Gerhard Marcks
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Gerhard Marcks (born 18 February 1889 in Berlin, died 13 November 1981 in Burgbrohl, Eifel) was a German sculptor, famous for his woodcuts, drawings, lithographs and ceramics.
In 1907 Marcks was an apprentice to Richard Scheibe. In 1914 he married Maria Schmidtlein; altogether they were to have six children. Marcks took part in World War I which left him very ill.
From 1919 Marcks worked as the Form Master at the Pottery Workshop which he co-founded at the Bauhaus, the Modernist German art and architecture school in Weimar. As such he was one of the first teachers ever employed there. Works from his first Bauhaus portfolio (Neue Europaeische Graphik I) are Die Katzen ("The Cats") and Die Eule ("The Owl"), both woodcuts. At first Marcks was interested in animal portrayals, but soon his attention moved on to human figures, and this subject fascinated him all his life.
From September 15, 1925, after the Bauhaus school relocated to Dessau, he worked at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts) in Burg Giebichenstein near Halle. After the death of its director, Paul Thiersch, Marcks replaced him. He stayed in Burg Giebichenstein until 1933 when he was dismissed, as his works were considered unacceptable by the Nazis. Some even featured in the Nazi exhibition of "degenerate art" in Munich.
Marcks nonetheless remained in Germany during the war (in Mecklenburg) but in 1937, twenty-four of his works were confiscated and destroyed by the Nazis. He was prohibited from exhibiting and threatened with a total ban on working; during this time he made several trips to Italy and was funded by the Villa Massimo in Rome. In 1943 his studio in Berlin was bombed and nearly all his works destroyed.
After World War II Marcks became Professor of Sculpture at the Landeskunstschule (District School of Art) in Hamburg, where he worked for four years. He was also commissioned to create memorials for soldiers and civilians killed in the war. In 1949, Marcks was awarded the Goethe Medal, and in 1952 he was made Knight of the Order Pour le Mérite peace class.
A permanent exhibition of Marcks' works, the Gerhard Marcks Haus has been in Bremen since 1971.
