Renée Sintenis (1888 Glatz - 1965 Berlin) "Young elephant". Original title Bronze, patinated in nuanced gold to dark brown tones, 1926. Signed with the monogram "R. S." on the left rear foot. Wvz. Berger/Ladwig, no. 086, Buhlmann no. 220 Sintenis is one of the most influential German sculptors of modernism. She exhibited at the Berlin Secession from 1913 onwards, and her small, striking animal figures became the focus of her work, combining subtle, precise observation of nature with stylisation reduced to the essentials. She celebrated her greatest successes in the 1920s; Alfred Flechtheim became her gallery owner and showed her works in numerous exhibitions until 1933. In 1925, the writer Hans Siemsen praised the sculptor as one of the "most serious and important phenomena of our time" in his article "Neue Tierplastiken von Renee Sintenis" in the authoritative magazine "Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration": "It is one of the many qualities of this rare artist that she never disappoints the friends and admirers of her art. An extraordinarily rigorous self-criticism, accustomed to very high demands on her own work and performance, is visible behind all the grace and loveliness of these small animal bronzes". For Siemsen, the small format is "diametrically opposed to the size of the concept (...)", so that her "small bronzes are much 'larger' and weigh much 'heavier' than many a full-grown elephant". In 1931, Sintenis was the first female sculptor to be appointed to the Berlin Academy of Arts, but the National Socialists forced her resignation in 1934. In the "Degenerate Art" campaign in 1937, Sintenis' works were confiscated from several German museums. Her small "Berlin Bear" - since 1956 in silver-plated or gold-plated bronze as a prize at the Berlinale film festival - and her large "Berlin Bear", which was erected at the beginning of the West Berlin motorway in 1957, became well-known works after 1945. H. 8 cm. A copy is in the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin (inv. no. NG 24/81). References (in selection): Gustav Eugen Diehl (ed.), "Renée Sintenis", Berlin 1927, no. 38; Hermann von Wedderkop/ Alfred Flechtheim (ed.), Der Querschnitt, VII. vol, Berlin 1927, ill. p. 128; René Crevel, Renée Sintenis, Paris 1930, ill. p. 31; René Crevel and Georg Biermann (ed.): "Renée Sintenis", Berlin 1930, no. 38 with ill. 9; Hanna Kiel: "Renée Sintenis", Berlin 1935, ill. p. 44; Rudolf Hagelstange, Carl Georg Heise a. Paul Appel: "Renée Sintenis", Berlin 1947, ill. p. 62; Britta E. Buhlmann: "Renée Sintenis. Werkmonographie der Skulpturen", Darmstadt 1987, p. 272 f., cat. no. 220 with illus.; Ursel Berger/Günter Ladwig (eds.): "Renée Sintenis. Das plastische Werk", with catalogue raisonné of the sculptural works, Berlin 2013, p. 106, no. 086 (with illus.); /V/Dark patinated bronze, 1926. Signed with monogram.