SwissArtGallery · Documented identity

Gerhard Marcks

The German sculptor Gerhard Marcks (1889–1981) made the human figure the focus of his sculptural practice, while also exploring animal figures in his bronzes. His sculpture is characterised by a tendency towards reduction with an archaic inflection, and his bronzes continue a synthetic study of bodies. From 1921, he also practised woodcut, in a body of work distinct from his sculpture and marked by popular imagery. Works listed by the Art Institute of Chicago include “Bird House” (1921), “Die Eule”, published the same year in “Bauhaus-Drucke. Neue Europäische Graphik. Erste Mappe”, and “Nude Standing” (1948). A 1960 pencil drawing, “Stehender weiblicher Akt”, is described as measuring 420 × 230 mm; its entry notes the signature and date “G. Marcks, 6 II 60” at the lower right.

Trained in sculpture by August Gaul and Georg Kolbe, Marcks took part in the 1914 Werkbund exhibition in Cologne at Gropius’s request. In 1918, he became a professor at the school of arts and crafts in Berlin. In 1933, he became director of the school of arts and crafts at Burg Giebichenstein, near Halle; from that same year, he lost his position under the National Socialist regime, and one source reports that he was also forbidden to exhibit. According to Universalis, he lived in Cologne from 1950. His work includes several public monuments, among them the monument to the Town Musicians of Bremen and war memorials in Cologne, Hamburg and Mannheim. Retrospectives were held for his sixtieth birthday, notably in Hamburg, Stuttgart and Munich; another retrospective is mentioned at the Musée Rodin in Paris.

This profile brings together identity references for Gerhard Marcks and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.

1 references are documented at Germann. Each record links to its source; the amounts are not a general valuation of the artist’s work.

Works recorded at auction

Germann

Standing female nude, 1960

Pencil drawing

Original catalogue wording

Stehender weiblicher Akt, 1960
Bleistift-Zeichnung.

Date to be documented

Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed

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Sources and references

• Reference record
• ARTIC · Reference link only; institutional text and images are not reproduced.
• Documentary source
• Documentary source
• Documentary source
• Documentary source

SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
Documentation updated : 2026-10-19