EDWIN SCHARFF* ( Neu-Ulm 1887 - 1955 Hamburg )

EDWIN SCHARFF* ( Neu-Ulm 1887 - 1955 Hamburg )
Walking Men, 1912
lithograph/paper 28,5 x 20 cm
sheet dimension 45 x 40 cm
signed Edwin Scharff

SCHÄTZPREIS / ESTIMATE °€ 50 - 100
STARTPREIS / STARTING PRICE °€ 50

Edwin Paul Scharff was a German sculptor, medalist, and graphic artist of the first half of the 20th century. At the age of 15, Edwin Scharff left his hometown of Neu-Ulm to study painting at the Munich Kunstgewerbeschule (Munich School of Applied Arts) from 1903 to 1907, studying under Ludwig von Herterich, and later at the Royal Academy of Arts. He created his first sculptures in 1906, and his first etchings, entitled "Dreams and Sketches, " were created in 1908. After a stay in Paris in 1912/13, he met Jules Pascin. Scharff became a founding member of the Munich New Secession (MNS) in 1913. He then switched to sculpture, which marked the beginning of his most productive creative phase. In 1919, he married the actress Helene Ritscher. In 1923, Scharff was appointed professor at the Hochschule an die Hochschule der Künste Berlin (HdK), where he received numerous public commissions for monuments, busts, and medals. In 1927, the members of the Deutsche Künstlerbund (German Artists' Association) elected Edwin Scharff as vice president. In 1931, Edwin Scharff was appointed to the Preußische Akademie der Künste (Prussian Academy of Arts), where he remained a member until 1945. After the Nazi seizure of power, he was transferred to the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts. During the Nazi era, Scharff was a member of the Reichskammer der bildenden Künste (Reich Chamber of Fine Arts), from which, according to his own account, he was expelled in 1938. He was also placed on leave from his teaching post in Düsseldorf, but continued to participate in major exhibitions, including „Der Deutsche Westen. Malerei und Plastik der Gegenwart. Junge Kunst im Deutschen Westen. Jahresschau 1939/40" (The German West. Contemporary Painting and Sculpture. Young Art in the German West. Annual Show 1939/40") in Münster in 1940. For the 1937 Reichsausstellung Schaffendes Volk 1937 (Reich Exhibition of Creative People) in Düsseldorf, he created a pair of figures for the entrance, "Die Rossebändiger" ("The Horse Wranglers." Nevertheless, in 1937, as part of the "Entartete Kunst" (Degenerate Art) campaign, Scharff's works were removed from several museums. Three of his works were ridiculed in the 1937 "Entartete Kunst" exhibition; 46 works were destroyed. After the war, Scharff rejoined the Deutschen Künstlerbund (German Artists' Association) and served as a jury member on its extended board from 1951 to 1955. In 1955, he was appointed a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin. From 1946, Scharff taught at the Landeskunstschule (State Art School) in Hamburg. His works were shown at documenta 1 (1955) and documenta 2 (1959). The Edwin Scharff Prize, established by the city of Hamburg in the year of his death, commemorates him. The Edwin Scharff Museum opened in his hometown of Neu-Ulm in 1999. The sculpture „Bildnis der Schauspielerin Anni Mewes“ (Portrait of the Actress Anni Mewes), created in 1917, was rediscovered in Berlin along with other sculptures that had been confiscated as degenerate in 1937 during the „Berliner Skulpturenfund“ (Berlin Sculpture Trove) in 2010, when rescue excavations were carried out opposite the Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall) in preparation for underground construction work. Further artists and styles: Horses, Expressionism, Cubism, Etching

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