Rudolf Belling
portrait of Alfred Flechtheim, 1927

Artist
Rudolf Belling

Title
Portrait of Alfred Flechtheim

Year of creation
1927

Technique and dimensions
bronze, 18.7 x 12 x 13 cm

Year of acquisition
2004

Acquired as a gift to the Friends of the National Gallery

Belling was intended to continue the automobile theme with the Olex gas station, as well as with his Horchtier, designed in 1923 but never put into production, which was intended as a hood ornament for a Horch, the forerunner of the Audi (which is the... circular screw attachment on which the animal stands). In its geometric body there are amusing echoes of the Nollendorfplatz design [...], while the curve of the large ear, a visual pun on the car's brand name, brings to mind the AVUS.

Individual drawings and lithographs created in Turkey [...] ultimately showed that tectonics and tempo influenced Belling's repertoire of expression and form until the 1960s. Wolfradt's conclusion from 1924 remained relevant throughout his life: "Belling [...] is a dogma-breaker out of the pace of our reality conquered for sculpture."

Source: Belling, Sculptures and Architects, National Museums in Berlin, 2017.