BARLACH, ERNST. — Sculptor and draftsman, born in 1870 in Wedel (Hamburg), died in 1938 in Rostock. He is considered, together with Lehmbruck, one of the most eminent modern German sculptors. The same reduction to heavy, cubic, and simplified forms is found both in his sculptures and in his illustrations (lithographs and woodcuts) and drawings. In 1930 he completed his major work, the cycle of large sculptures for the façade of St. Catherine’s in Lübeck; the work, interrupted during the Nazi regime, was later continued, as B. himself wished, by G. Marcks.
Among his earlier important works are the war memorials in the cathedrals of Magdeburg (in wood) and Güstrow (in bronze).
BIBL.: H. Hildebrandt, Die Kunst des 19. u. 20. Jahrhunderts, Bildpark-Potsdam 1924, passim; E. B., Ein selbstverhältnes Leben, Berlin 1928 (autobiography); C. D. Carls, B., Berlin 1931; F. Fechter, Zeichnungen von E. B., Munich 1932; K. Einstein, Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts, Berlin 1931, passim; W. R. Valenner, Origins of Modern Sculpture, New York 1946, pp. 4, 173. Bernardo Degenhart