Oskar Schlemmer and Noack, Berlin
Abstract Figure
1920-1922
Scroll
Physical Qualities
Nickel-plated bronze, paint
, 41 1/2 x 24 5/8 x 8 1/2 in. (105.4 x 62.5 x 21.6 cm.)
Credit Line
Alan and Janet Wurtzburger Collection
Object Number
1966.55.28
German painter, sculptor, and choreographer Oskar Schlemmer is best known for his work at the Bauhaus art school in Germany, where he taught from 1920 to 1929. While heading the sculpture department at the school from 1920 to 1923, he produced only two free-standing sculptures, one of which is Abstract Figure. Here, Schlemmer reshapes human anatomy by breaking down the body into a series of convex and concave geometrical forms, supported on a submarine-shaped base suggestive of war machinery. The precision and clarity of interlocked elements, as well as the featureless face of the sculpture, are typical of the depersonalized artistic styles of the post-World War I period.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, The Janal Foundation, Inc. (established at time of Alan Wurtzburger's death in 1963), 1966; Alan Wurtzburger, by purchase, 1962; Marlborough Fine Art Ltd, London, June 1962; Mrs. Tut Schlemmer/ Noack Foundry, Berlin
Darsie Alexander, BMA, 'Mechanical Form/Mechanical Vision,' December 12, 2001-April 7, 2002.
Albert E. Elsen, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "The Partial Figure in Modern Sculpture from Rodin to 1969," 2 December 1969-1 February 1970, cat. no. 75, ill. p. 47.
Albert Elsen, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, "Modern European Sculpture 1918-1945: Unknown Beings and Orther Realities," 12 May-24 June 1979, cat. no. 56, p. 187, ill. p. 17. Circulated to The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 22 July-2 September 1979, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 5 October-18 November 1979.
Albert E. Elsen, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "The Partial Figure in Modern Sculpture from Rodin to 1969," 2 December 1969-1 February 1970, cat. no. 75, ill. p. 47.
Albert Elsen, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, "Modern European Sculpture 1918-1945: Unknown Beings and Orther Realities," 12 May-24 June 1979, cat. no. 56, p. 187, ill. p. 17. Circulated to The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 22 July-2 September 1979, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 5 October-18 November 1979.
George Heard Hamilton, "Painting and Sculpture in Europe, 1880-1940," Baltimore: The Pelican History of Art, 1967, p. 219, pl.128b.
Elsen, Albert Edward. The Partial Figure in Modern Sculpture: From Rodin to 1969. [Baltimore, MD], [1969], cat. no. 75, page 47.
