Sculpture "Melusine III" (1949), bronze
Sculpture "Melusine III" (1949), bronze
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limited, 10 copies | numbered | signed | stamped | bronze | size 111 x 30 x 20 cm (h x w x d)
Detailed description
Sculpture "Melusine III" (1949), bronze
Throughout his life, Marcks was fascinated by people - with all their small and big worries, joy and suffering. With his sculptures, he always expressed a deep interest in and understanding of human beings.
Marcks expresses this dominant basic theme of his art in a virtuoso way with his depiction of Melusine, a mythical figure of the Middle Ages. Thus, contrary to the common way of depicting Melusine as a snake woman, he decided to capture her human face in bronze for eternity.
With this sculpture of a woman, he comments almost painfully on the tragic fate of a loving man who, according to legend, was denied the opportunity to look at his beloved at any time of the day or night.
Sculpture in bronze, 1949, posthumous cast 2008, edition of 10 copies, signed and numbered IV, with foundry stamp 'Barth, Rinteln'. Rudloff 535. height: 111 cm. Width: 30 cm. Depth: 20 cm.
About Gerhard Marcks
1889-1981
At the beginning of Gerhard Marcks' artistic career, he focused on drawing. As a teenager, he spent a lot of time in the zoological garden in Berlin and was intensively occupied with animal studies. He began sculpting autodidactically and with the support of Richard Scheibe, who he had met through Gropius. Scheibe let him work in his studio. It was Gropius who later made him head of the ceramic studio at the Bauhaus. From there, his path led him to the Burg Giebichenstein art school. He was fired in 1933 for political reasons and taught again from 1946-1950 (at the Landeskunsthochschule in Hamburg), but then decided to become a freelance sculptor.
Marck's work always remained representational and is strongly influenced by his veneration for Greek sculpture. At the same time, his love of animals remained an important theme. Perhaps his best-known work as an animalist is the statue of the Bremen Town Musicians in front of Bremen Town Hall from 1953. The artist's dictum: "I have conspired with the world as it stands before my eyes".
An alloy of copper with other metals (especially with tin) used since ancient times.
When casting bronze, the artist usually applies the lost-wax technique which is dating back more than 5000 years. It's the best, but also the most complex method of producing sculptures.
First, the artist forms a model of his sculpture. It is embedded in a liquid silicone rubber mass. Once the material has solidified, the model is cut out. The liquid wax is poured into the negative mould. After cooling down, the wax cast is removed from the mould, provided with sprues and dipped into ceramic mass. The ceramic mass is hardened in a kiln, whereby the wax flows out (lost mould).
Now we finally have the negative form, into which the 1400° C hot molten bronze is poured. After the bronze had cooled down, the ceramic shell is broken off and the sculpture is revealed.
Now the sprues are removed, the surfaces are polished, patinated and numbered by the artist himself or, to his specifications, by a specialist. Thus, each casting becomes an original work.
For lower-quality bronze castings, the sand casting method is often used which, however, does not achieve the results of a more complex lost-wax technique in terms of surface characteristics and quality.
A plastic work of sculptural art made of wood, stone, ivory, bronze or other metals.
While sculptures from wood, ivory or stone are made directly from the block of material, in bronze casting a working model is prepared at first. Usually, it is made of clay or other easily mouldable materials.
The prime time of sculpture after the Greek and Roman antiquity was the Renaissance. Impressionism gave a new impulse to the sculptural arts. Contemporary artists such as Jorg Immendorf, Andora, and Markus Lupertz also enriched sculptures with outstanding works.