Stephan Balkenhol

Living · German · born 1957 · Kassel

Stephan Balkenhol in the Hofgarten, Bonn, in September 2018, at the time of the public unveiling of his Hommage an August Macke (unveiled 2 September 2018; the photograph is dated 3 September 2018 on Commons and was uploaded at 07:05 UTC that morning). Identification secure: the uploader names him, and the sitter matches the photograph of the artist at the Kueppersmuehle in 2010 on Commons.

Photograph by Leonce49, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Stephan Balkenhol
Works as	Sculptor, Draughtsman, Printmaker
Works in	Kassel, Germany
Represented by	Galerie Loehrl, Moenchengladbach; Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, Salzburg; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London; KETELEER GALLERY (successor to the Deweer Gallery programme), Antwerp
Nationality	German
Movement	Figurative sculpture after minimalism
Sources	86 cited
Last verified	16 September 2026

About this page Last verified 16 September 2026 · 86 sources cited

On this page 14 sections

ContentsClose

Balkenhol's figures are cut, base and all, from one trunk, and he has said that he never moulds a wooden figure: his bronzes, he told Rene Spiegelberger in 2024, come from models in clay, wax or plaster worked with tools he makes himself, so a bronze and a wood by him are two different acts rather than one work in two materials (the city of Leipzig's 2011 announcement of the Wagner monument nevertheless described the model for that cast as a wooden sculpture). The record that matters to a buyer sits with a gallery, not a foundation: since 1992 every bronze edition has been numbered in an official Werkverzeichnis kept by Galerie Loehrl in Moenchengladbach, while no catalogue raisonne of the unique wood sculptures exists. His work is credited to VG Bild-Kunst on every German institutional page, the mark of a member of the society, which is why no gallery can license a reproduction of it on its own.

Stephan Balkenhol, born in Fritzlar in 1957, is the sculptor who made a man in a white shirt and black trousers into a public sign that several German and Austrian cities now treat as their own. He trained from 1976 to 1982 at the Hochschule fuer bildende Kuenste in Hamburg in the class of Ulrich Rueckriem, a minimalist working in split stone, and decided during those years to do what his teachers and the decade did not: carve the human figure. His first free-standing full figures, the pair Mann und Frau of 1983, cut from red beech and over two metres tall, won him the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff stipend the same year and sold at Ketterer in Munich in 2017 for EUR 175,000 with premium.

Since then the work has divided into two bodies that a collector must keep apart. The wood sculptures and reliefs are unique: figure and plinth hewn from a single block of poplar, wawa, cedar or beech, the tool marks left standing, the paint used sparingly to mark a shirt, a dress, a mouth. The bronzes are editions or public commissions, cast from separately made models (Strassacker is the founder named in the one sale record that gives one), and since 1992 catalogued by his Moenchengladbach gallery. Museum surveys have followed him from the Kunsthalle Basel, Portikus and Witte de With in 1988-1992 through the Hirshhorn in 1995, Grenoble in 2010 and the Lehmbruck Museum in 2020-21 to the Kunsthal Rotterdam in 2025, and a birthday exhibition opens at the Museum Wuerth on 22 November 2026.

What this page adds is the part the monographs skip: how a Balkenhol leaves the studio and what paper travels with it, what the German auction houses have actually recorded for the wood and for the editions, which of the public works are owned by cities and which are loans and where the record is thin. It is thin in exactly one place that a diligent buyer should notice: there is no catalogue raisonne of the unique works, so a wooden figure is confirmed today by the artist, his gallery invoices and his signed certificates, not by a published list.

