By Amy Gardner
I am captivated by a small yet powerful dynamic sculpture by Ernst Barlach entitled The Avenger. Originally crafted in 1914 from wood, the exhibited piece is a later bronze version cast in about 1930. The Avenger leaps forth; cloak billowing as he charges, a blade flung over his right shoulder, ready to attack. The man’s sculpted features etch a mask of grief and hopelessness. As the exhibition’s story unfolds before me, the anger and distress of these artists pour off the walls and permeate the air.
Ernst Barlach, The Avenger, bronze cast, c. 1930, Courtesy of the Art Gallery of New South Wales
Tags: Ernst Barlach, exhibition of German art in Australia, German art, Neue Sachlichkeit, The Avenger, The Mad Square