Max Klein
Max Klein (27 January 1847, Gönc - 6 September 1908, Berlin) was a German sculptor and medallist, of Jewish ancestry.
Life and work[]
His family was very poor. After finishing primary school, he learned watchmaking, then went to Pest, where he was employed in the sculpture workshop of Ferenc Szandház (1827-1902), and his brother Károly (1824-1892). He studied briefly at the Prussian Academy of Arts, in 1865, but had to leave for financial reasons.[1]
In 1869, he went to Rome for further training. While there, he joined the Breslau, Vienna, and Munich; arriving in Berlin in 1874. There, he worked in the studios of the animal painter, Carl Steffeck. After a second trip to Rome, he returned to Berlin, where he settled permanently in the Grunewald district.
, but was a member for only a year. He travelled back throughHis debut came at an Academy exhibition in 1877, but received little public recognition until 1879, when he displayed a dramatic bronze group, "Hercules and the Nemean Lion".[2] In 1881, he was awarded a major commission to create figures of Plato and Aristotle, for the Joachimsthalsches Gymnasium, a school that was founded in the 17th century.
In 1886, he became a naturalized citizen and married Eva Dohm, the youngest daughter of Ernst Dohm, Editor-in-Chief of the satirical magazine, Kladderadatsch, and his wife, the writer Hedwig Dohm. Their daughter, (1886-1977) was married to the psychologist, Kurt Koffka, and worked as a translator.
He was a regular exhibitor at the Große Berliner Kunstausstellung; notably in 1900, when he presented a large statue of Samson, bound and blinded. In 1901, he was awarded the title of Professor. His last work, a statue of Theodor Fontane, was left unfinished. It was completed by Fritz Schaper and dedicated two years later in the Tiergarten. It has since been replaced by a copy, and the original is in the Märkisches Museum.[3]
References[]
- ^ Peter Bloch: Bildwerke 1780–1910. Skulpturengalerie und Nationalgalerie Berlin, Vol.3, Gebrüder Mann, 1990, pg.80 ISBN 3-7861-1565-6
- ^ Károly Lyka, "Klein, Max", In: Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Vol. 20: Kaufmann–Knilling, E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1927, pgs.444–445
- ^ Kunstchronik, New edition, Vol.21, Nr. 28, 1910 pg.456
Further reading[]
- Adolph Kohut: "Professor Max Klein, Berlin", In: Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, 1904 annual, pp.637–641 (Online).
- "Klein, Max", In: Hans Wolfgang Singer (Ed.): Allgemeines Künstler-Lexicon. Leben und Werke der berühmtesten bildenden Künstler, 5th ed., Vol.2: Gaab–Lezla, Rütten & Loening, 1921, pg.348 (Online)
- "Klein Max". In: Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Vol. 3, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1965, p. 384.
- L. Forrer, "Klein, Max", In: Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, Spink & Son Ltd., 1923, pg.508
External links[]
Media related to Max Klein at Wikimedia Commons
- 1847 births
- 1908 deaths
- German sculptors
- German medallists
- Jewish sculptors
- People from Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County