Signals and the reading

Dated, sourced signals for Stephan Balkenhol
Signal	Date	What is recorded	Source
Institutional	1998	Art Institute of Chicago acquired Man Sitting, 1998, cedar wood and paint (1998.523), purchased with funds from named donors including Horst Schmitter (the H. Schmitter of Hamburg who co-published the Wagner bronze is not identified with him by any source).	⁶¹
Institutional	2026	Sammlung Wuerth, Kuenzelsau, holds 7 Figuren mit Haus, 2005/2006, wawa wood, painted, inv. 9254-9261, as listed by the Museum Wuerth in 2026 (acquisition date not stated).	⁴²
Institutional	1989	Kunsthalle Bremen: the Bremer Kunstpreis 1989 was awarded to Balkenhol and the prize's Stifterkreis enables the purchase of a work by each laureate for the Kunsthalle.	⁵⁹
Institutional	1987	Kunstverein Bremerhaven owns the 1987 Muenster figure Mann mit gruenem Hemd und weisser Hose, now installed on the outer facade of the Kunsthalle Bremerhaven (owner per the Skulptur Projekte archive; acquisition date not stated).	⁴⁵
Institutional	2026	The Ropac CV lists sixty-two collections, public and private, in eighteen countries, from the Hamburger Kunsthalle, Museum Ludwig, Museum Folkwang and Neue Nationalgalerie to the Hirshhorn, LACMA, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the National Museum of Art Osaka and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (gallery-supplied list, read 2026).	¹³
Institutional	1992	Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, Kulturbehoerde, acquired the first buoy figure for the Aussenalster in 1992 and placed three more in 1993 (Vier Maenner auf Bojen); recast in aluminium at the city's expense in 2021 to keep them permanently.	⁵
Institutional	2002	Mann mit Hirsch, Hannover, painted bronze, chosen by jury in a limited competition, financed by KarstadtQuelle AG and donated to the city.	⁷
Institutional	13 Nov 2004	Mann und Frau, bronze, acquired through the Hamburg Kunstmeile competition and placed before the Zentralbibliothek on Arno-Schmidt-Platz; the unveiling date of 13 November 2004 rests on a tertiary source (the Commons category text citing the Hamburger Abendblatt of 5 November 2004, source 71) until the Buergerschaft record is read.	⁵
Institutional	18 Jun 2004	Der Neue Eiserne Mann, Kleve, bronze on a golden sphere on the reconstructed column of Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen, unveiled on the prince's 400th birthday.	³⁴
Institutional	26 Jul 2007	Sphaera (Kapitelplatz) and Frau im Fels (Toscaninihof), Salzburg, sixth project of the Salzburg Foundation; owned by the Wuerth Group since 2013 and on loan to the city.	¹¹
Institutional	25 May 2009	Balanceakt, Berlin, painted bronze on original Wall segments, 5.7 m, unveiled by Friede Springer on the Axel Springer forecourt.	⁹
Institutional	22 May 2013	Richard-Wagner-Denkmal, Leipzig, painted bronze figure and 4 m bronze shadow on the Klinger plinth; financed by donations through the Wagner Denkmal Leipzig e.V. and given to the city.	²
Institutional	10 Jul 2014	Hommage a Jean Moulin, Metz station hall, unveiled by the French culture minister and the mayor of Metz.	⁶⁰
Institutional	2 Sep 2018	Hommage an August Macke, Hofgarten, Bonn, bronze figure in a 4.5 m pavilion with coloured glass roof, fourth Kunstprojekt Bonn, funded by Deutsche Telekom, foundation members and the university.	⁴
Institutional	Apr 2018	Fortuna fountain, Sneek, Netherlands, one of the 11 Fountains for Leeuwarden, European Capital of Culture 2018.	⁵²
Institutional	4 Apr 2025	Statue of the composer Willem Pijper commissioned by de Doelen, Rotterdam, unveiled 4 April 2025.	⁶⁴
Institutional	28 May 2025	Der Freiheit eine Gasse, democracy monument in the Rathausinnenhof of Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, dedicated on 28 May 2025 (the gallery's date; the local press reported the ceremony on 30 May); the Wochenblatt names as donors the Sparkassenkulturstiftung Neustadt an der Weinstrasse and Juergen Hambrecht, with the sandstone base given by the Hanbuch firm.	⁷⁶
Institutional	Oct 2025	Homo Mobilis, station forecourt, Osnabrueck, Station to Station project of the Stiftung fuer Kunst und Kultur, unveiled in early October 2025 (the city reported it on 10 October as just held).	¹⁰
Institutional	15 Dec 1988	Portikus, Frankfurt, Hexagon und Fries, with the Kunsthalle Basel and the Kunsthalle Nuernberg (to 15 January 1989).	⁴⁷
Institutional	6 Feb 1992	Witte de With, Rotterdam, survey curated by Chris Dercon and Gosse Oosterhof (to 21 March 1992).	⁴⁸
Institutional	1995	Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, Sculptures and Drawings, catalogue by Neal Benezra; the museum's own page could not be read (Cloudflare block on every fetch).	²¹
Institutional	15 Jul 2006	Touring survey: Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Museum Kueppersmuehle Duisburg, Museum der Moderne Salzburg (to 24 June 2007).	²¹
Institutional	14 Nov 2008	Deichtorhallen Hamburg, about a hundred works in the large hall (to 1 February 2009).	⁵³
Institutional	30 Oct 2010	Musee de Grenoble (to 23 January 2011).	⁵⁰
Institutional	9 Jun 2018	Kunsthalle Emden, about forty works in dialogue with the collection (to 16 September 2018).	⁵¹
Institutional	4 Apr 2019	Museum fuer Sepulkralkultur, Kassel, Deadline (to 14 July 2019).	⁴⁰
Institutional	22 Oct 2020	Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg: more than 200 exhibits from 1990 to the present, the largest museum exhibition of his work in Germany since 2008, extended to 24 May 2021.	⁴¹
Institutional	10 Nov 2023	Museum Wiesbaden, Stephan Balkenhol trifft Alte Meister - Zeitfenster (to 2 June 2024).	³⁹
Institutional	24 May 2025	Kunsthal Rotterdam, Something is Happening, over 35 works (to 14 September 2025).	⁶⁴
Institutional	27 Jul 2026	DomQuartier Salzburg, La ci darem la mano, with six bronzes on the Residenzplatz (to 5 October 2026).	⁴⁴
Institutional	22 Nov 2026	Museum Wuerth, Kuenzelsau, seventieth-birthday exhibition from the collection and loans (to 11 July 2027), announced.	⁴²
Institutional	29 Apr 2005	The National Museum of Art, Osaka: about 50 sculptures, the first comprehensive showing of his work in Japan (to 18 July 2005).	⁸⁵
Institutional	30 Apr 2013	Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice: Big Head-Column on the Grand Canal Terrace, curator Sandro Rumney (to 16 September 2013).	⁸⁴
Institutional	12 Apr 2014	Kunstmuseum Ravensburg (to 24 August 2014).	⁸²
Institutional	23 Oct 2014	Landesgalerie Linz, his first solo exhibition in Linz (to 22 February 2015).	⁸³
Institutional	5 Jul 2020	Museum Jorn, Silkeborg (to 27 September 2020), in the Danish-German friendship year.	⁸¹
Institutional	17 Oct 2020	Palais d'Iena, Paris, invited by the CESE: thirteen new painted wood sculptures in the Perret nave (to 30 October 2020).	⁸⁶
Biennales and surveys	1987	Skulptur Projekte in Muenster 1987 (decennial), 14 June - 4 October: Mann mit gruenem Hemd und weisser Hose on the Salzstrasse.	⁴⁵
Biennales and surveys	1995	Johannesburg Biennale (Africus) and the Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, 1995, as listed in the gallery CV.	¹³
Biennales and surveys	2006	XII Biennale di Scultura di Carrara, 2006, where Die grosse Parade (2001) was shown.	²⁰
Recognition	1983	Karl Schmidt-Rottluff stipend, won with Mann und Frau (1983).	²¹
Recognition	1986	Arbeitsstipendium der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg.	⁶
Recognition	13 Nov 1989	Bremer Kunstpreis 1989 (successor to the Kunstpreis der Boettcherstrasse, now the Pauli-Preis), DM 20,000, jury Jens Christian Jensen, Dieter Koepplin, Katharina Schmidt and Dierk Stemmler; exhibition of the ten nominees at the Kunsthalle Bremen 29 October - 26 November 1989.	⁵⁸
Recognition	1989	Internationaler Foerderpreis des Landes Baden-Wuerttemberg.	¹⁵
Recognition	2014	Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (grade not stated in the sources read), conferred by the French minister of culture and communication (the ministry's own speech page has been taken down; recorded here from Kunst@SH).	⁶
Recognition	2016	Honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts, as recorded by Kunst@SH.	⁶
Representation	1984	Galerie Loehrl, Moenchengladbach: first solo show 1984, publisher and keeper of the official catalogue of the bronze editions since 1992; shows at Art Karlsruhe and Art Duesseldorf 2026.	³³
Representation	1999	Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris and Salzburg: solo shows 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2022; the gallery's artist page carries his CV and available works.	¹²
Representation	1995	Stephen Friedman Gallery, London: solo shows from 1995, the 2020 show titled 25 Years.	¹³
Representation	1987	Deweer Gallery, Otegem, Belgium: solo shows from 1987, the 2017 show titled 30 Years Stephan Balkenhol; the gallery stopped exhibiting on 1 January 2020 and its programme passed to KETELEER GALLERY, Antwerp.	¹³
Representation	1989	Mai 36 Galerie, Lucerne then Zurich: solo shows 1989, 1991, 2000, 2002, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2015.	¹³
Representation	2025	AKINCI, Amsterdam (partner of the Kunsthal show, solo shows from 1994) and KOENIG GALERIE, Berlin (third show, 10 September - 9 November 2025).	⁶⁵
Representation	2020	KETELEER GALLERY, Antwerp, took over the Deweer Gallery programme at the end of 2019 and has shown him alone in 2021, 2023 and 2025; the Deweer Gallery Estate page of Otegem says no exhibitions have been organised there since 1 January 2020.	⁷³
Representation	1988	Galerie Ruediger Schoettle, Munich: solo shows 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1997, 2002, 2009 and 2013 in the gallery CV; sold Mann in blauem Hemd in 1989; lists him as a gallery artist and showed Stephan Balkenhol \| Dan Graham from 22 November 2025 to 14 February 2026.	⁷⁷
Market	10 Jun 2017	Ketterer Kunst, Munich, Kunst nach 1945 I, lot 861: Mann und Frau, 1983, red beech; estimate EUR 140,000; EUR 175,000 incl. premium (hammer not published). The highest result on the German houses' own lists.	²¹
Market	9 Dec 2022	Ketterer Kunst, Contemporary Art Day Sale, lot 169: Mann mit weissem Hemd und schwarzer Hose, 2011, wawa, 223 cm; estimate EUR 40,000; EUR 100,000 incl. premium.	²²
Market	6 Dec 2014	Ketterer Kunst, lot 880: Ohne Titel (drei Maenner), 1998; estimate EUR 70,000; EUR 95,000 incl. premium.	²⁴
Market	29 May 2019	Van Ham, Cologne, Auction 429 lot 371: Ohne Titel (Koelner Dom), 2004, painted wawa relief; estimate EUR 60,000; EUR 81,813 incl. premium.	²⁹
Market	30 May 2015	Lempertz, Cologne, Auction 1052 lot 543: Die grosse Parade, 2001, three-part relief; estimate EUR 65,000-85,000; EUR 74,400 incl. premium.	²⁰
Market	16 Jun 2021	Van Ham, Auction 467 lot 547: Pandora, 2011, bronze, edition of 3, with artist-signed certificate in copy; estimate EUR 25,000; EUR 63,360 incl. premium.	³⁰
Market	30 Nov 2024	Lempertz, Auction 1257 lot 430: Richard-Wagner-Denkmal, 2013, bronze, cast 19/25; estimate EUR 10,000-15,000; EUR 12,600 incl. premium.	¹⁶
Market	5 Jun 2024	Lempertz, Auction 1248 lot 409: Neuer Eiserner Mann, 2004, bronze, cast 16/20; EUR 15,120 incl. premium (cast 5/20 made EUR 24,800 on 2 June 2018).	¹⁷
Market	11 Oct 2020	Grisebach, Berlin, online, lot 1248: Ohne Titel, 2008, pencil; closing bid (hammer) EUR 900; EUR 1,170 once the stated 30 percent premium is added (our arithmetic). The only house in the record that shows the hammer.	³²
Market	16 Sep 2026	Ketterer's own list of sold Balkenhol lots, read 16 September 2026, shows thirteen results of EUR 61,000 or more incl. premium, the top two both wood figures (1983 and 2011).	²⁷
Market	16 Sep 2026	Van Ham's artist page, read 16 September 2026, lists nine pages of results; the top five, all incl. premium, run from EUR 81,813 (Koelner Dom relief) through EUR 79,200 (Auction 419, lot 353) and EUR 63,360 (Pandora) to EUR 52,800 (Mann) and EUR 50,160 (Frau in violettem Kleid).	²⁸
Market	2010	Sotheby's New York, Contemporary Art Day Auction, lot 372: Tiger, 2003, painted wood, estimate USD 30,000-40,000, from Stephen Friedman Gallery in 2003; result not published on the page. One of the few New York appearances on the record.	⁶⁷
Market	5 Dec 2026	Announced: Ketterer Kunst Day Sale offers Mann in blauem Hemd, 1989, maple (estimate EUR 25,000-35,000) and Mann mit weissem Hemd, 1992, tuff (estimate EUR 18,000-24,000).	²⁵
Literature	1995	Neal Benezra (ed.), Stephan Balkenhol. Sculptures and Drawings, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Stuttgart 1995.	²¹
Literature	1992	Stephan Balkenhol: About Men and Sculpture, Witte de With, Rotterdam, 1992 (the exhibition catalogue, as listed in the gallery CV).	¹³
Literature	2006	Catalogue of the touring exhibition Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden / Museum Kueppersmuehle / Museum der Moderne Salzburg, 2006-07, cited by Ketterer with page and plate numbers.	²¹
Literature	2010	Musee de Grenoble exhibition catalogue, 2010/11, cited by Lempertz as cat. no. 162 for Die grosse Parade.	²⁰
Literature	2014	Andreas Franzke and Ulrich Wolff, Stephan Balkenhol. Werkverzeichnis der Bronze-Editionen 1992-2014, Skulpturengalerie Loehrl, Moenchengladbach 2014; third updated version to 2023 kept online by the gallery. One of two catalogues raisonnes of parts of the work; the other covers the prints and photo editions.	¹⁷
Literature	2020	Stephan Balkenhol, Lehmbruck Museum, Schirmer/Mosel, Munich 2020, 120 pages, texts by Soeke Dinkla, Heinz-Norbert Jocks and Ronja Friedrichs.	⁴¹
Literature	1999	Heinz-Norbert Jocks, interview with Stephan Balkenhol, Kunstforum International, vol. 144, 1999, Gespraeche mit Kuenstlern, p. 272.	²²
Literature	1989	Statement by Stephan Balkenhol (text of a conversation of 22 February 1989) in Volker Plagemann (ed.), Kunst im oeffentlichen Raum. Anstoesse der 80er Jahre, Cologne 1989, p. 260.	⁴⁵
Literature	Aug 2024	Rene Spiegelberger, Ateliergespraech Stephan Balkenhol: Als Bildhauer denke ich mit den Haenden, Spiegelberger Stiftung, August 2024.	⁶³
Literature	2018	Katharina Henkel (ed.), Stephan Balkenhol, exhibition catalogue Kunsthalle Emden, 2018, with her essay Zu sechs Aspekten im Oeuvre von Stephan Balkenhol (pp. 17-25).	⁷⁹
Literature	2015	Dirk Dobke and Holger Priess (eds.), Stephan Balkenhol - Druckgraphik und Photo-Editionen, Werkverzeichnis (1987-2015), Hamburg 2015; cited by Van Ham by number (no. 069.1-29 for The Task of Solitary Man, 2003).	⁸⁰
Practice	1992	Bronze editions since 1992, numbered in an official Werkverzeichnis kept by Galerie Loehrl; editions of 3 to 30 plus artist's proofs, signed, dated and numbered.	³⁴
Practice	16 Jun 2021	Artist-signed confirmation accompanies at least the bronze editions (Van Ham, Pandora, 2021, "in copy").	³⁰
Practice	Aug 2024	Bronzes are modelled in clay, wax or plaster with self-made tools and never cast from wooden figures; wood is chosen for its speed and for keeping every step in his own hands.	⁶³
Practice	31 Mar 2022	Studios in Karlsruhe, Meisenthal (Lorraine) and, since about 2022, Kassel, the latter equipped for figures up to seven metres and for the clay and plaster models.	¹⁴
Practice	2023	Professor of sculpture at the Karlsruhe academy from 1992 to 2023.	³⁹
Practice	10 Nov 2023	Primary market mechanism on the record: unique reliefs and a bronze edition offered "auf Anfrage" through Galerie Loehrl or the Museum Wiesbaden, part of the proceeds funding the exhibition catalogue.	³⁹
Practice	2018	Member of VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn (institutional captions), so online reproduction rights are administered by the society.	⁴
Practice	2026	Galerie Loehrl issued Fische - Mann und Frau, bronze, patinated and painted, c. 55 cm, edition of 30, dated 2026, price on request; the online catalogue listed seventy-six editions on 16 September 2026.	⁷⁰

