Portrait of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Throughout his life, Alfred Hrdlicka was a strident Marxist and passionate advocate of figurative, human-oriented art. In 1977 he created a marble bust on behalf of the Evangelical Church as a lasting memorial to the theologian and resistance fighter Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945).

The bust is now located in the foyer of the Berlin Staatsbibliothek, while a bronze cast was installed in the sculpture park at the Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl. The subject’s head is lifted, portraying strength. As a detailed and sensitive depiction, it contrasts the otherwise rough looking design of the rest of the sculpture.

A rope around his neck serves as a border between the polished and raw surfaces, while also making reference to the fact that Bonhoeffer opposed the Nazis and was executed in a concentration camp in 1945. As such, the bust depicts his strength in confronting the reign of terror, as well as the tragedy of an unfinished, fragmented life.

Further reading: Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Die Marmorbüste Von Alfred Hrdlicka in Der Staatsbibliothek Zu Berlin : Dokumente Aus Dem Nachlass. Alfred Hrdlicka : Der Graphik-Zyklus “wie Ein Totentanz : Die Ereignisse Des 20. Juli 1944” : Mit Kommentaren Des Künstlers. Berlin: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin–Preussischer Kulturbesitz, 2002.