Junger Athlet

In Neu-Ulm, Junger Athlet presents a bronze figure shaped around the body and movement of a young athlete. The sculpture dates from 1914. Edwin Scharff developed this classical approach while studying at Munich’s Kunstgewerbeschule and Akademie der Bildenden Künste. His Paris experience brought him into contact with Aristide Maillol and Auguste Rodin. Their influence accompanied his interest in anatomy, gesture and the human form.

Scharff began as a painter before turning to sculpture as his central artistic field. He later became a professor of sculpture in Berlin. The First World War left him severely wounded, while the Nazi regime later branded him a “degenerate artist”. He continued working through those pressures, and his sculptures retain a balance between classical form and modern movement. This athlete remains a compact example of that pursuit, cast in bronze and held in a poised, dynamic stance.