Ernst Seger

Born in Silesia, the sculptor left home at the age of 19 and transferred to the Royal School of Arts and Crafts in Breslau. Here he initially studied under Robert Härtel and from 1886 in the master studio of Christian Behrens, with whom he created his first large sculptures. 
He received his first major commissions in the late 1880s and early 1890s, including the war memorial in Essen in 1891. However, Seger later achieved fame with his female nudes. In 1893/4 he traveled to Paris, where he trained at the private Académie Julian and in Auguste Rodin's studio. Here, in contrast to Rodin's Impressionism, Seger's style, which was initially based on Neo-Baroque filigree, became increasingly refined in the direction of Art Nouveau and Symbolism. He showed his most important work at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition in 1898. The large sculpture of a naked girl with outstretched arms, called “The Youth”, is his most successful work of art. 

From then on, he created numerous dancers and female nude figures, whose models he sold to foundries such as Gladenbeck, Berlin, due to financial difficulties, where they were sold in large numbers.

At the great Berlin art exhibition of 1912, he was awarded the gold medal for art for the figure “The Seventeen-Year-Old”.

His naturalistic works were very popular with the National Socialists in the 1930s. During this time, he produced many sculptures of athletes, workers and busts for Lauchhammer, Rosenthal, the Selb art department and the Karlsruhe Majolica (bust of Hitler), among others.

From 1937 to 1939, he was represented at the Great German Art Exhibition with a total of 7 works, three of which were purchased by Adolf Hitler (Kraftgefühl, 1937; Lebenskraft und Gewichtheber, 1938).

Ernst Seger was a member of the Allgemeine Deutsche Kunstgenossenschaft and the Verein Berliner Künstler.

Ernst Seger is a member of the Allgemeine Deutsche Kunstgenossenschaft and the Verein Berliner Künstler.

Works preserved include:

- Stork Fountain, 1931, Berlin-Tempelhof

- Figure groups Battle and Victory, Bismarck Fountain, Breslau

- Female javelin thrower, bronze, 1938, Grugapark Essen

- War memorial, 1891, Essen

- Sports comrades, bronze, 1936, Gummersbach

- Kaiser Wilhelm monument, 1907, Neurode

- Youth, bronze, 1925, Villa Hügel (lost since 1953) and Nuremberg

VAN HAM looked after the scientific estate of Ernst Seger (1868-1939). This included the catalog raisonné begun by his brother Fritz Seger, which was continued under the direction of Prof. Peter Bloch, Berlin, as well as the autobiography and biography of his brother.

VAN HAM regularly auctions works by the artist and achieves outstanding results. Browse through our database and the gallery of records.