Lot Essay
In 1936 Barlach returned to a drawing he had executed nearly sixteen years earlier (S.1366) (illustrated) and created its subject in scuptural form (see illustration). The plaster version (S. 468) of 1936 was used as the model for the bronze edition cast by Noack in the same year of which the present sculpture is a fine example. Two wooden versions of 1936 also exist (S. 470 & 471), one of which was housed in the celebrated Reemtsma collection in Hamburg. "The little shepherd, leaning backward and playing his shawm, is nearly covered by his large cloak. Only his sharply angled legs, his hands, and his face are articulated. Thus enveloped, he appears to be transported by his music" (P. W. Guenther, 'Barlach', German Expressionist Sculpture, exh. cat., Los Angeles, 1983, p. 61).
Barlach explained how he aimed to portray music in sculptural form: "Musik setzt sich bei mir oft unmittelbar in Bildvorstellung um, ich glaube auch, meinen mir selbst vorgeschriebenen Rahmen nicht zu überschreiten, wenn ich zu sagen wage, dass ich durch Musik dem Schöpferischen an sich am nächsten zu gelangen glaube, da ist am spürbarsten Schalten und Walten des unbegrenzten Willens zur Gestaltung in absoluter Freiheit...Ich habe wohl oft, plastisch und zeichnerisch, musikalische Themen gewählt" (as quoted in F. Fühmann & G. Pätsch, op. cit., p. 168).
1936 was a particularly difficult year for Barlach. "His works were removed from the exhibition of the Preussische Akademie with those of Käthe Kollwitz and Wilhelm Lehmbruck, and a volume of his drawings, ready for distribution, was confiscated. Nonetheless, Barlach remained in Germany, although he was forbidden to exhibit, even privately, after 1937, and his public sculptures and monuments were destroyed...It became difficult for Barlach to sell his work...By August of 1937, 381 works by Barlach had been seized from museums and churches and removed from public view...His pacificist - some said defeatist - themes, which were considered an insult to the German spirit...earned him inclusion in the Entartete Kunst exhibition" (D. Grimm, 'Ernst Barlach', Degenerate Art, The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany, exh. cat., Los Angeles, 1991, p. 197).
Other early casts of Der Flötenbläuser are housed in the Stadthistorisches Museum, Duisberg, the Angermuseum, Erfurt and the Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisberg.
Barlach explained how he aimed to portray music in sculptural form: "Musik setzt sich bei mir oft unmittelbar in Bildvorstellung um, ich glaube auch, meinen mir selbst vorgeschriebenen Rahmen nicht zu überschreiten, wenn ich zu sagen wage, dass ich durch Musik dem Schöpferischen an sich am nächsten zu gelangen glaube, da ist am spürbarsten Schalten und Walten des unbegrenzten Willens zur Gestaltung in absoluter Freiheit...Ich habe wohl oft, plastisch und zeichnerisch, musikalische Themen gewählt" (as quoted in F. Fühmann & G. Pätsch, op. cit., p. 168).
1936 was a particularly difficult year for Barlach. "His works were removed from the exhibition of the Preussische Akademie with those of Käthe Kollwitz and Wilhelm Lehmbruck, and a volume of his drawings, ready for distribution, was confiscated. Nonetheless, Barlach remained in Germany, although he was forbidden to exhibit, even privately, after 1937, and his public sculptures and monuments were destroyed...It became difficult for Barlach to sell his work...By August of 1937, 381 works by Barlach had been seized from museums and churches and removed from public view...His pacificist - some said defeatist - themes, which were considered an insult to the German spirit...earned him inclusion in the Entartete Kunst exhibition" (D. Grimm, 'Ernst Barlach', Degenerate Art, The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany, exh. cat., Los Angeles, 1991, p. 197).
Other early casts of Der Flötenbläuser are housed in the Stadthistorisches Museum, Duisberg, the Angermuseum, Erfurt and the Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisberg.