Background
Georg Kolbe was born in Waldheim on 13 April 1877.
Georg Kolbe was born in Waldheim on 13 April 1877.
Studied art in Dresden, Munich and Paris at the Académie Julian in 1898.
Originally trained as a painter, Kolbe decided to turn instead to sculpture after a meeting with Rodin in Rome. In 1903 he settled in Berlin, remaining there for the rest of his life apart from travels to Greece, Italy and Egypt.
Kolbe worked mainly in bronze, modelling classically proportioned nudes and also executing on occasion a few portrait heads. Rodin and later Maillol were the decisive influences on his work. Kolbe's early figures were highly expressive and imaginative - especially the Dancing Girl of 1912.
During the later period, in particular after 1933, his style became repetitively aggressive and nationalistic. During the Third Reich he indulged in the kind of monumental figures whose cheap pathos was largely geared to the Nazi mythology of the Nordic-Germanic ‘master race'. In the spirit of bringing art to the people, his studio became a favoured venue for guided tours by members of the ‘Strength through Joy' organization.
He died in Berlin on 15 November 1947.