Stage Institutional (holdings in ten or more museums, or a retrospective, or a major prize; recomputed from the signals on every update, never set by hand)

The reading

The record shows an artist whose institutional standing was settled early and has not needed defending since: the Bremen art prize at thirty-two, a Hirshhorn survey at thirty-eight, a professorship held for thirty-one years and a run of museum surveys that has continued into 2025 and is booked into 2027. The public commissions are the unusual part: where ownership is on the record they belong to the cities or to the donors that placed them, they were paid for by subscription, donation or corporate gift rather than by a museum budget and in Hamburg's case they were recast at the city's expense to keep them. The secondary market is steady and domestic: the German houses sell his wood and bronze year after year, the premium-inclusive results for major wood figures sit between about EUR 50,000 and EUR 175,000 and the editions trade in the low five figures. What would change the reading is a catalogue raisonne of the unique works, or its continued absence as the artist approaches seventy, because the whole authentication chain now runs through one living person and one gallery ledger.

Exhibitions

On now 1

On now
Stephan Balkenhol. La ci darem la mano ...
DomQuartier Salzburg, Prunkraeume der Residenz · Salzburg, Austria
27 Jul to 5 Oct 2026Confirmed 16 Sep 2026

Opening 1

Opening soon
Stephan Balkenhol. Sammlung Wuerth und Leihgaben
Museum Wuerth · Kuenzelsau, Germany
22 Nov 2026 to 11 Jul 2027Confirmed 16 Sep 2026

Past exhibitions 42

Closed
Stephan Balkenhol. La ci darem la mano ... (Residenzplatz)
Residenzplatz, DomQuartier Salzburg · Salzburg, Austria
25 Jul to 2 Sep 2026Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol | Dan Graham
Galerie Ruediger Schoettle · Munich, Germany
22 Nov 2025 to 14 Feb 2026Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol
KOENIG GALERIE · Berlin, Germany
10 Sep to 9 Nov 2025Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol
KETELEER GALLERY · Antwerp, Belgium
5 Sep to 11 Oct 2025Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol. Something is Happening
Kunsthal Rotterdam · Rotterdam, Netherlands
24 May to 14 Sep 2025Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Remix
Albertina modern · Vienna, Austria
11 Apr to 7 Sep 2025Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Antony Gormley, Sylvie Fleury and Stephan Balkenhol
Fondation Villa Datris · L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France
19 May to 3 Nov 2024Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol trifft Alte Meister - Zeitfenster
Museum Wiesbaden · Wiesbaden, Germany
10 Nov 2023 to 2 Jun 2024Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Home Game: 15 Years of the Sculpture Park
Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden · Wuppertal, Germany
2 Sep to 8 Oct 2023Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Tout le monde
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac · Salzburg, Austria
23 Jul to 3 Sep 2022Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol
Lehmbruck Museum · Duisburg, Germany
22 Oct 2020 to 24 May 2021Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Le prevu et l'imprevu
Palais d'Iena (CESE) · Paris, France
17 Oct to 30 Oct 2020Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol
Museum Jorn · Silkeborg, Denmark
5 Jul to 27 Sep 2020Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Da Capo
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac · Salzburg, Austria
25 Jan to 28 Mar 2020Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol. Deadline
Museum fuer Sepulkralkultur · Kassel, Germany
4 Apr to 14 Jul 2019Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Fabula
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac · Paris, France
8 Sep to 13 Oct 2018Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol
Kunsthalle Emden · Emden, Germany
9 Jun to 16 Sep 2018Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol
CAC Centro de Arte Contemporaneo de Malaga · Malaga, Spain
19 Jan to 22 Apr 2018Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Neue Skulpturen
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac · Salzburg, Austria
28 Aug to 15 Nov 2017Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol
Landesgalerie Linz · Linz, Austria
23 Oct 2014 to 22 Feb 2015Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol
Kunstmuseum Ravensburg · Ravensburg, Germany
12 Apr to 24 Aug 2014Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol. Big Head-Column
Peggy Guggenheim Collection · Venice, Italy
30 Apr to 16 Sep 2013Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Universe
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac · Salzburg, Austria
20 Mar to 11 May 2013Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol in Sankt Elisabeth
Kirche St. Elisabeth · Kassel, Germany
4 Jun to 18 Sep 2012Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol
Musee de Grenoble · Grenoble, France
30 Oct 2010 to 23 Jan 2011Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol
Galerie Ruediger Schoettle · Munich, Germany
9 Dec 2009 to 30 Jan 2010Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac · Paris, France
24 Nov to 31 Dec 2009Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol
Deichtorhallen Hamburg · Hamburg, Germany
14 Nov 2008 to 1 Feb 2009Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol
Museum der Moderne Salzburg Moenchsberg · Salzburg, Austria
18 Feb to 24 Jun 2007Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol
MKM Museum Kueppersmuehle fuer Moderne Kunst · Duisburg, Germany
28 Sep 2006 to 28 Jan 2007Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol
Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden · Baden-Baden, Germany
15 Jul to 17 Sep 2006Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol
The National Museum of Art, Osaka · Osaka, Japan
29 Apr to 18 Jul 2005Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
New Sculptures
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac · Salzburg, Austria
22 Jan to 12 Mar 2005Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Sculptures Recentes
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac · Paris, France
14 Sep to 16 Oct 1999Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol
The Arts Club of Chicago · Chicago, United States
21 Apr to 30 May 1998Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol
Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art · Rotterdam, Netherlands
6 Feb to 21 Mar 1992Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Bremer Kunstpreis 1989
Kunsthalle Bremen · Bremen, Germany
29 Oct to 26 Nov 1989Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Hexagon und Fries
Portikus · Frankfurt am Main, Germany
15 Dec 1988 to 15 Jan 1989Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Skulptur Projekte in Muenster 1987
Skulptur Projekte Muenster · Muenster, Germany
14 Jun to 4 Oct 1987Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Stephan Balkenhol: Skulpturen und Zeichnungen
Kunstverein Braunschweig · Braunschweig, Germany
6 Feb to 15 Mar 1987Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Neue Kunst in Hamburg 1987
Halle K3, Kampnagel · Hamburg, Germany
6 Feb to 8 Mar 1987Confirmed 16 Sep 2026
Closed
Impulse I
Galerie Loehrl · Moenchengladbach, Germany
15 May to 22 Jun 1983Confirmed 16 Sep 2026

Images

7 plates

**Richard-Wagner-Denkmal, Leipzig, 2013**The Richard Wagner monument on the Promenadenring at the Goerdelerring, Leipzig: Balkenhol's life-size painted bronze of the young Wagner in a blue coat and red bow, standing on the marble plinth Max Klinger designed for the 1903 commission and revised in 1911, executed by his friend Johannes Hartmann, with the four-metre dark-patinated bronze silhouette behind him. Gift of the Wagner Denkmal Leipzig e.V. to the city, unveiled 22 May 2013. Photographed 3 October 2019.Photograph by Derbeth, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Work permanently sited in public in Germany; reproduced under freedom of panorama (s.59 UrhG)

**Richard-Wagner-Denkmal, Leipzig, the ensemble from the Klinger steps**The same monument seen frontally from the foot of the Klinger steps on 12 September 2020: Klinger's marble plinth with its reliefs, Balkenhol's young Wagner and the black shadow behind, with the former Stasi district headquarters building beyond. Shows how the 1911 stair and plinth and the 2013 figure work as one ensemble.Photograph by Flocci Nivis, CC BY 4.0 · Work permanently sited in public in Germany; reproduced under freedom of panorama (s.59 UrhG)

**Hommage an August Macke, Bonn, 2018**Balkenhol's monument to the painter August Macke in the Hofgarten, Bonn: an over-life-size bronze man in black trousers and white shirt, hands behind his back, looking up into the coloured glass roof of the 4.5 m steel pavilion the artist designed. Fourth Kunstprojekt Bonn of the Stiftung fuer Kunst und Kultur e.V., unveiled 2 September 2018; the city lists it among its Macke sites. Photographed 9 July 2022.Photograph by Mx Lucy, CC0 · Work permanently sited in public in Germany; reproduced under freedom of panorama (s.59 UrhG)

