Barlach, Ernst (1870–1938)

German expressionist sculptor, painter, poet, and dramatist. Influenced by Russian folk art and by medieval wood sculpture, his simple blocklike figure carvings were intended to express human spiritual longings. His work was condemned as Degenerate Art by the Nazi regime and much of it destroyed. The war memorial in Güstrow cathedral is one of his finest surviving works.

Less well known than his sculpture, his plays surge with intensive, dark religious forces designed to illustrate the individual's ultimate isolation, even in the infinite. A recurrent theme is the search for even a hint of divine presence in life. His most significant plays are Der tote Tag/The Dead Day 1912, Der arme Vetter/The Poor Cousin 1918, and Der blaue Boll/The Blue Boll 1926.