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Frenzy (Der Berserker)
Frenzy (Der Berserker)

Frenzy (Der Berserker)

Artist Ernst Barlach (German, 1870 - 1938)
Date1910
MediumBronze
DimensionsOverall: 21 1/2 × 28 × 10 inches (54.61 × 71.12 × 25.4 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Friends of Art
Object numberF65-18
On View
On view
Gallery Location
  • 129
Collections
Gallery Label
This solid, powerful, and focused figure, with right arm drawn back, is prepared to strike. Here, Ernst Barlach captured a moment symbolic of the revolutionary spirit that swept Europe during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The fervent will of the people against empires and for republics was expressed in the 1848–1849 revolutions in Germany, the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917, and Germany’s November Revolution of 1918–1919.
Provenance

Commissioned from the Hans Leidel Foundry, Cologne, Germany, by Hermann F. Reemtsma (1892-1961), 1948 [1];

 

Probably acquired from Reemtsma by Heinrich Müller, Hamburg, Germany, by 1961 [2];

 

With Marlborough Gallery, New York, by March 24, 1965;

 

Purchased from Marlborough Gallery by the Friends of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1965;

 

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1965.

 

NOTES:

 

[1] This sculpture is one of three posthumous casts made in 1948 from the original plaster model.

 

[2] According to Dagmar Lott-Reschke, Ernst Barlach Haus, in an email to Kathryn Cua, Mellon Curatorial Fellow, August 8, 2017, NAMA curatorial files, Müller was an engineer who worked for Reemtsma’s company in Hamburg.
Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.