Richard Scheibe

German Richard Scheibe studied painting in Dresden and München, but then turned to sculpture. From 1904 he lived in Berlin, and from 1908 in a studio community with Gerhard Marcks. In 1914 he joined the Berlin Secession, known from 1916 as the Free Secession. From 1925-34 he was a professor at the Städel Art Institute in Frankfurt am Main. As a sculptor, initially he was close to Georg Kolbe and cooperated with Bauhaus artists. In 1934 Scheibe moved to the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin and headed from 1936 the master studio for sculpture of the Academy. In the Nazi era, he received numerous awards and was exempted from military service.

In 1944 Scheibe was awarded the Goethe Medal for Art and Science, and was inducted by Adolf Hitler into the “Gottbegnadeten List” (List of Divinely Gifted) of the most important visual artists. After World War II, he was reinstated as a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1953 he created the memorial for the victims of 20 July 1944 in the Bendler Block in Berlin in honor of the failed Hitler assassination. Scheibe mainly produced figurative statues and sculptures.

The concrete relief Der Schwimmer (The Swimmer) created by Scheibe in the format 62.5 x 167 cm, which was originally part of a fountain design from 1923, is mounted on a wall of the Georg-Kolbe-Museum. In 1925, Scheibe used the motif again for a bronze plaque that served as the winner’s medal for a swimming festival in Frankfurt/Main. In Helsinki in 1952, Scheibe exhibited a 2.18 m high bronze figure, 24 years after his participation in 1928 with medals and reliefs. In the Official Report it is listed as a Runner. Proved by picture comparisons and contemporary sources it is actually the figure Schreitender (Strider) from 1952, a title that seems much more appropriate. In 1954 the work was acquired by the city of Köln (Cologne). It was last placed in the Rhine Park in Deutz district. From there, the sculpture was stolen in 2017 and has not yet reappeared. Casting molds apparently no longer exist. In Berlin there is a sculpture of the same name and slightly modified by Richard Scheibe, located in the Park at Karlsbad in Tiergarten. This was already created in 1935, however.