# August Kraus > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/August_Kraus > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/August_Kraus.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Kraus > Source revision: 1294667933 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|German sculptor}} [[File:Heinrich zille 10.jpg|thumb|235px|August Kraus (left) employing his friend [Heinrich Zille](/source/Heinrich_Zille) as a model. (c.1900)]] '''August Friedrich Johann Kraus''' (9 July 1868, [Ruhrort](/source/Ruhrort) - 8 February 1934, [Berlin](/source/Berlin)) was a German sculptor. == Life == thumb|left|225px|Boy with a Goat (1926-28) He was the son of a coachman. In 1877, the family moved to [Baden-Baden](/source/Baden-Baden) where he became an apprentice to a [headstone](/source/headstone) sculptor. His family moved again in 1883, this time to [Strasbourg](/source/Strasbourg), and he continued his studies at the municipal Arts and Crafts School. From 1887 to 1891, he was enrolled at the [Prussian Academy of Art](/source/Prussian_Academy_of_Art) in Berlin, where he studied with [Ernst Herter](/source/Ernst_Herter). For the next seven years, he was a Master Student of [Reinhold Begas](/source/Reinhold_Begas) and continued to work under his influence for some time after.Uta Lehnert: Der Kaiser und die Siegesallee. Réclame Royale, Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin 1998, {{ISBN|3-496-01189-0}}. In 1900. his work on the [Siegesallee](/source/Siegesallee) (Victory Avenue) project won him the Academy's "Staatspreis", which included a stipendium for five years of study in Rome. This enabled him to break away from his artistic and financial dependence on Begas. Once there, his style took a turn towards [Neoclassicism](/source/Neoclassical_sculpture). Upon his return, he became a member of the [Berlin Secession](/source/Berlin_Secession) and served as its vice-president from 1911 to 1913.August Kraus. In: [Thieme-Becker](/source/Thieme-Becker), ''Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart''. Vol.21, E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1927, pg.444 He was Director of the [Rauch-Museum](/source/Christian_Daniel_Rauch) from 1914 to 1920. The Sculptors' Association of Berlin elected him its first President. His work was part of the [sculpture event](/source/Art_competitions_at_the_1928_Summer_Olympics) in the [art competition](/source/Art_competitions_at_the_1928_Summer_Olympics) at the [1928 Summer Olympics](/source/1928_Summer_Olympics).{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/920661 |title=August Kraus |work=Olympedia |accessdate=29 July 2020}} After the Nazi [Machtergreifung](/source/Machtergreifung) in 1933, he signed a Declaration of Loyalty to Hitler and became a member of the Presidential Council of the [Reichskulturkammer](/source/Reichskulturkammer).Ernst Klee: ''Das Kulturlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945''. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, Pg.334. That same year, he was appointed chairman of the Department of Fine Arts in a newly "cleansed" Academy and served as Provisional President until his death.[http://www.adk.de/de/akademie/mitglieder/mitglieder-datenbank.htm?we_objectID=29399 Membership Databank of the Academy] It has been reported that he died at the exact moment his statue of Henry the Child in the Siegesallee was being damaged by a storm, but this is probably apocryphal. He is buried in the [Friedhof Heerstraße](/source/Friedhof_Heerstra%C3%9Fe), but also has an "honorary grave" in Berlin. == Selected major works == thumb|150px|Henry the Child; from the Siegesallee (1900) *'''1898''': Monument to the ''SMS Iltis'', a [gunboat](/source/gunboat) which sank in a storm off the coast of [Shandong](/source/Shandong); located along [The Bund](/source/The_Bund_(Shanghai)) in the [Shanghai International Settlement](/source/Shanghai_International_Settlement). It was destroyed near the end of the World War I. *'''1900-1901''': Figures in the Siegesallee, Berlin. Kraus was the youngest sculptor to work on the project. He was closely assisted and supervised by Reinhold Begas and produced two sets of figures: :Group 9, consisting of [Henry II, Margrave of Brandenburg-Stendal](/source/Henry_II%2C_Margrave_of_Brandenburg-Stendal) (also known as "Henry the Child") in the central position, flanked by side figures of [Wartislaw IV, Duke of Pomerania](/source/Wartislaw_IV%2C_Duke_of_Pomerania) and Wedigo von Plotho, a 14th Century knight, for which his friend Heinrich Zille was the model. :Group 32, with [Wilhelm I](/source/William_I%2C_German_Emperor) as the central figure, flanked by [Helmut von Moltke](/source/Helmuth_von_Moltke_the_Elder) and [Otto von Bismarck](/source/Otto_von_Bismarck). There is some disagreement over the extent of Begas' contributions to this group. *'''1910''': Statue of Heinrich Lanz, on the premises of [Heinrich Lanz AG](/source/Heinrich_Lanz_AG) in [Mannheim](/source/Mannheim). *'''1926-28''': "Knabe mit Ziege" (Boy with a Goat), in the [Savignyplatz](/source/Friedrich_Carl_von_Savigny), Berlin. *'''1928''': "Gefallenen-Denkmal" (Memorial to the Fallen), in the Hohenzollernpark in [Anklam](/source/Anklam). *'''1929''': The tomb of Heinrich Zille, Südwestkirchhof Stahnsdorf. == References == {{reflist}} == Further reading == *''Ethos und Pathos. Die Berliner Bildhauerschule 1786–1914'', (Catalog) Peter Bloch, Sibylle Einholz and Jutta von Simson. Berlin 1990 * Peter Paret: ''Die Berliner Secession. Moderne Kunst und ihre Feinde im Kaiserlichen Deutschland'', Ullstein, Frankfurt/M. 1983 (Ullstein-Buch; Bd. 36074) {{ISBN|3-548-36074-2}} * [https://books.google.com/books?id=j3FAAQAAMAAJ&dq=august+kraus+sculptor&pg=PA154 The International Studio, Vol.36] Article on Kraus by "H.W.S." == External links == {{commons category|August Kraus}} * [http://www.artnet.com/artists/august-kraus/past-auction-results ArtNet: Smaller figures and busts by Kraus] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20140904010229/http://grosstuchen.cwsurf.de/memorials/anklam_tm/anklam.htm Grosstuchen (Pomerania): Picture of the "Gefallenen-Denkmal"] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Kraus, August}} Category:1868 births Category:1934 deaths Category:People from Duisburg Category:Prussian Academy of Arts alumni Category:20th-century German sculptors Category:20th-century German male artists Category:19th-century German sculptors Category:German male sculptors Category:19th-century German male artists Category:Art competitors at the 1928 Summer Olympics --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [August Kraus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Kraus) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Kraus?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.