Rudolf Marcuse (15 January 1878,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

– 3 April 1940,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

) was a German sculptor of Jewish ancestry. Most of his works were relatively small, and many were designed for

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...

Life and work

He was the son of a merchant. His first professional lessons were at the

Academy of Arts, Berlin The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The Academy's predecessor organization was fo ...

, with the sculptor,

Ernst Herter Ernst Gustav Herter (14 May 1846, Berlin – 19 December 1917, Berlin) was a German sculptor. He specialized in creating statues of mythological figures. Life and work Herter studied at the Academy of Arts in Berlin and later also as apprent ...

. In 1902, he was awarded a scholarship by the Board of Trustees. The following year, he was awarded the Michael Beer Prize for his "

Judgement of Solomon The Judgement of Solomon is a story from the Hebrew Bible in which Solomon ruled between two women both claiming to be the mother of a child. Solomon revealed their true feelings and relationship to the child by suggesting the baby be cut in two, ...

". In 1909, he created one of his few large works, a memorial to the philosopher

Moses Mendelssohn Moses Mendelssohn (6 September 1729 – 4 January 1786) was a German-Jewish philosopher and theologian. His writings and ideas on Jews and the Jewish religion and identity were a central element in the development of the ''Haskalah'', or 'Je ...

at the Jewish Boys' School. It was destroyed in 1941 by members of the

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; literally "Storm Detachment") was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi ral ...

(SA). In 1910, he received the "Rome Prize" (modelled after the French

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

) from the

Prussian Academy of Arts The Prussian Academy of Arts (German: ''Preußische Akademie der Künste'') was a state arts academy first established in Berlin, Brandenburg, in 1694/1696 by prince-elector Frederick III, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and late ...

,"Marcuse, Rudolph", In: Isaac Landman: ''The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia'', Vol.7, Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Incorporated, 1942. which enabled him to stay in the

Villa Strohl-Fern The ''Villa Strohl Fern'' is a semi-urban Neo-Gothic-style, palace, or casino, and gardens erected in the late 19th century on the grounds of the Villa Borghese in Rome. It is known for having housed and provided studios for dozens of prominent art ...

. That same year, he won a gold medal at the Brussels International.Article on Rudolf Marcuse in ''

Apollo Magazine ''Apollo'' is an English-language monthly magazine covering the visual arts of all periods from antiquity to the present day. History and profile ''Apollo'' was founded in 1925, in London. The contemporary ''Apollo'' features a mixture of revie ...

'', 1928, pgs.172–174. During this period, he designed numerous statuettes in the

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

and

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

styles, which were produced by the bronze caster, .Harold Berman: ''Bronzes. Sculptors & founders, 1800–1930.'' Vol. 4. Abage, 1974, pg.875. He also designed porcelain figures for the , the

Royal Porcelain Factory, Berlin The Royal Porcelain Factory in Berlin (german: Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin, abbreviated as KPM), also known as the Royal Porcelain Manufactory Berlin and whose products are generally called Berlin porcelain, was founded in 1763 by Kin ...

, and the Rosenthal Manufactory. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he visited several prisoner-of-war camps, where he created thirty-seven sculptures, depicting the various ethnic types and nationalities among the prisoners. These were meant to be placed in a proposed "Reichskriegsmuseum" (National War Museum), which was never completed.Max Osborn: "Rudolf Marcuses Völkertypen aus dem Weltkrieg", In: ''Ost und West: illustrierte Monatsschrift für das gesamte Judentum (1901–1923)'' 11–12, pp.281–286. In 1915, he apparently married a sculptor named Elisabeth Seligsohn, about whom very little is known. As late as 1930, he was receiving monetary awards from the . This came to an abrupt end in 1933, when the

National Socialist Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

party came to power and began rejecting his applications due to his "Non-Aryan race". In 1936, thanks to his status as a "War Artist", he was allowed to emigrate to England. If Elisabeth was still alive, she did not go with him. In 1939, he may have married an Englishwoman named Alice. Neither marriage appears to be reliably documented. He died at his home in London, aged sixty-two. Hagenbeck - panoramio

References

External links

* Victor Werner
"POW (prisoner-of-war) bust of a Tonkinese man"
@ Belgium Antiques, with biographical information on Marcuse
More works by Marcuse
@ ArtNet {{DEFAULTSORT:Marcuse, Rudolf 1878 births 1940 deaths German sculptors Jewish sculptors Academy of Arts, Berlin Porcelain sculptures German emigrants to England Sculptors from Berlin

Life and work

References

Further reading

External links