The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 6, 2021

Hope and Despair II

1931

Ernst Barlach

(German, 1870-1938)

Germany, 20th century

Lithograph

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland in memory of William J. Eastman 1953.344

© Ernst Barlach Lizenzverwaltung Ratzeburg

Catalogue raisonné: Schult 293

Location

not on view

Description

In both his sculpture and prints, Barlach expressed the suffering and anguish of World War I (1914-18) and the difficult years that followed. The artist, whose work depicts ordinary workers, wrote: "Truly, not beauty and loveliness is our strength, our power, but rather the opposite, ugliness, daemonic passion and the grotesque genius of greatness..."

Exhibition history

Cleveland Museum of Art, 1995-1996: Changing Dimensions: Works on Paper by Sculptors: November 22, 1995-January 24, 1996, no cat.

Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 3, 1958-October 11, 1959).

German Expressionist Graphics. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (May 7-October 5, 1980).

Changing Dimensions: Works on Paper by Sculptors. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 22, 1995-January 24, 1996).

Source URL: https://cmaweb23-bbn-2.clevelandart.org/art/1953.344