ARNO BREKER (Elberfeld, Germany, 1900-Düsseldorf, Germany, 1991). "Bust of Alfred Cortot, pianist"

ARNO BREKER (Elberfeld, Germany, 1900-Düsseldorf, Germany, 1991).
"Bust of Alfred Cortot, pianist, 1943.
Plaster.
Unsigned.
Exhibitions: "European sculpture in the 20th century", European Museum of Modern Art (MEAM), Barcelona, 2014.
Size: 50 cm.
Arno Breker entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf in 1920, and in 1927 he moved to Paris, where he became familiar with the works of Rodin and Charles Despiau. In 1931 he went to Rome. During a trip to Florence he saw Michelangelo's David, which was for him "like a cosmic call, like a command, pure occultism" to devote himself to a realistic and harmonious sculpture. In 1936, on the occasion of the Berlin Olympic Games, he was commissioned to create three statues for the stadium. In 1938 he received the commission for two monumental statues for the entrance to the New Chancellery, which was to mark the destiny of his work. When he presented the plans for The Torchbearer and The Swordbearer a week later, Adolf Hitler was won over by the designs, which marked the beginning of the most fruitful period of Breker's career as he became the official sculptor of the regime. Until 1945, he sculpted for squares and avenues in the capital of the Third Reich. During the Second World War, however, not even a quarter of his works were spared from enemy bombing and vandalism by the invading troops. After the Second World War, Breker continued to devote himself to both architecture and sculpture, as shown by the building in Cologne for an insurance company in 1955, or the equestrian statue of Mohammed V, King of Morocco. Famous faces portrayed by the sculptor include Salvador Dalà , Ezra Pound, the athlete Ulrike Meyfarth and Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza.