The Hovering Angel Takes Wing
November 6, 2014 3:22 PM   Subscribe

[Ernst] Barlach’s memorial ["Der Schwebende Engel," or The Hovering Angel] is unusual and unique. Detached from earth and time, with folded arms and closed eyes, the hovering figure expresses an internalized vision of the grief and sufferings of war. When the Nazis came to power in the 1930s, Barlach’s works were among the first to be declared Entartete Kunst (‘degenerate art’) and confiscated and removed from public display. Sadly, Barlach died in 1938, knowing that his masterwork had been taken down to be melted and probably made into war munitions. However, some courageous friends had managed to hide a second cast, which was then hung in the Antoniter Church in Cologne after the end of the Second World War.
The British Museum welcomes Ernst Barlach's Der Schwebende to its exhibition "Germany: memories of a nation."

For those with access to the BBC's online offerings: Barlach's Angel. "Neil MacGregor focuses on Ernst Barlach's sculpture Hovering Angel, a unique war memorial, commissioned in 1926 to hang in the cathedral in Güstrow."

Another look at this beautiful sculpture.
posted by MonkeyToes (4 comments total) 19 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is powerful and moving. That a second cast was made, and kept safe, is wonderful; sad that the artist would not know his work endured.
posted by kinnakeet at 3:30 PM on November 6, 2014 [2 favorites]


I saw what I now know to be a copy of this in Cologne a few months ago. There was no explanation, and I was curious about the story behind the piece. Thanks for the background!
posted by TheCoug at 6:03 PM on November 6, 2014


Great story, thanks for posting it!

> ["Der Schwebende Engel," or The Hovering Angel]

You can have the Engel in the title or not, but if you do it has to be Schwebender Engel (with an -r).
posted by languagehat at 11:09 AM on November 7, 2014


Having recently attended the British Museum show, I can confirm it is very moving to see this work in person.
posted by Perodicticus potto at 1:15 PM on November 8, 2014


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