Lot number 3463 - Auction 160
ERNST BARLACH 'TRAUER'

ERNST BARLACH
1870 Wedel – 1938 Rostock
'MOURNING' ('TRAUER')

Conceived in 1913

Bronze, light brown patina, on a rectangular plinth. Height 57 cm, width 30 cm. Inscribed 'E. Barlach' and numbered '3/6' on the side; foundry mark 'H. NOACK BERLIN' on the back; posthumous cast. A fully modeled depiction of a seated woman wearing a heavy, long garment and a voluminous cloak. The figure sits in an upright yet introspective posture on a block-like seat, with her arms hanging at her sides and her hands resting calmly on or beside her knees. The austere rendering of the face, the angular, closed planes of the drapery, and the monumental simplification of the body's forms lend the work a poignant expression of mourning, serenity, and inward contemplation. Minor knocks/abrasions and loss of patina.

Literature: Cf. Laur: *Ernst Barlach. Das plastische Werk. Werkverzeichnis 2*, Güstrow 2006, no. 221.