Lot Essay
Otto Bartning (1883-1959), born in Karlsruhe, was a renowned Modernist architect and teacher. In the wake of the First World War, he and his friend Walter Gropius, amongst others, were strong advocates of reform in the field of art and design pedagogy. In 1918, Bartning was instrumental in the concept and programme development of the Bauhaus and influenced Gropius' 1919 avant-guard Bauhaus manifesto. Otto's wife, Cläry and Käthe Kollwitz were close friends, whose bond was strengthened through grief as both lost their sons during the First World War. Kollwitz's youngest son, Peter, was killed on the battlefield in October 1914. Cläry's son was also named Peter. Die Klage (The Lament), a memorial to Ernst Barlach, is also highly evocative of a mother's pain at the loss of her child.