**Mann und Frau, Hamburg, 2004**The bronze pair Mann und Frau (2004), about five metres tall on elongated legs, on Arno-Schmidt-Platz in front of the Zentralbibliothek of the Buecherhallen Hamburg at the Huehnerposten, Hammerbrook. Acquired by the city through the Kunstmeile competition and unveiled 13 November 2004 (a date so far traced only to a tertiary source); named by the Behoerde fuer Kultur und Medien in 2021 as one of Balkenhol's three large public sculptures in Hamburg. Photographed 27 July 2023.Photograph by Minderbinder, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Work permanently sited in public in Germany; reproduced under freedom of panorama (s.59 UrhG)

**Mann mit Hirsch, Hannover, 2001-2002**Detail of Mann mit Hirsch (dated 2001 on the plaque, installed 2002): a small man in white shirt and dark trousers sitting in the antlers of a painted bronze stag on a steel table at the corner of Schillerstrasse and Andreaestrasse, Hannover. Chosen by jury in a limited competition, financed by KarstadtQuelle AG and given to the city, as the plaque records. Photographed 15 August 2014.Photograph by ChristianSchd, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Work permanently sited in public in Germany; reproduced under freedom of panorama (s.59 UrhG)

**Balanceakt, Berlin, 2009**Balanceakt (2009) on the forecourt of the Axel Springer building, Axel-Springer-Strasse 65, Berlin-Kreuzberg: a painted bronze man in white shirt and black trousers balancing on an original segment of the Berlin Wall, eleven further wall segments around him; 5.7 m overall, 740 kg. Unveiled 25 May 2009 by Friede Springer on the fiftieth anniversary of the building's foundation stone. Photographed 13 June 2012.Photograph by OTFW, Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Work permanently sited in public in Germany; reproduced under freedom of panorama (s.59 UrhG)

**Homo Mobilis, Osnabrueck, 2025**Homo Mobilis (2025) on the forecourt of Osnabrueck main station: an over-life-size man in white shirt and black trousers standing on a pedalo whose wheels are former goods-wagon wheels. Made for this site within the "Station to Station" project of the Stiftung fuer Kunst und Kultur e.V. and unveiled in early October 2025 with the mayor present; the plaque names the sponsors. Photographed 16 May 2026.Photograph by Franz Kalowski, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Work permanently sited in public in Germany; reproduced under freedom of panorama (s.59 UrhG)

Chronology

1957
Born in Fritzlar, Hesse, the youngest of four sons; his father taught at the European School in Luxembourg, which he attended for several years.¹⁵³⁹⁶
1976
Abitur at the Friedrichsgymnasium in Kassel; begins at the Hochschule fuer bildende Kuenste in Hamburg.¹⁴⁴⁰
1979
Joins Ulrich Rueckriem's sculpture class in Hamburg; studies end in 1982.³⁹¹²
1982
Turns to human heads in clay and then wood; the first painted wood sculptures follow in 1982-83.³⁹¹²
1983
Mann und Frau, the first free-standing full-figure wood sculptures, shown in Impulse I at Galerie Loehrl (15 May - 22 June); Karl Schmidt-Rottluff stipend.²¹¹⁵
1984
First solo exhibition, Neue Arbeiten, Galerie Loehrl, Moenchengladbach.¹³
1986
Working stipend of the Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg.⁶
1987
Mann mit gruenem Hemd und weisser Hose in coloured concrete on a chimney breast at Salzstrasse 40 for Skulptur Projekte in Muenster (14 June - 4 October); solo show at the Kunstverein Braunschweig.⁴⁵⁴⁶²¹
1988
Hexagon und Fries travels from the Kunsthalle Basel to Portikus, Frankfurt (15 December 1988 - 15 January 1989), then to the Kunsthalle Nuernberg; teaching post at the Hamburg academy 1988-89.⁴⁷¹⁵
1989
Bremer Kunstpreis, chosen by the jury on 13 November, DM 20,000; Internationaler Foerderpreis des Landes Baden-Wuerttemberg; teaches at the Staedelschule, Frankfurt, until 1991.⁵⁸¹⁵²⁵
1992
Survey at Witte de With, Rotterdam (6 February - 21 March); a figure on a buoy on the Thames during Doubletake in London, then bought by the Hamburg Kulturbehoerde for the Alster; first bronze edition, Humpty-Dumpty; appointed professor of sculpture at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Kuenste Karlsruhe.⁴⁸⁵³⁴³⁸³⁹
1993
Vier Maenner auf Bojen placed on the Elbe, Alster and Bille in Hamburg.⁵¹³
1995
Sculptures and Drawings at the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, catalogue by Neal Benezra, touring to Montreal; Johannesburg Biennale and Carnegie International.²¹¹³
1998
Solo show at the Arts Club of Chicago (21 April - 30 May); the Art Institute of Chicago buys Man Sitting.⁴⁹⁶¹
2001
Mann mit Giraffe, 8.2 m, for the entrance of the Hagenbeck zoo, Hamburg; Mann mit Hirsch cast for Hannover (installed 2002).⁵³⁴⁸
2004
Der Neue Eiserne Mann unveiled in Kleve on 18 June; Mann und Frau unveiled before the Hamburg central library on 13 November.³⁴⁶⁵⁷¹
2006
Touring survey: Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (15 July - 17 September), Museum Kueppersmuehle, Duisburg (28 September 2006 - 28 January 2007), Museum der Moderne Salzburg (18 February - 24 June 2007).²¹⁵⁴
2007
Sphaera and Frau im Fels unveiled in Salzburg on 26 July as the Salzburg Foundation's project.¹¹
2008
Solo exhibition in the large Deichtorhalle, Hamburg (14 November 2008 - 1 February 2009), about a hundred works and two ceramic reliefs on the facade.⁵³
2009
Balanceakt unveiled on the Axel Springer forecourt, Berlin, 25 May.⁹
2010
Musee de Grenoble exhibition, 30 October 2010 - 23 January 2011.⁵⁰
2011
Wins the Leipzig competition for the Richard Wagner monument; the jury's choice announced by the city on 15 July.¹
2012
Exhibition in St. Elisabeth, Kassel (4 June - 18 September) with a figure on the church tower; public objection by the documenta 13 management.⁵⁷⁵⁶¹⁴
2013
Richard-Wagner-Denkmal unveiled in Leipzig on 22 May, a gift to the city; bronze edition of 25. The monument still divides the city's Wagner societies, Monopol reported in 2021.²³⁵⁵⁵
2014
Hommage a Jean Moulin unveiled in the Metz station hall on 10 July; Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (grade not stated in the sources read).⁶⁰⁶
2018
CAC Malaga (19 January - 22 April); Fortuna fountain in Sneek (April); Kunsthalle Emden (9 June - 16 September); Hommage an August Macke unveiled in Bonn on 2 September.⁶⁶⁵²⁵¹⁴
2019
Deadline at the Museum fuer Sepulkralkultur, Kassel (4 April - 14 July); a larger-than-life figure in Toronto.⁴⁰¹²
2020
Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, from 22 October, extended to 24 May 2021: more than 200 exhibits.⁴¹
2021
The four Hamburg buoy men recast in aluminium at the city's expense; the Alster figure relaunched on 31 August.⁵
2023
Ends the Karlsruhe professorship after thirty-one years; Stephan Balkenhol trifft Alte Meister opens at Museum Wiesbaden on 10 November (to 2 June 2024).³⁹
2025
Willem Pijper statue for de Doelen, Rotterdam (4 April); Kunsthal Rotterdam (24 May - 14 September); Der Freiheit eine Gasse in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse (28 May); Koenig Galerie, Berlin (10 September - 9 November); Homo Mobilis in Osnabrueck (early October).⁶⁴³⁶⁶⁵¹⁰⁷⁵⁷⁶
2026
La ci darem la mano on the Residenzplatz (25 July - 2 September) and in the DomQuartier, Salzburg (27 July - 5 October); Museum Wuerth exhibition announced for 22 November 2026 - 11 July 2027.⁴⁴⁴²⁴³

