Metadata
- TitleErnst Barlach
- SummaryThe film is a portrait of the 1910 born sculptor, draughtsman and dramatist Ernst Barlach. In addition to a description of his personality, the most important works are presented. Through his specialization in peasant figures and the representation of poor and old people, he is described as a humanist artist whose works speak a great deal of humanity. The degradation to a degenerate artist propagated by the National Socialists is made clear by using film clips from the DEFA film "The Lost Angel". The film also reflects how the city of Güstrow cultivates the artist's cultural heritage. This includes not only the erection of a memorial, but also walks on Barlach's tracks and the performance of his dramas to ensure that his work remains alive.
- Shotlist0:00:00 Display "Camera DDR". View through a wrought-iron gate into a park (half total). View of the stone sculpture "Mother Earth" in the park at the Gertrudenkapelle in Güstrow (half total). Crosses and gravestones on the cemetery grounds (half near). Comment: "This cemetery garden was visited by an important citizen of this city, here he found peace and reflection, today many people come here to admire the works of art of this man". Visitors in the park in autumnal back light (half total). Title insertion "Ernst Barlach in Güstrow". Backward zoom of a portrait of Ernst Barchlach (near). 0:01:40 Drive photo under a weeping willow with view to the Gertrudenkapelle (half total). Entrance area of the memorial (semi-near). Zoom from the entrance area to the oak wood sculpture "The reunion" in the interior (semi-near). Visitors in front of the wooden sculpture (semi-near). Panning over the chapel room full of works of art and visitors (half total). Zoom on a tourist group in front of the sculpture "The reading monks" (half total). Comment: "The precious exhibition is particularly popular with teachers for art lessons...". Pedagogue explains the sculpture "The bound witch" (original sound) "We met here in the Gertrudenkapelle... Barlach's mother tongue is the human figure, the thinking, the feeling, the suffering, the hoping, which he wanted to express through the human figure. And one of the reasons for his work was that he wanted to represent the perfect simple and the simple perfect ... Face of a student (near). Panning over "The bound witch" from hands to face (close). Panning over the faces of the students (half near) (original sound) "Well the facial expression is really a sad appearance somehow and I would also say that it was a poor woman, you can see that already there everything is so narrowly represented". Pedagogue offstage: "Sadness is not dominant here". Another student (nah) (O-tone) "She tries to undo the shackles by holding her hands crossed". Backward zoom from the student's face to "The bound witch" (half near). 0:03:55 Comment: "A contemporary of Barlach's, the painter Max Liebermann, wrote about Barlach's art; he wanted to improve people through his love of life. Do not all his works preach the "gospel of the affirmation of life"? Bronze sculpture "Teaching Christ" (semi-near). Swing from the bronze sculpture to the "Crucifix" by Ernst Barlach on the side wall (semi-near). Sculpture "Der lesende Klosterschüler" (The Reading Monastery Pupil) (semi-near). Zoom on the face of the reader (near). Panning over the exhibition visitors in the Gertrudenkapelle (half total). Zoom on the chapel window with fading on the view (from above) over the roofs of the town Güstrow (half total). Swing from the sun's rays in a tree onto the city canal (half total). View into a lane with houses from the 19th century (half total). Swing over a stream with ducks in Güstrow (half total). Zoom on the ducks (semi-close). recut 0:05:32 Lithograph by Ernst Barlach (near). Crossfade to the teak sculpture "Mother and Child" (semi-near). Crossfade to a lithograph by Barlach (nah). Sculpture of a playing "Russian lovers" (half near). Crossfade to a sculpture "Russian Beggar" (nah). Cut over to the sculpture "Captain Kornelius" (semi-near). Swing from the plastic to the panes of the window (semi-near). Redeployment to a landscape with bridge over a river (half total). Swing over the Güstrower landscape at sunset (half total). Drive along a river in autumnal season (half total). Comment: "Barlach loved the landscape around Güstrow, it was his living room, as he called it. He walked for hours with a sketchbook. His hiking