traumatic in the amount of physical casualties but it was traumatic in the mental capacity that one human can endure when surrounded by such darkness. Many artists, including Lehmbruck were effected in such a way that it led to his downfall. He became very depressed in his life after the war and untimely committed suicide. (H.H. Arnason and Elizabeth C. Mansfield, 2013). Towards the end of his career it is evident in his artwork the changing mental state that he endured in result of the war. He exhibited his artwork in many places and he was invited to show his work in New York at mecca of influential and upcoming art. He was called an artist who was “influencing all modern art (American Art News).” He was influential at this time because he showed what some were feeling about the war in contrast with one’s inner feelings.
There are many artworks that he created that shows the reflection of what war meant to him. Figure Three, The Falling Man is a sculpture of a fallen man who is tired of the war. He holds a sword in his right hand he is on his knees with his head bent over touching the ground. This sculpture is believed to represent the turmoil of what was about to happen to his home country of Germany; the defeat of their people. This warrior represents someone who is strong but could who ultimately became defeated with the woes of the battle (Hoff, 1969). This can be connected to the feelings that Lehmbruck was feeling himself. He was struggling internally with the afflictions of life and them beating down upon him. He connected the common warrior of his own people to the feelings that he felt about himself. He was very depressed and mentally disturbed and the war effect not only him but other people such as his friends around him. The whole world was in turmoil and everyone at this time was effect whether or not they wanted to be (Charles Harrison, 1992).
Figure Four, Head of a Thinker was created after the war and you can see that he is questioning his own spirituality through this sculpture. This sculpture was one of his last before he lost the battle to depression and ended his life. It is casted in cement. This is one focuses on the internal self that is contemplating with the thoughts he has. The man in the sculpture has his hand over his heart and the figures head is not in proportion. This is the perfect example from the contrast from Figure 1 to this Figure 4 he began to show the spiritual ways of an inner self instead of the realistic proportions of Figure 1 (Hoff, 1969). This sculpture shoes that he felt feeling of depression and had signs of suicidal tendencies (Kuspit, 1993). The name of this artwork expresses what it is meant to be seen as. Someone who is in deep thought “beneath the powerful skull (Hoff, 1969).” The head is a very slender giving a bulbous round to the top making the skull much bigger and out of proportion in comparison to the rest of him. This was his intended goal because the later works show a internalized nonrealistic approach to the way that he sculpted.
Throughout Wilhelm Lehmbruck’s life he went through a transformation based on his experiences in life. He explored many themes such as femininity, spirituality with self and how the war affected him and was shown through his artwork. He was an artist who put his emotions into his artwork. His whole body of work shows the questioning of relationships here on earth and the relationship between yourself and the spiritual. Even though he went through a mental suffering throughout his life due to The Great War he still created sculptures. They show the progression of him questioning relationships between mother and child to the questioning of life itself.