Christusmaske VI. 1931.
Bronze with a golden-brown patina.
With the name and the number "5/11" below the chin, with the foundry stamp "H. Noack Berlin" in the right. From an edition of 15 copies. 15.5 x 12 x 8 cm (6.1 x 4.7 x 3.1 in).
From a posthumous edition after 1947, based on the clay model from 1931. The differing number in the catalogue raisonné was an error on the part of the foundry. [EH].

• The year this work was made, Barlach also designed the large “Lehrender Christus” (Christ the Teacher), which would later adorn Christian Rohlfs' tomb.
• Expressionist formal language in archaic reduction.
• Ernst Barlach's artistic language is unique among German Expressionists and continues to fascinate viewers to this day with its haunting expressiveness.

PROVENANCE: Private collection Berlin (since around 1970, ever since family-owned).

LITERATURE: Elisabeth Laur, Ernst Barlach. Das plastische Werk, vol. 2, Güstrow 2006, no. 485. Schult 383.

Based on a design with portrait-like features, Ernst Barlach created eleven versions of the Mask of Christ around 1931, all of which he modeled in clay. Some of them, including the present piece, were later cast in bronze. All versions feature the same strict stylization of the face, ultimately resulting in a design emphasizing the archetype. In his Mask of Christ, Barlach sees less the herald of salvation than the seer, whom he also depicted a lot older than the lore had it.

In very good condition.