Proclamation Possibly 1923 - 1924

Here we have Georg Kolbe’s bronze sculpture ‘Proclamation’ - you can see it there at the Städel Museum. It’s this figure caught in a moment, a gesture of openness, maybe even supplication. What's so arresting about it is the surface - it's not smooth and idealized. Instead, it’s pocked and textured, almost as if the bronze remembers the touch of the artist’s hand. The light catches these imperfections, animating the figure, and giving it a kind of vulnerable presence. Look at the way the right hand reaches up, fingers slightly separated, palm facing outwards. It's an act of reaching, but also of offering. Kolbe's Proclamation reminds me a little of Rodin, that same attention to surface, that sense of the figure emerging from the material itself. But while Rodin feels weighty and grounded, Kolbe's figure seems lighter, more buoyant. It’s a sculpture that invites you to project your own feelings, your own interpretations, onto it. There’s no single way to read it, and I think that’s precisely the point.