Max Klein (27 January 1847,

Gönc Gönc ( Slovak: ''Gynec'') is a town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county in Northern Hungary, 55 kilometers from county capital Miskolc. It is the northernmost town of Hungary and the second smallest town of the county. History Gönc has been in ...

– 6 September 1908,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

) was a German sculptor and

medallist A medalist (or medallist) is an artist who designs medals, plaquettes, badges, metal medallions, coins and similar small works in relief in metal. Historically, medalists were typically also involved in producing their designs, and were usually e ...

, of Jewish ancestry.

Life and work

His family was very poor. After finishing primary school, he learned

watchmaking A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since a majority of watches are now factory-made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their par ...

, then went to Pest, where he was employed in the sculpture workshop of Ferenc Szandház (1827–1902), and his brother Károly (1824–1892). He studied briefly at the

Prussian Academy of Arts The Prussian Academy of Arts () was a state arts academy first established in 1694 by prince-elector Frederick III of Electorate of Brandenburg, Brandenburg in Berlin, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and later king in Kingdom of ...

, in 1865, but had to leave for financial reasons. In 1869, he went to Rome for further training. While there, he joined the , but was a member for only a year. He travelled back through Breslau, Vienna, and Munich; arriving in Berlin in 1874. There, he worked in the studios of the animal painter,

Carl Steffeck Carl Constantin Heinrich Steffeck (4 April 1818, Berlin – 11 July 1890, Königsberg) was a German painter and graphic artist. He was especially well known for his paintings of horses and dogs. Life He was the son of a "gentleman of independ ...

. After a second trip to Rome, he returned to Berlin, where he settled permanently in the

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district. His debut came at an Academy exhibition in 1877, but received little public recognition until 1879, when he displayed a dramatic bronze group, ''

Hercules and the Nemean Lion ''Hercules and the Nemean Lion'' may refer to one of the following works of art: * ''Hercules and the lion of Nemea'' (Louvre Museum, L 31 MN B909), a painting on pottery * ''Hercules Fighting the Nemean Lion'' (Zurbarán), a painting from 1634 * ...

''.Károly Lyka, "Klein, Max", In: ''Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart'', Vol. 20: Kaufmann–Knilling, E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1927, pp. 444–445 In 1881, he was awarded a major commission to create figures of

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and

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, for the

Joachimsthalsches Gymnasium The Joachimsthal Gymnasium (German ''Joachimsthalsches'' or ''Joachimsthaler Gymnasium''), was a princely high school (German ''Fürstenschule'') for gifted boys, founded in 1607 in Joachimsthal, Brandenburg. In 1636, during the Thirty Years' Wa ...

, a school that was founded in the 17th century. In 1886, he became a

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

citizen and married Eva Dohm, the youngest daughter of Ernst Dohm, Editor-in-Chief of the satirical magazine, ''

Kladderadatsch ''Kladderadatsch'' (onomatopoeic for "Crash") was a satirical German-language magazine first published in Berlin on 7 May 1848. It appeared weekly or as the ''Kladderadatsch'' put it: "daily, except for weekdays." It was founded by Albert Hofmann ...

'', and his wife, the writer

Hedwig Dohm Marianne Adelaide Hedwig Dohm (; née Schlesinger, later Schleh; 20 September 1831 – 1 June 1919) was a German feminist and writer. Family Hedwig Dohm was born in the Prussian Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German ...

. Their daughter, (1886–1977) was married to the psychologist,

Kurt Koffka Kurt Koffka (; March 12, 1886 – November 22, 1941) was a German psychologist and professor. He was born and educated in Berlin, Germany; he died in Northampton, Massachusetts, from coronary thrombosis. He was influenced by his maternal unc ...

, and worked as a translator. He was a regular exhibitor at the

Große Berliner Kunstausstellung Große Berliner Kunstausstellung (Great Berlin Art Exhibition), abbreviated GroBeKa or GBK, was an annual art exhibition that existed from 1893 to 1969 with intermittent breaks. In 1917 and 1918, during World War I, it was not held in Berlin bu ...

; notably in 1900, when he presented a large statue of

Samson SAMSON (Software for Adaptive Modeling and Simulation Of Nanosystems) is a computer software platform for molecular design being developed bOneAngstromand previously by the NANO-D group at the French Institute for Research in Computer Science an ...

, bound and blinded. In 1901, he was awarded the title of Professor. His last work, a statue of Theodor Fontane, was left unfinished. It was completed by

Fritz Schaper Fritz (Friedrich) Schaper (31 July 1841, Alsleben – 29 November 1919, Berlin) was a German sculptor. Life He was orphaned at an early age, and was sent to Halle (Saale), Halle to receive instruction at the Francke Foundations. After being ap ...

and dedicated two years later in the Tiergarten. It has since been replaced by a copy, and the original is in the

Märkisches Museum The Märkisches Museum ( Marcher Museum; originally Märkisches Provinzial-Museum, i.e. Museum of the Province of the March f Brandenburg is a museum in Mitte, Berlin. Founded in 1874 as the museum of the city of Berlin and its political region ...

.''Kunstchronik'', New edition, Vol. 21, No. 28, 1910 p. 456

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Max 1847 births 1908 deaths 19th-century German sculptors German medallists Jewish German sculptors People from Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County

Life and work

References

Further reading

External links