Skulpturensammlung: August Hudler

Gipsskulptur eines sich küssenden Paares

August Hudler in Dresden. A Sculptor on his Way to Modernism

In the years around 1900, August Hudler (1868-1905) was at the height of his short creative powers. The reform architect Fritz Schumacher remembered the artist as a "vigorous sculptor with the sharpest art of characterization". At the beginning of his career, this manifested itself in very lively portraits. Also it is expressed in his interest when depicting simple human beings and the human body in general. Moreover, religious themes play a significant role in Hudler’s oeuvre. Among the collectors of his works was the upper-class from Berlin and Dresden. He worked together with architects such as Fritz Schumacher, Wilhelm Kreis and Karl Groß.

Exhibition Site Albertinum

DATES 19/09/2015—30/03/2016

Works by the artist, who was born near Dachau in Upper Bavaria, can be found in Berlin, Leipzig, Munich and most of all in Dresden, where Hudler lived and worked from 1900 until his death. Many outstanding creations were formed here, from which numerous, but lesser known designs were preserved in the Sculpture Collection. Georg Treu, the former museum’s director, supported Hudler and continued purchasing several works from his estate following the artist’s early death. Recent donations of two works from Hudler’s descendants as well as a new acquisition for the Sculpture Collection are reason to devote a cabinet exhibition to the artist again after more than 100 years.

bronzene Skulptur eines Jungen — **August Hudler, Adam, 1898** Bronze, Höhe 65,9 cm

Hudler’s art between Jugendstil and the beginning of Modernism was long little noticed. His oeuvre will now be introduced to a wide audience and will be rediscovered as an important position of German sculpture in the years around 1900. The presentation of the retrospective in dialogue with art of Fin de Siècle in the Klingersaal moves Hudler’s oeuvre in the context of his time.

A catalogue will be published alongside the exhibition by Sandstein Verlag.