trails are today consciously followed by people who want to combine the beauty of the landscape with an artistic experience. The members of the Sports Association, the Ernst Barlach Memorial and many other hiking enthusiasts interested in art organize these hikes called "Paths to Ernst Barlach...". Hikers on the paths of Ernst Barlach (half total). Sculpture of "The village violinist" (near). Cut back to the ways Barlach went (half total). Sculpture of a lying man (near). Hikers on the paths of Barlach (half total). Swing over a river with a bridge (half total). recut 0:07:27 Sculpture of a soldier holding his helmet (half near). Zoom on the soldier's face (close). Backward zoom on the studio house Barlachs at the Inselsee (half total). Interior of the studio house with pedestals full of sculptures (half total). Photo insertion of Barlach with his sculpture "Der Zweifler" (near). Swing from the glass roof onto the window front of the studio house (half total). Photo insertion of Barlach with sculpture "Beggar with child" in his studio (nah). Comment: "Ernst Barlach could use this, his house only 8 years, together with his partner Marga Böhmer (photo fade in) it was his last place of work (photo fade in with Barlach, Magda Böhmer and friends in front of the studio house). Recut (with backward zoom) to today's studio house from outside with arriving visitors (half total). Comment: "In 1978 the Atelierhaus was opened to the public as a museum and united with the Gertrudenkapelle to form the "Ernst Barlach Memorial" of the GDR...". Members of the "Ernst Barlach" brigade of the Güstrower Zuckerfabrik maintain the green areas around the memorial site (semi-near). recut 0:09:22 Panning over the visitors and art objects in the studio house (half total). Plastic "The singing man" on a pedestal (half near). Visitor in front of a sculpture (semi-near). Faces of visitors (semi-close). Swing over the "frieze of the listeners" (half near). Sculpture "The Doubter" (half near). Backward zoom of the face of the sculpture "Lachende Alte" (half near). Sculptures "Lesende Mönche" and "Der Ekstatiker" and "Der Rächer" and "Der singende Mann" (all half near). Driving shot on the face of the "Singing Man" (near). Cut back to a museum guide between art lovers in the studio house in front of the "Singing Man" (half-total) (original sound) "Only a few sculptures by Ernst Barlach are included in this composition, only a few open far into the room. The observer has the possibility to feel himself involved, he is singing...(panning over the faces of the audience)...the "singing man" is a theme of making music which Ernst Barlach also often uses, at least a thought he uses in his art to express feelings of life, his own view". 0:11:47 Panning over the art objects in the studio house onto books on display from Barlach's hand (half total). Comment: "Ernst Barlach confessed to a friend, I actually enjoy writing as much as I am a sculptor...". Zoom on book covers (close). Cover "Der blaue Boll" and photo of the production in the Deutsches Theater, Berlin (nah). Photos of a poster and the staging of Barlach's work "Die echten Sedemunds" at the Staatstheater Schwerin (near). Comment: "Barlach's dramas often reflect the attitudes of the German petty bourgeoisie. Lovingly and sarcastically at the same time he designs thoughts about the meaning of human existence with his stage figures...(photo inserts of stagings of Barlach's dramas)...and with his plays he met the atmosphere in which world wars were preparing, the zeitgeist of that time that led to the slaughter". Historical film insertions from the I. World War of the Battle of Verdun (half total). Photo insertion of dead soldiers of World War I (near). Redecision to a lithograph of Barlach's "Das Massengrab" 1915 (near). Pan over the picture (detail). Edited to the lithograph "Dona nobis pacem" 1916 (near). Memorial for the fallen soldiers of World War I in the cathedral of Magdeburg (half near). Swing from the memorial in Magdeburg Cathedral to a group of visitors in silence (half total). Faces of the church visitors in front of the memorial (near). Memorial detail photos of the face below, right; of the hands on the cross; soldier with steel helmet, below, middle (near). Visitors light candles in front of the memorial (half near). Commentary: "Barlach makes it clear urgently...if war is the first thing you are defenseless in destiny, flourishing life sinks into the grave". recut 