The market

Balkenhol sells at auction mainly in Germany, at Ketterer in Munich and Lempertz and Van Ham in Cologne, with occasional lots at Christie's and Sotheby's in New York. The houses publish premium-inclusive results; Grisebach alone prints the hammer. On the German houses' own lists the top result is the 1983 pair Mann und Frau at EUR 175,000 with premium (Ketterer, 10 June 2017), followed by a 2011 figure at EUR 100,000 (Ketterer, 9 December 2022) and a 1998 three-figure group at EUR 95,000 (Ketterer, 6 December 2014); large reliefs have made EUR 74,400 to EUR 81,813. Two of the figures in the signature dress in the record more than doubled their estimates (2011 and 1993), while the reliefs and the two Van Ham figures sold inside or just above theirs. The bronze editions form a separate tier: casts of the Kleve Neuer Eiserne Mann (edition of 20) between EUR 15,120 and EUR 24,800, the Wagner bronze (edition of 25) EUR 12,600 in 2024. One drawing result is on the record: a EUR 900 hammer in 2020. The primary market publishes no prices: the galleries and the museums that issue editions quote "auf Anfrage", and unique reliefs made for a museum show have been sold through the gallery or the museum with part of the proceeds funding the catalogue.

Auction results for Stephan Balkenhol
Date	Sale	Work	Result	Note
10 June 2017	Ketterer Kunst, Munich	Mann und Frau, 1983, red beech, partly painted, each c. 202 cm (lot 861)	Hammer not published With premium 175,000 EUR	Estimate EUR 140,000. Provenance Galerie Loehrl; private collection Hamburg since 1985. The first free-standing full figures.
9 December 2022	Ketterer Kunst, Munich	Mann mit weissem Hemd und schwarzer Hose, 2011, wawa, 223 x 56 x 39 cm (lot 169)	Hammer not published With premium 100,000 EUR	Estimate EUR 40,000. Provenance Galerie Leu, Munich (2013); private collection Baden-Wuerttemberg.
6 December 2014	Ketterer Kunst, Munich	Ohne Titel (drei Maenner), 1998 (lot 880)	Hammer not published With premium 95,000 EUR	Estimate EUR 70,000.
7 June 2019	Ketterer Kunst, Munich	Mann mit weissem Hemd, 1993, painted wood, figure 47.2 cm on base, overall 167.2 cm (lot 165)	Hammer not published With premium 78,750 EUR	Estimate EUR 30,000. Provenance private collection North Rhine-Westphalia.
29 May 2019	Van Ham, Cologne	Ohne Titel (Koelner Dom), 2004, painted wawa relief, 200 x 138.5 cm (Auction 429, lot 371)	Hammer not published With premium 81,813 EUR	Estimate EUR 60,000. Provenance Galerie Loehrl; German corporate collection. Exhibited Wallraf-Richartz-Museum 2014.
30 May 2015	Lempertz, Cologne	Die grosse Parade, 2001, painted wawa, three parts, 200 x 300 x 2.5 cm (Auction 1052, lot 543)	Hammer not published With premium 74,400 EUR	Estimate EUR 65,000-85,000. Provenance Monica De Cardenas, Milan; private collection Netherlands. Shown at the Carrara sculpture biennale 2006 and Grenoble 2010/11.
16 June 2021	Van Ham, Cologne	Pandora, 2011, patinated and painted bronze, c. 165 cm, edition of 3, Strassacker foundry mark (Auction 467, lot 547)	Hammer not published With premium 63,360 EUR	Estimate EUR 25,000. Provenance Skulpturengalerie Loehrl. Artist-signed confirmation in copy.
1 December 2023	Lempertz, Cologne	Untitled (Chinese Wall), 2005, two parts, painted wawa figure c. 177 cm and relief 100 x 297 cm (Auction 1233, lot 66)	Hammer not published With premium 55,440 EUR	Estimate EUR 50,000-70,000. On loan to the Belvedere, Vienna, c. 2012-2023.
10 June 2020	Van Ham, Cologne	Frau in violettem Kleid, 2012, wawa, partly painted, 169 cm (Auction 450, lot 404)	Hammer not published With premium 50,160 EUR	Estimate EUR 40,000. Provenance Deweer Gallery; private collection Belgium.
2 June 2018	Lempertz, Cologne	Neuer Eiserner Mann, 2004, bronze, cast 5/20, 85 cm (Auction 1111, lot 847)	Hammer not published With premium 24,800 EUR	Estimate EUR 20,000-30,000. Edition of the Freundeskreis Museum Kurhaus Kleve. Catalogue raisonne of the bronze editions no. 13.
5 June 2024	Lempertz, Cologne	Neuer Eiserner Mann, 2004, bronze, cast 16/20 (Auction 1248, lot 409)	Hammer not published With premium 15,120 EUR	Estimate EUR 10,000-15,000. Same edition as the 2018 cast, six years and EUR 9,680 apart.
30 November 2024	Lempertz, Cologne	Richard-Wagner-Denkmal, 2013, bronze, patinated and painted, figure 29 cm, cast 19/25 (Auction 1257, lot 430)	Hammer not published With premium 12,600 EUR	Estimate EUR 10,000-15,000. Catalogue raisonne of the bronze editions no. 39.
11 October 2020	Grisebach, Berlin (online)	Ohne Titel, 2008, pencil on paper, 31.9 x 23.9 cm (lot 1248)	Hammer 900 With premium 1,170 EUR	Estimate EUR 700-900; closing bid EUR 900 shown as the hammer; 30 percent premium stated on the page; the EUR 1,170 is our arithmetic and is nowhere printed on the page. The one result in this record with a published hammer.

Hammer is the price at which the bidding stopped; with premium adds the fee the house charges the buyer on top. Hammer price and buyer's premium in the glossary.

