Edwin Scharff (21 March 1887 – 18 May 1955) was a German sculptor. He was born in Neu-Ulm and died in Hamburg.

Biography Scharff attended the Kunstgewerbeschule (1902–03) in Munich and studied painting at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste from 1904 to 1907. He lived in Paris between 1912 and 1913, where he was influenced by the work of Aristide Maillol and Auguste Rodin. After serving in the German army during World War One, where he was badly wounded, he became a professor of sculpture at the Vereinigte Staatsschulen für Freie und Angewandte Kunst, Berlin (1923). He was removed by the Nazis in 1933, after which he found a position at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf (1934–1937).

In 1928 he won a bronze medal in the art competitions of the Olympic Games for his "Médaille pour les Jeux Olympiques" ("Olympic medals").

Nazi era After the Nazi seizure of power, Scharff was placed on compulsory leave from his teaching position at the Vereinigte Staatsschulen für freie und angewandte Kunst in Berlin in April 1933. According to art historian Wolfgang Ruppert, the accusations against him concerned his activities in Munich during the German Revolution of 1918–1919. Scharff was accused of having participated in the Munich Artists' Council in 1918–19 and of having been seen wearing a red armband during the council period.Wolfgang Ruppert: "Künstler im Nationalsozialismus. Künstlerindividuum, Kunstpolitik und die Berliner Kunsthochschule". In: Wolfgang Ruppert (ed.): Künstler im Nationalsozialismus. Die "deutsche" Kunst, die Kunstpolitik und die Berliner Kunsthochschule. Böhlau, Cologne/Weimar/Vienna 2015, ISBN 978-3-412-22429-5, pp. 26–29.

In a statement to the Prussian Minister of Science, Art and National Education dated 2 May 1933, Scharff wrote that, to his knowledge, his suspension was based on the allegation that he had "engaged in communist activity" in Munich during the revolution of 1918–19. He rejected the allegation and described himself as apolitical.Archiv der Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Historisches Archiv, Bestand Preußische Akademie der Künste, file 1102; in particular Edwin Scharff's statement of 2 May 1933 and petitions submitted on his behalf between 27 and 30 April 1933, digitised object 2305734, PDF pp. 8–10 and 23–24. Several friends, colleagues and institutions subsequently submitted petitions disputing the allegation of communist activity and presenting Scharff as politically acceptable to the new regime. On 28 April 1933, the Kunstverein Ulm stated that Scharff had been "politically on the right" since 1929 and had "sympathised with the NSDAP". Two days later, Munich Academy professor Karl Caspar wrote that Scharff had told him as early as 1931 that, "out of inner conviction", he supported "Adolf Hitler's national movement". On 1 May 1933, Scharff joined the Nazi Party.Bundesarchiv, R 9361-II/883586.

In November 1933, Scharff was transferred to the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, enabling him to continue teaching. According to art historian Stefanie Johnen, he took over the "previously purged position" of Ewald Mataré, who had lost his teaching position during the National Socialist personnel and cultural-policy restructuring of the academy.Stefanie Johnen: "Die ‚Vereinigten Staatsschulen für freie und angewandte Kunst‘ Berlin und die ‚nationale Revolution‘". In: Wolfgang Ruppert (ed.): Künstler im Nationalsozialismus. Die "deutsche" Kunst, die Kunstpolitik und die Berliner Kunsthochschule. Böhlau, Cologne/Weimar/Vienna 2015, ISBN 978-3-412-22429-5, pp. 127–147, here p. 133. Scharff remained active in the public art and exhibition system and was a member of the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts. Several exhibition participations during the Nazi period are documented; as late as 1940 he was represented in the exhibition Der Deutsche Westen. Malerei und Plastik aus der Gegenwart. Junge Kunst im Deutschen Westen. Jahresschau 1939/40 in Münster.Martin Papenbrock and Gabriele Saure (eds.): Kunst des frühen 20. Jahrhunderts in deutschen Ausstellungen. Teil 1: Ausstellungen deutscher Gegenwartskunst in der NS-Zeit. Verlag und Datenbank für Geisteswissenschaften, Weimar 2000, ISBN 3-89739-041-8, p. 544 and passim.