0:14:20 Swing from bottom to top over the Kiel memorial "Der Geistkämpfer" (half near). Zoom on the face of the spirit fighter (near). Comment: "In the spirit fighter, the memorial for Kiel, he warns that good must arm itself to hold down evil". Circumcision: Swing over the Hamburg memorial from top to bottom (half near). Comment: "With the Hamburg mark, the attitude of the survivors shows human confidence despite all the suffering". Zoom in on the faces of mother and child at the memorial (near). Circumcision. A picture taken under the memorial "Floating Angel" in the cathedral of Güstrow (half total). Face of the angel (near). Swing over the interior of the cathedral to Güstrow (half total). Comment: "And in the Güstrow Mal, above all questions of war or peace hovers the spirit of the mothers admonishingly. Four millionfold suffering flowed into the figure of the angel, the ambassador of humanity. These memorials hit those for whom war was a means of politics, these politicians needed heroes, "reflection on the victims was not desirable". recut 0:15:43 ...on historical film footage of SA-groups, election campaign 1932 and Hitler during a speech (half total). SA paints the Judenstern and "Jude" on shop windows (half total). Posters "Fight back! Do not buy from Jews" at shops (half total). Swing over German military in an armaments factory (half total). Parade of the Wehrmacht (half total). Swastika flags and book burning (half total). Comment: "Barlach never got politically involved, but when the fascists came to power he felt and recognized the danger that was coming up in Germany. He called them monopolized butchers and felt connected with the persecuted. Characteristic of fascist barbarism was the mass extermination of humanist works of art, such as the burning of books in Berlin in 1933. Barlach soon belonged to the persecuted and missed...(Photo: exhibition of the NSDAP "Degenerate Art")...he was declared a "degenerate artist" and a real smear campaign began against him...(Photo: SA and SS in the exhibition "Degenerate Art")...381 of his works were removed from the public art collections...(Panning over a photo: sculpture "Jesus and Son" in the exhibition "Entartete Kunst", Munich 1937)...the sculpture "Das Wiedersehen" was exhibited as an example of his degenerate art and Munich 1937...". Schwenk on the front page of the newspaper "Neuer Geist-Neues Leben" from 1934 with an article by Alfred Rosenberg "Über Ernst Barlach-Kein Kampf um Begriffe" (near). Title page of the "Völkischer Beobachters" and the "Rostocker Anzeiger" from 1934 with articles against Barlach (nah). recut 0:17:11 Sculpture "Three singing women" (nah). Drive shot around the sculpture of singing women (near). Comment: "But it was precisely in these terrible years that his most joyful works, depictions of human love and trust in humanity were created". Backward zoom of the sculpture "Der Flötenbläser" (near). Carved sentence "Freiheit die ich meine, 22. März 1933" in a relief by Barlach (nah). Comment: "This is his alternative when he learned of the concentration camps in 1933. His life in "Güstrow" was becoming more and more threatened. Redesign to scene excerpts from the GDR feature film "Der verlorene Engel". Fascists remove the "Floating Angel" from the cathedral of Güstrow (half near). With sledgehammer and axe the work of art is destroyed (half near). Sculpture falls to the ground (semi-near). Angel a loop is put around the neck (half near). Fascists pull the work of art out of the cathedral (half near). End of the feature film clip. 0:19:28 Photo of the smoking Barlach (near). Comment: "Ernst Barlach dies worn down and worn out on 24 October 1938". Relief of the portrait of Barlach (near). Swing from the casting of the "Floating Angel" onto a group of visitors in the cathedral of Güstrow (half total). Comment: "The "Floating Angel" has been hanging in his place again since 1953. The liberation from fascism also liberated Barlach's work from its spell and today visitors can again admire how urgently up-to-date his work in our threatened world reminds them to "preserve life". Zoom on the face of the "Floating Angel" (half near). Cut over to the cathedral of Güstrow in back light (half total). View of the castle of Güstrow (half total). Historical post house with "Borwin" fountain in Güstrow (half total). Swing from the fountain to the pedestrian zone Güstrows (half total). View of the historical town hall of