Description:

"KAMERADEN" BY ARNO BREKER
Fine signed bas relief cold-cast bronze sculpture "Kameraden" ("Comrades") by noted German sculptor ARNO BREKER, silver patinated, 28.5 cm. x 21 cm. The dramatic sculpture depicts a standing caped man, defiant in his expression, supporting his clearly grievously wounded comrade-in-arms who is unconscious and rests in his friends arms. The original sculpture was commissioned by Albert Speer in 1940, intended for inclusion in a 240 meter frieze at a proposed Soldatenhalle in Hitler's rebuilt Berlin. A large plaster cast was displayed in the Great German Art Exhibition in 1940, Room 2. This casting is dated 14 November 1941 and is from a series of fifty, but was likely cast immediately post-war. Arno Breker (1900– 1991) was best known for his public works in Nazi Germany, which were endorsed by the authorities as the antithesis of "degenerate art". During his time in Paris in the twenties and early thirties he was influenced by Jean Cocteau, Jean Renoir, Pablo Picasso and Aristide Maillol, who was later to describe Breker as "Germany's Michelangelo". His twin sculptures The Party and The Army held prominent positions at the entrance to Albert Speer's new Reichs Chancellery. Arno Breker was represented at the Great German Art Exhibitions with 42 works. On the surface, the neoclassical nature of Breker's work typified Nazi ideals. On closer inspection, though, the proportions of his figures, the highly colorful treatment of his surfaces (the strong contrasts between dark and light accents), and the melodramatic tension of their musculatures perhaps invites comparison with the Italian Mannerist sculptors of the 16th century. While nearly all of his sculptures survived World War II, more than 90% of his public work was destroyed by the Allies after the war. In 1946 Breker was offered a commission by Joseph Stalin but he refused and stated "One dictatorship is sufficient for me". After the war he continued to receive commissions for sculptures, producing a number of works in his familiar classical style, working for businesses and individual patrons.

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February 10, 2015 10:00 AM EST
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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