Hans Erich Conrad von den Driesch Ballerina

About this piece

Beautiful bronze sculpture of a ballerina with a so-called balloon dress from 1921.
It is a work by the German sculptor Hans Erich Conrad von den Driesch, who called himself Erich van den Driesch.

The ballerina seems to have melted, the lines of this sculpture are so fluid, only the face is depicted with great detail and refinement. The sculpture is very graceful and tranquil.

This sculpture was cast in Düsseldorf and signed on the side of the base with "Düsseldf. Broncebildgiesserei G.M.B.H." , on top of the base is the signature "E.v.d.D. '21".

Biography:
Erich von den Driesch, born in Herzogenrath near Aachen, first became a merchant and then trained as a sculptor with one of the brothers Bernhard and Joseph Küppers in Aachen.

In 1906 an exhibition of the works of von den Driesch took place in the Aachener Suermondt Museum.

Initially he made many works in the Historism style, later he also started making worker figures, such as a steel worker or a bronze caster.
After WWI his style changes, the influence of Jugendstil and Art Deco is clearly perceptible.

At the end of 1914, he made a tomb for the family crypt of the physician Ferdinand Joseph Laaf in the Burtscheider Heissbergfriedhof cemetery, including a group of figures, which he based on one of his earlier works made in the art institute of the Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik (WMF) in Geislingen. Another work in this cemetery is a "seated female figure" in marble as part of a three-part tomb complex of the Neuss family.

Not much else is known, he lived and worked in Aachen. Several bronzes are known of him that were made in the 1920s. His last known exhibition was in 1920 where he participated in an exhibition at the Leopold Hoesch Museum in Düren.

His date of death is uncertain, presumably he died in the 1920s.

Literature:
- Hans Wolfgang Singer; "Algemeines Künstler Lexicon, Band 6, Literarische Anstalt Rütten & Loenig, Frankfurt 1922.
- Wikipedia Germany.

Condition

Excellent