For the 1937 Reichsausstellung Schaffendes Volk in Düsseldorf, Scharff created the monumental Rossebändiger ("Horse Tamers") groups at the main entrance to the exhibition grounds. The sculptures were not yet completed when the exhibition opened in May 1937. Photographs of them were temporarily displayed in the Munich exhibition Entartete Kunst later that year, but were subsequently removed with the explanation that their inclusion had been a mistake.Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf, Kulturamt: Rossebändiger, Objektdatenbank d online, object KA.SB349, accessed 17 September 2026.

At the same time, numerous earlier works by Scharff were confiscated from German museums in 1937 as part of the Nazi campaign against so-called "degenerate art". Three of his works were shown in the Munich Entartete Kunst exhibition, and 46 confiscated works were subsequently destroyed.Datenbank zum Beschlagnahmeinventar der Aktion "Entartete Kunst", Forschungsstelle "Entartete Kunst", Freie Universität Berlin.

In March 1938, Scharff's Nazi Party membership was annulled because of his wife's partly Jewish ancestry.Bundesarchiv, R 9361-II/883586. According to Ruppert, Scharff lost his teaching position in Düsseldorf in 1939 but was initially able to continue working as a freelance artist. In 1940, the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts prohibited him from further professional artistic activity.

Post-war period After the end of the Second World War, Scharff was rehabilitated and in 1946 was appointed to teach at the Landeskunstschule in Hamburg, where he continued to work and teach until his death in 1955. In 1955, the year of his death, his work was included in the first documenta exhibition in Kassel. His hometown of Neu-Ulm commemorates him with the Edwin Scharff Museum and the Edwin-Scharff-Haus cultural and congress centre, while the city of Hamburg has awarded the annual Edwin Scharff Prize for visual artists since 1955.

References

Further reading Edwin Scharff, with introduction by Gottfried Sello, Hamburg, Claassen 1956 Ausstellungskatalog Edwin Scharff: catalogue for the exhibition in the Kestner-Gesellschaft Hannover from 27 September to 4 November 1962, Städtische Kunsthalle Mannheim 1962/63, Städtisches Karl-Ernst-Osthaus-Museum Hagen 1963, Kunsthalle zu Kiel 1963, Städtisches Kunstmuseum Duisburg 1963 Ludger Alscher et al.: Lexikon der Kunst. Architektur, Bildende Kunst, Angewandte Kunst, Industrieformgestaltung, Kunsttheorie. Band IV, Das europäische Buch, Westberlin 1984, , p. 334 f. Helga Jörgens, Siegfried Salzmann (eds.): Edwin Scharff. Retrospektive: Skulpturen – Gemälde – Aquarelle – Zeichnungen – Graphik. Zum 100 Geburtstag des Künstlers. Edwin Scharff Museum, Neu-Ulm; Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten, Marl; Städtische Museen Heilbronn; Kunsthalle Bremen; Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landesmuseum, Schleswig; Bremen 1987 (exhibition catalogue) Helga Jörgens-Lendrum: Der Bildhauer Edwin Scharff (1887–1955). Untersuchungen zu Leben und Werk, mit einem Katalog der figürlichen Plastik, Georg August-Universität, Göttingen 1994 Frank Raberg: Biografisches Lexikon für Ulm und Neu-Ulm 1802–2009. Süddeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft im Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern 2010, , p. 354 f. Helga Gutbrod, Edwin Scharff Museum Neu-Ulm (eds.): Edwin Scharff 1887–1955. ‚Form muss alles werden‘ , Wienand, Köln 2013,

External links

Artist homepage Scharff museum dataOlympics profile Drawings in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art