BARLACH, ERNST. - Sculptor and draughtsman, b. in 1870 at Wedel (Hamburg), d. at Rostock in 1938. Together with Lehmbruck, he is considered one of the most eminent modern German sculptors. The same reduction to heavy, cubic, simplified forms is found both in his sculptures and in his illustrations (lithographs and woodcuts) and drawings. In 1930 he began his major work, the cycle of large sculptures for the façade of St. Catherine’s at Lübeck; the work, interrupted during the Nazi regime, was subsequently continued, as B. himself wished, by G. Marcks.
Important earlier works are the war memorials in Magdeburg Cathedral (in wood) and in that of Guestrow (in bronze).
BIBL.: H. Hildebrandt, Die Kunst des 19. u. 20. Jahrhunderts, Wildpark-Potsdam 1924, passim; E. B., Ein selbstzerkältes Leben, Berlino 1928 (autobiography); C. D. Caris, B., Berlino 1931; P. Fechter, Zeichnungen von E. B., Monaco 1932; K. Einstein, Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts, Berlino 1931, passim; W. R. Valentiner, Origins of Modern Sculpture, Nuova York 1946, pp. 4, 73, 172. Bernardo Degenhart