FRITZ KLIMSCH (Frankfurt, 1870 - Freiburg, 1960).
"Youth", 1940.
Bronze.
Signed. With foundry stamp.
Exhibitions: "European sculpture of the 20th century", European Museum of Modern Art (MEAM), Barcelona, 2014.
Size: 65 x 14 x 14 cm.
The female figure, of classical canon, adopts a slight contrapposto, which marks the subtle silhouette of her turned limbs. From the nobility that emanates from her pose and the harmony of her features, she seems to evoke a Greco-Roman goddess.
Belonging to a lineage of artists, Fritz Klimsch studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin, where he was a pupil of Fritz Schaper. In 1898 he was one of the founding members of the Berlin Secession. He had the opportunity to become personally acquainted with Rodin's work, which impressed him with its expressiveness and liveliness. Alongside Rodin, his other great reference was Adolf von Hildebrand, who, in contrast to the French sculptor, represented balance and serenity. Both sculptors, together with his trips to Italy and Greece, explain his style and evolution: he began by making Art Nouveau sculptures, but gradually refined his style towards classicism, especially from 1933 onwards. This led the Nazis to appropriate his style, to consider him a genius artist, and to include him in their Gottbegnadeten-Liste; in fact, he took part in the Great Exhibition of "German Art" organised by them, and in 1940 he received the Goethe Medal in recognition of his art.