Bronze with dark brown patina. On the plinth with the engraved signature, and on the side with the foundry stamp “H.NOACK BERLIN.”. One of 18 unnumbered copies cast after 1939. 35.5 x 38.5 x 13.8 cm.
Cast by the H. Noack foundry, Berlin. [CH].
- No copy of this bronze has been offered on the international auction market since 2011 (source: artprice.com). - Barlach finds a compelling visual expression for the emotional distress of a refugee. - In this work, Barlach combines Naturalism and Expressionism, movement and emotion. - Bronze copies are part of the collections of the Museum Ludwig in Cologne and the Staatliches Museum in Schwerin, a version in lime wood is in the collection of the Kunsthaus Zürich.
LITERATURE: Elisabeth Laur, Ernst Barlach. Das plastische Werk, vol. 2, Güstrow 2006, p. 162, catalogue raisonné no. 294 2 (of 2, with an illustration of another copy). Friedrich Schult, Ernst Barlach, Vol. 1: Das plastische Werk, Hamburg 1960, p. 136, catalogue raisonné no. 227 (with an illustration of another copy). - - Each a different copy: Symbol of a Desperate and Doomed Humanity, in: The Art Digest, New York, vol. XIII, No. 6, December 1938, p. 10 (withan illustration of another copy and titled “The Fugitive”). Coronet Magazine, New York, vol. VI, May 1939, p. 140 (with an illustration of another copy and titled “The Fugitive”). Anita Beloubek-Hammer, Ernst Barlach. Plastische Meisterwerke, Leipzig 1996, p. 12 and ppp. 90f.