Where to see the work

Where to see the work of Stephan Balkenhol
Institution	City	Holdings	Note
Promenadenring / Goerdelerring	Leipzig	Richard-Wagner-Denkmal, 2013, on the Klinger plinth	Public, free; owned by the city.
Hofgarten	Bonn	Hommage an August Macke, 2018	Public park, freely accessible pavilion.
Arno-Schmidt-Platz, Zentralbibliothek; Aussenalster; Hagenbeck entrance	Hamburg	Mann und Frau, 2004; Vier Maenner auf Bojen, 1993 (aluminium since 2021, on the water spring to late autumn); Mann mit Giraffe, 2001	The buoy men are lifted out each winter.
Andreaeplatz / Schillerstrasse	Hannover	Mann mit Hirsch, 2001-2002	Public street corner.
Axel Springer forecourt, Axel-Springer-Strasse 65	Berlin	Balanceakt, 2009	Publicly accessible forecourt.
Hauptbahnhof forecourt	Osnabrueck	Homo Mobilis, 2025	Public square.
Kapitelplatz and Toscaninihof	Salzburg	Sphaera and Frau im Fels, 2007	Owned by the Wuerth Group since 2013, on loan to the city.
Neuer Tiergarten, opposite Museum Kurhaus Kleve	Kleve	Der Neue Eiserne Mann, 2004	Public park.
Kunsthalle Bremerhaven (facade)	Bremerhaven	Mann mit gruenem Hemd und weisser Hose, 1987, coloured concrete	The Muenster 1987 figure; owned by the Kunstverein Bremerhaven.
Gare de Metz, main hall	Metz	Hommage a Jean Moulin, 2014	Interior of a station.
Art Institute of Chicago	Chicago	Man Sitting, 1998, cedar and paint	Not on view at the time of reading.
Museum Wuerth	Kuenzelsau	7 Figuren mit Haus, 2005/2006, and loans	Exhibition 22 November 2026 - 11 July 2027, free admission.

The essay

13 sections · about 4,600 words · 20 min

Chapter 1

The everyman is a decision, not a default

The standard account says that Balkenhol revived figurative sculpture in the 1980s against the grain of minimal and conceptual art, and the account is true as far as it goes.

The standard account says that Balkenhol revived figurative sculpture in the 1980s against the grain of minimal and conceptual art, and the account is true as far as it goes. What it leaves out is how deliberate and how early the choice was, and how much it owed to the teacher it appears to reject. He studied in Hamburg from 1976 to 1982 and joined Ulrich Rueckriem's sculpture class in 1979; the Museum Wiesbaden records the break at 1982, when he turned to human heads in clay and then in wood, with the first wooden full figures following directly after his studies. The Kunsthal Rotterdam adds that his teachers in Hamburg also included Nam June Paik and Sigmar Polke. In 1983 he made Mann und Frau, two figures each about 202 cm tall cut from red beech and partly painted, which Ketterer's 2017 catalogue describes as his first free-standing full-figure wood sculptures; he won the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff stipend with them that year, and his works in the sponsored booth at Art Cologne sold out, some going straight into the Nationalgalerie in Berlin and the Ludwig collection in Aachen. His own view of the pair, quoted by the house in 2017, was that he had reached in it a freshness "die man natuerlich danach nie mehr erreicht".

The white shirt and black trousers were there almost from the start. A 1983 sketch reproduced in the Salzburg press carried his note "Wohin mit den Armen", where to put the arms, with four drawn answers, and the answer he settled on was nowhere in particular: arms at the side, one hand on a hip, no gesture that could be read as a story. He told Kunstforum in 1999 that every depiction of a human figure is existential simply because it raises the question of who I am and what I am doing here, and he told the Arts Club of Chicago in 1998 that the figures "can work like a mirror". In August 2024 he put the same idea to Rene Spiegelberger as "hoelzerne Spiegel", wooden mirrors, prototypes of the human being in which we recognise our own doubt, our curiosity and our finitude. The claim the page makes, on his own evidence, is that the blankness is the content rather than the absence of one.

Chapter 2

One trunk, one figure, one base

Every wooden Balkenhol is a subtraction from a single block.

Every wooden Balkenhol is a subtraction from a single block. The Kunsthal Rotterdam, which showed over 35 works in 2025, describes the sequence: a chainsaw for the heavy cutting, then hammer, chisel and gouge down to the smallest detail, with figure and plinth cut from the same block of poplar, wawa or cedar and the traces of the cutting left visible. The woods on the record are wawa (the West African Triplochiton, also sold as ayous) for most figures since the 1990s, cedar for works such as Man Sitting (1998) at the Art Institute of Chicago and Mann mit drei Loewen (1994), poplar for the 1988 frieze of twenty relief panels, red beech for the 1983 pair, maple for Mann in blauem Hemd (1989) and birch for a three-metre Mann mit schwarzer Hose of 2009-11 listed by his Paris gallery. He has told Spiegelberger why: stone is too slow for him and clay too willing, while wood lets him take every step himself, splitting, sawing and painting included. "Als Bildhauer denke ich mit den Haenden," he said, and the material sets the speed of the thinking.

Scale is the other tool. Ketterer's catalogues note that the figures are always clearly smaller or clearly larger than life, and that the small ones stand on bases up to four times their own height so that they meet the viewer at eye level, the volume of the trunk deciding the volume of the figure. The reliefs are the same wood worked flat: Ohne Titel (Koelner Dom) of 2004 is a painted wawa panel of 200 x 138.5 cm, Die grosse Parade of 2001 a three-part relief of 200 x 300 cm and the head reliefs made for Wiesbaden in 2023 are about 30 x 30 x 4 cm each. The paint is thin and partial, structuring rather than covering; Ketterer describes it as used only to accent the anatomy in the early work.

Chapter 3

Bronze is a second practice, and he says so

The bronzes that stand in the street are, on his own account, not casts of wooden figures.

The bronzes that stand in the street are, on his own account, not casts of wooden figures. In the 2024 studio conversation Balkenhol stated that he never moulds a wooden figure and that every bronze comes from a model in clay, wax or plaster worked with self-made tools until its surface resembles the cut wood; bronze is chosen, he said, where the site or the purpose demands it, for outdoor works and for small editions. The Kassel studio he described in 2022 has a ceiling that would allow figures of seven metres and is equipped for both the wood and the clay and plaster models, which he told the city's cultural site had previously been most practicable in Karlsruhe. The founder named in the sale records is the Strassacker Kunstgiesserei, whose mark appears on Pandora (2011), a painted bronze in an edition of three sold at Van Ham in 2021.

Since 1992 the editions have had their own catalogue. Galerie Loehrl records that a bronze of under 20 cm called Humpty-Dumpty, cast eight times that year and published by the artist himself in Karlsruhe, is number 1 of the official Werkverzeichnis der Bronze-Editionen, because more than seven casts made it an edition by the gallery's own rule; the printed catalogue by Andreas Franzke and Ulrich Wolff covered 1992-2014, and the gallery's third updated version runs to 2023 with new entries added online up to a Fische - Mann und Frau of 2026 in an edition of 30. Many of these editions are the small versions of large public works: the Richard-Wagner-Denkmal exists as 25 bronzes of 29 cm, signed, dated and numbered, published by Loehrl, Ropac and H. Schmitter of Hamburg; the Bonn Macke as 30 plus artist's proofs published by the Stiftung fuer Kunst und Kultur; the Kleve Neuer Eiserner Mann as 20 for the museum's friends' association. Concrete, ceramic, stone and aluminium appear once or twice each: the 1987 Muenster figure was coloured concrete, the 2008 Deichtorhallen facade reliefs were fired ceramic, a 1992 tuff Mann mit weissem Hemd is described by Ketterer as one of very few stone works to reach auction and the four Hamburg buoy men were recast in aluminium in 2021.

Chapter 4

What a buyer should ask about the wood

Softwood carved green and painted thinly moves for the rest of its life, and the sale records say so in their own language.

