Arno Breker

Arno Breker (1900- 1991), ‘The Michelangelo of the Third Reich, studied in Paris where he was
influenced by Cocteau, Renoir, Picasso and Maillol. In 1937 he joined the Nazi Party and was made
‘official state sculptor’ by Hitler. His twin sculptures ‘The Party’ and ‘The Army’ held a prominent
position at the entrance to Albert Speer’s New Reich Chancellery.
Arno Breker was represented at the Great German Art Exhibitions with 42 works. The neoclassical
nature of his work typified Nazi ideals, though, the proportions of his figures and the melodramatic
tension of their musculatures perhaps invites comparison with the Italian Mannerist sculptors of the
16th century.
Breker had 10 sculptures displayed at the XXI Venice Biennale 1938 and at the XXII Venice Biennale
1940. In 1942 a Arno Breker-exhibition was held in the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris. At the opening
of the exhibition on 15 May, Aristide Maillol described Breker as ‘Germany’s Michelangelo’.
While nearly all of his sculptures survived World War II, more than 90% of his public work was
destroyed by the Allies after the war. In 1946 Breker was offered a commission by Joseph Stalin but
he refused and stated ‘One dictatorship is sufficient for me’.