Güstrow (half total). Comment: "Immediately after his liberation from fascism, his partner Marga Böhmer and many friends and artists stood up for the preservation and care of his estate. Thus many smaller and larger exhibitions were made known to a broad public in the GDR with Barlach's works...". Swing over the historical market place of Güstrow (half total). Scenes from the centre of Güstrow (half total). Citizens of Güstrows on benches and on the market place in conversation (half near). recut 0:21:00 Swing to the chairman of the Ernst Barlach circle in the cultural association of the GDR in his studio (half near). Sculptor Jo Jastram (half near) (original sound) "A function which is already explained by the name, which therefore in our country distributed over the whole republic, not only in the north, thus in the further homeland of Ernst Barlach, strives to keep the work of Barlach alive, i.e. not to maintain monuments but to achieve living references to this Barlach work calling into society...". Face of the narrator Jo Jastram (near). Swing over the members of the Ernst Barlach circle at a meeting (half near). Cut back to a meeting of the city museum and the cultural association from Güstrow (half total). "Comment: "They are preparing a commemorative exhibition to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Barlach...". Women leaf through photo albums of Barlach (half near). Sculpture "Pieta" by Barlach (near), it serves as model for the memorial in Stralsund. Barlach expert (semi-near) (original sound) "Barlach's designs did not find the resonance they would have required...". Comment: "In 1932, it was mainly fascist, militant associations that were to blame for this. Today artists and cultural politicians of the city of Stralsund are discussing how they can bring Barlach's projects to a conclusion, they are happy to be able to realize his ideas". 0:22:58 Professor Jo Jastram and other experts in front of an enlarged model of the "Pieta" (half total). Jo Jastram (Halbnah) (O-Ton) "So we're dealing here with an enlargement, that's something that's not quite simple, and that's what Barlach is doing in the sense of not just repeating a tracery, but working into a society, achieving a human expression, that's what I think the work will be...". Panning over the enlarged model of the "Pieta" (semi-near). View of the clay model of the "Pieta" (semi-near). Comment: "The sculptor Hans-Peter Jäger who completes the work". Swing to Hans-Peter Jäger (Halbnah) (original sound) "That was certainly Barlach himself who once chose the location, which today has a relationship as a monument to the catastrophes of the I. and II. World War". Zoom on the sketch of Barlach to the planned monument with the "Pieta" in the courtyard of the monastery Stralsund (near). Cut to two musicians (semi-near) (original sound). Swing from the musicians over a Barlach sculpture in the Gertrudenkapelle to the sculpture "Das Wiedersehen" (near). Comment: "Would Ernst Barlach have dreamed that concerts would take place in the Gertrudenkapelle, amidst his sculptures? He once wrote that every art has two parts, one that makes it and one that needs it. It is needed in this country". Swing from the sculpture "The Reunion" to the concert visitors in the chapel (half-total) (original sound). View over the audience of the sculpture "The reading monks" (half total). Swing from the concert visitors to the faces of the sculpture "Das Wiedersehen" (nah) (original sound). Fade in "Production Camera DDR, Orwo-Color, Copy VEB DEFA-Kopierwerke". dimming 0:25:15 END
- TagsGerman Democratic Republic (GDR); Güstrow; sculptor; art; writer; graphic artist; portrait; memorial; National Socialism; Deutsche Film AG (DEFA); feature film; Mecklenburg; Stralsund; Magdeburg; memorial; sculpture; sculpture; lithography; tourism; wood; bronze; hiker; war; fascism; book burning; degenerate art; Inselsee; studio house; museum; cathedral; brigade; German theatre; Staatstheater Schwerin; drama; petit bourgeoisie; Verdun; memorial; Kiel; Hamburg; Sturmabteilung (SA); Schutzstaffel (SS); Jews; Wehrmacht; National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP); art collection; exhibition; Kulturbund; Johanniskloster; Gertrudenkapelle;
- Decade1980
- Production Year1987
- Release date
- Genre
- Country of Production
- Actors
- Personalities
- DirectorKlaus Schulze
- Producer
- CameraKlaus Schulze
- Original Clip IdentifierQ6UJ9A004FB9
EN (US)