Rudolf Belling
fashion plastic, model D (skirt plastic “Lillian”), around 1923

Artist
Rudolf Belling

Title
Moden-Plastik, Model D (Rock-Plastik "Lillian")

Year of creation
around 1923

Technique and dimensions
nitro lacquer on papier-mâché and wood, 139 x 35 x 25 cm / edition unknown

Year of acquisition
2016

The fact that a mannequin is included in the Nationalgalerie's collection may at first seem unusual. But it is explained by the fact that its creator Rudolf Belling (1886-1972) was one of the most important and versatile sculptors of classical modernism in Germany. The museum owns ten other works by Belling, four of which belong to the Friends of the National Gallery. The mannequin was purchased in advance of the Rudolf Belling exhibition shown at Hamburger Bahnhof in 2017 . Sculptures and Architecture

Belling, who was born in Berlin, worked in the fields of both fine and applied art. He initially completed an apprenticeship as an artisan and then studied sculpture. At an early age he learned the technique of laminating, in which several layers of paper or papier-mâché are connected using glue. In this way, plastic models and decorations are easy to shape and easy to transport. Belling worked for Max Reinhardt's stage and created a life-size figure of the main actor as a golem for Paul Wegener's Golem film in 1915.

When modern tendencies found their way into window design after the First World War, the Erdmannsdorf bust factory commissioned Belling to design new window mannequins. Up to this point, the dolls were made of wax and modeled naturalistically. Belling developed a completely new concept by making the bodies highly abstract and painting them metallic, thereby anticipating stylistic elements of Art Deco.

Belling's first creation was patented as a "made-up bust for display purposes" in October 1921 and presented to the public for the first time in December of the same year as a "fashion sculpture" in the Hotel Esplanade in Berlin. The figures caused a great stir and were a sensational success. Belling subsequently expanded its product range, so that the Erdmannsdorfer Bust Factory catalog in 1924 also offered the three-quarter-high model D for the presentation of skirts and corsetry as a “skirt sculpture” in two versions: bronzed in a matt gold tone or gold leaf-plated. The body, which looks like an abstract sculpture, tapers downwards in a cone shape below the hips and is connected to the round wooden base via two pagoda-like round steps with an attached ball. In this way, the figure appears to balance elegantly and almost weightlessly.

The copy in the National Gallery shows the name “Lillian” in cursive on the concave upper end. It has not yet been clarified whether this was a fashion company or a product line and when this lettering was applied. On a comparable example in the Berlin Knauf Collection, the writing is clearly legible in black, while on the Nationalgalerie example it can be seen discreetly under the gold varnish.

Belling's applied works were not only very popular in the fashion industry, they were also highly valued by representatives of state art institutions. In 1924, Ludwig Justi invited the sculptor to a solo exhibition in the New Department of the Nationalgalerie in the Kronprinzenpalais and accepted that two fashion sculptures were also represented in the show. At the same time, Justi's colleague Peter Jessen, director of the art library at the Royal Museums in Berlin, wrote a foreword for “The Moden-Plastik. A manual for their application in window dressing”.

Until Belling left Germany at the end of 1936, he modeled more mannequins. They secured his income in economically and politically difficult times.

Dieter Scholz