Artist 15: Gerhard Marcks

Gerhard Marcks was a German sculptor born in 1889, although primarily a sculptor he was also well known for many of his drawings, woodcuts, lithographs, and ceramics.  At age 18 he began his apprenticeship under the German sculptor Richard Scheibe.  He served in the German army during World War I and as a result had life long health problems.  Along with other artists of his time, Marcks was a member of two different art-related political groups, the Novembergruppe (November Group) and the Arbeitsrat für Kunst (Workers Council for Art).  In 1919 when Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus, Marcks was one of the first three faculty hired.  At Bauhaus he was appointed the Formmeister (Form Master) of the Pottery Workshop located in Dornburg.  Early in his career, Marcks made models of animals for a porcelain factory in China, he also made woodcuts of animals.  As he matured in his art his focus shifted from animals to the human figure, which remained his focus for the rest of his life.  After the relocation of the Bauhaus and the discontinuation of the Pottery Workshop, Gerhard Marcks moved to the Kunstgewerbeshule (School for Applied Arts), where he was named the replacement director.  He held this position until he was fired in 1933 because the Nazis found his work to be unsuitable.  Due to the actions of the Nazis several of his works were shown in the “Degenerate Art” exhibition in Munich in 1937.  Although disliked by the Nazis Marcks remained in Germany throughout World War II.  After the 1937 Munich exhibition twenty-four of his pieces were confiscated by the Nazis and destroyed.  At that time he was also prohibited from showing his work with the threat of being forbidden to work.  For the remainder of the war Marcks made many trips to Italy, working in both Florence and Rome.  During the air raids of Berlin in 1943 his studio and many of his works were destroyed.  After the war Marcks became a Professor of Sculpture at the Landeskunstschule (Regional Art School) located in Hamburg, after four years of teaching he retired to Cologne.  He spent time designing memorials for soldiers and civilians who had died in World War II.  In 1971 the Gerhard Marcks Haus was established in Bremen, Germany, this was opened in his honor and housed a permanent exhibition of his work.  Ten years after the establishment of the Gerhard Marcks Haus, Gerhard Marcks died at the age of 92.