Arno Breker: Dekorateur der Macht und Sündenbock der Deutschen

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"Breker's life and work can be broken down into three parts: the early work, which oscillated between Rodin's Impressionist surface treatment and Maillol's abstracting forms; the phase of symbolically charged propaganda works bursting with energy; and the craft-focused late work, which consisted exclusively of commissioned portraits and decorative works connected to architecture, Before 1936 and after 1945 he had the freedom to work for himself. But he did not find his subject. Was he for that reason perhaps prepared to allow himself to be put in service again? Removing the monuments of totalitarian regimes promotes repression and ahistorical awareness; it deprives one of the opportunity to compare and assess. "The greatness of works of art, however, consists solely in the fact that they give voice to what ideology hides. Their very success moves beyond false consciousness, whether intentionally or not." In this view, Breker's commissioned works reveal more about the ideals and the yearning for death of their era than their creator realized. They also reveal their failure. The successful work of art, however, moves beyond the ideology of its time. Breker's works are trapped in the zeitgeist."--Publisher's description