I've posted bronze sculptures by Hugo Lederer before, and they always have fine male forms. This one is called The Runners, and it graced a park entrance in Berlin from 1929 until 1943 when the friggin Nazis melted it down to make weapons. Although he was not persecuted by the Nazis, his friendship with "degenerate" artists kept him from getting commissions after 1933. The Runners was actually a type the Nazis generally liked, but they destroyed it anyway.
Ironischerweise waren Josef Thorak und einige andere Nazi-Künstler Schüler von Lederers an der Berliner Kunstakademie.
ReplyDeleteDamals war niemand sicher selbst loyale Nazi-Funkionäre fielen diesem Wahnsinn zum Opfer.
Eine Regierung untergräbt sich selbst durch ihren Machtmissbrauch. (“)
Lederer was more fortunate than some.
DeleteMelted down for weaponry, such is the expediency of war. Just their ideal of the aryan race of super men, strange how their own leaders were far from it.
ReplyDeleteRex of DC