Modernism and Refuge – Georg Kolbe’s “Sensburg” as an Architectural Monument of the Nineteen Twenties

“In the late nineteen twenties, when his generously-sized studio house was being constructed in the Westend district of Berlin, the sculptor Georg Kolbe (1877-1947) was at the height of his artistic success. Represented by the major art dealers Cassirer and Flechtheim, he had customers all over the world and also enjoyed an excellent position in the network of Berlin’s artist circles. However, after his wife Benjamine unexpectedly died at the age of only 45, he desired a place to withdraw and work that was near her grave. This is the origin of his Sensburg, named after the location of the ensemble of modern brick structures on Sensburger Allee. .…”