Wilhelm Lehmbruck

Wilhelm Lehmbruck (4 January 1881 – 25 March 1919) was a German sculptor. One of the most important of his generation, he was influenced by realism and expressionism.

Born in Meiderich (part of Duisburg from 1905), he was the fourth of eight children born to the miner Wilhelm Lehmbruck and his wife Margaretha Wüstmann. He was able to study sculpture arts at the School of Applied Arts in Düsseldorf by a stipend from the municipal authorities. In 1899 he began to make a living by doing illustrations for scientific publications. He trained at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and is associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting from 1901 to 1906.

On leaving the academy Lehmbruck worked as an independent artist in Düsseldorf. He exhibited for the first time at the Deutsche Kunstausstellung, in Cologne in 1906. He was impressed by the sculptures of Auguste Rodin, and traveled to England, Italy, the Netherlands, and Paris. In 1907, he married Anita Kaufmann, and they had three sons.

In 1912, Lehmbruck exhibited in the Folkwang Museum in Hagen, with Egon Schiele. In 1914, he had his first solo exhibition in Paris, at the Galerie Levesque.