Franz Iffland (1862–1935) was a German sculptor and painter who worked during the late 19th and early 20th century. He was born in 1862 in

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 ...

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Re ...

. The majority of his sculptures were influenced by the jugendstil movement but late in his career, beginning in the mid-1920s, he produced a number of

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 ...

sculptures. Iffland died in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in 1935.

Early career

Iffland received his formal training at the ''Königliche akademische Hochschule für die Bildenden Künste''. He was primarily known for his small

bronze statues Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as well as bronze elements ...

of young children and bust sculptures of young women. He was a

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

as well, however sculpture dominated his output during his career.

Artistic style

The majority of his work was produced during 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 ...

or "jugendstil" period from 1887 to 1910, but late in his career he produced a number of art deco bronzes of nude women and genre statues of ordinary working people such as

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

s and farmers. One of Iffland's contemporaries, who worked during the same period as Iffland in Berlin and did similar types of sculptures, was Otto Schmidt-Hofer. Iffland also executed a few animal sculptures and sporting figure statues of archers,

javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with th ...

throwers, and

polo Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...

players. He presented his work in bronze at the ''Große Berliner Kunstaustellung'' (Great Berlin Art Exhibition) in 1893. Iffland typically applied dark brown patinas to his smaller bronzes but often elected to apply more elaborate patination to larger works intended for exhibition in art shows. A number of his more important statues featured gilt patinas in real 24 carat gold. Iffland's chryséléphantine pieces tend to bring the best prices at auction. One such example was ''Columbine'' which fetched $8,372 in a sale on 7 November 2007 at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

, London, South Kensington. Iffland employed a number of foundries to cast his bronzes, including the Kraas foundry in Berlin. Many of his sculptures bear the Kraas foundry mark.

Death and legacy

Iffland died in 1935 in Berlin, Germany. He is remembered as one of Germany's finest sculptors during the late 19th and early 20th century.

Gallery

References

Literature

Franz Iffland. Ulrich Thieme; Felix Becker – Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Band 18, E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1925, S. 549. {{DEFAULTSORT:Iffland, Franz Artists from Berlin 1862 births 1935 deaths 20th-century German sculptors 20th-century German male artists 19th-century German sculptors German male sculptors