Softwood carved green and painted thinly moves for the rest of its life, and the sale records say so in their own language. Christie's condition report on Untitled (Ape) of 1997, a painted wawa figure of 160 cm, lists scattered wear, small losses, nicks and scuffs "most likely in keeping with the artist's working method and choice of medium" and a linear crack down the back of the pedestal with no restoration visible under ultraviolet light; Lempertz noted only "minor traces of age" on a 2005 two-part work that had spent a decade on loan to the Belvedere. The rough surface hides ordinary handling damage and makes later intervention hard to see, so a buyer should ask for the raking-light and ultraviolet photographs the houses now take, and should expect checks along the grain on any figure that has changed climate.

Outdoors wood fails; the only question is when. The four oak figures on buoys that the Hamburg cultural authority bought and placed on the Alster, Elbe and Bille in 1992 and 1993 were, in the authority's words of 2021, meant to stay only a few years; after almost three decades of wind, weather and gulls the oak could no longer hold, and Balkenhol proposed remaking all four in aluminium, cast from his own reworked models and painted, so that the city could show them permanently. The authority paid the EUR 100,000 production cost, the artist waived his fee and the figures are still lifted out of the water each winter to protect them from ice. The lesson for a private owner is the one the city learned: a painted wood by Balkenhol is an indoor object, and the outdoor works are bronze, aluminium or concrete because they have to be.

Chapter 5

The chain from the studio

A Balkenhol leaves the studio through a gallery, and the paper follows the material.

A Balkenhol leaves the studio through a gallery, and the paper follows the material. The wood figures are signed and dated by hand: Van Ham records "Stephan Balkenhol 2004" on the reverse of the Koelner Dom relief, Grisebach "St. Balkenhol 2008" on a pencil drawing. The bronzes carry the signature, date and number on the underside of the plinth, or a monogram stamp "StB" with the cast number, and where a museum or foundation published the edition its embossed stamp sits beside them, as the Museum Kurhaus Kleve stamp does on the Neuer Eiserner Mann casts. The one foundry mark on the record is Strassacker's (Pandora, 2011). An artist-signed confirmation exists at least for the editions: Van Ham sold Pandora in 2021 with a confirmation signed by the artist, supplied in copy, which is the document to ask for in any resale.

The provenance lines in the sale catalogues show which galleries stood at the first link. Galerie Loehrl in Moenchengladbach, which gave him his first solo show in 1984 and now keeps the bronze catalogue, sold the 1983 pair into a Hamburg collection in 1985 and the Koelner Dom relief into a German corporate collection; Galerie Ruediger Schoettle in Munich sold Mann in blauem Hemd in 1989 to the family that still owns it; Deweer in Otegem, Monica De Cardenas in Milan, Barbara Gladstone in New York and Stephen Friedman in London appear as first owners' sources for works of the 1990s and 2000s; a 1992 tuff figure was bought directly from the artist. The primary market publishes no prices. The Wiesbaden museum page of 2023-24 shows how it works instead: unique head reliefs made for the exhibition were offered "auf Anfrage" through Galerie Loehrl or the museum, and a bronze Justitia in an edition of 30 plus proofs likewise, with part of the proceeds funding the catalogue.

Two further facts govern reproduction and archive. Every institutional caption of his work in Germany reads "(c) VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn" with the year, and the Salzburg 2026 pages read "(c) Bildrecht, Wien", which means the online reproduction right is administered by the collecting society and a gallery cannot grant it alone; this page therefore shows his work only under freedom of panorama. And there is no catalogue raisonne of the unique wood sculptures on the record. The Loehrl Werkverzeichnis covers bronze editions only; the Hirshhorn catalogue of 1995 and the Lehmbruck catalogue of 2020 are exhibition books. Who keeps the studio inventory, and whether it will be published, is the open question of this record.

Chapter 6

The institutions

The museum sequence began within six years of the studio.

The museum sequence began within six years of the studio. The Kunsthalle Basel, Portikus in Frankfurt (15 December 1988 to 15 January 1989) and the Kunsthalle Nuernberg shared the installation Hexagon und Fries, six male figures in three sizes with a frieze of twenty poplar reliefs; Witte de With in Rotterdam gave him a survey from 6 February to 21 March 1992 under Chris Dercon, with the 57 Penguins of 1991 and a relief figure made permanently for the stairwell; the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington followed in 1995 with Sculptures and Drawings, the catalogue by Neal Benezra, and the show travelled to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The Arts Club of Chicago showed nine works in spring 1998, the year the Art Institute of Chicago bought Man Sitting. A single touring exhibition ran through the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, the Museum Kueppersmuehle in Duisburg and the Museum der Moderne Salzburg from July 2006 to June 2007, and the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg filled its large hall with about a hundred works from November 2008 to February 2009.

Osaka's National Museum of Art gave him a survey of about fifty works in 2005, the first in Japan. The last fifteen years added the foreign surveys and the German retrospectives, among them the Peggy Guggenheim Collection's Big Head-Column on its Grand Canal terrace in 2013, the Kunstmuseum Ravensburg and the Landesgalerie Linz in 2014 and the Museum Jorn in Silkeborg and the Palais d'Iena in Paris in 2020. The Musee de Grenoble showed him from 30 October 2010 to 23 January 2011, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art in 2016, the CAC Malaga from January to April 2018, the Kunsthalle Emden in summer 2018 with about forty works in dialogue with its collection and the Museum fuer Sepulkralkultur in Kassel in 2019 with his skulls and skeleton figures under the title Deadline. The Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg mounted the largest of all from 22 October 2020, extended to 24 May 2021: more than 200 exhibits from 1990 onwards, sculptures, reliefs, plaster models and drawings, the largest museum exhibition of his work in Germany since 2008 in the museum's own words, with a group of heads made for it. Museum Wiesbaden set his figures among its Old Masters from November 2023 to June 2024; the Kunsthal Rotterdam showed over 35 works from May to September 2025; and the Museum Wuerth in Kuenzelsau, which owns the seven-figure group 7 Figuren mit Haus of 2005-06, opens a seventieth-birthday exhibition from its collection and loans on 22 November 2026, running to 11 July 2027.

Holdings verified on an institution's own page are the Art Institute of Chicago (Man Sitting, cedar, 1998, purchased that year with funds from named donors including Horst Schmitter), the Sammlung Wuerth, the Kunstverein Bremerhaven (owner of the 1987 Muenster figure, now on the facade of the Kunsthalle Bremerhaven) and, by the terms of the Bremen prize, the Kunsthalle Bremen. Beyond those, his Paris gallery's list names sixty-two collections, public and private, in eighteen countries, from the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the Museum Ludwig, the Museum Folkwang and the Neue Nationalgalerie to the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the National Museum of Art in Osaka, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Hirshhorn; the Kunsthal adds the Centre Pompidou. He has never been an official documenta artist, as the city of Kassel's cultural site notes, though at fifteen he went to documenta 5 almost daily, let in free by his brother who sold catalogues there, and had his first paid job in it as a room attendant.

Chapter 7

The public works, and who owns them

The public Balkenhols are the part of the oeuvre most people know and the part whose ownership is least often stated, so this page states it.

The public Balkenhols are the part of the oeuvre most people know and the part whose ownership is least often stated, so this page states it. Muenster 1987: Mann mit gruenem Hemd und weisser Hose, coloured concrete, fixed five metres up a chimney breast on the Salzstrasse for Skulptur Projekte, temporary until 1989, now owned by the Kunstverein Bremerhaven and mounted on the Kunsthalle there; Lempertz's biography records that passers-by called the police believing a man was about to jump. Hamburg 1992-93: the Vier Maenner auf Bojen, bought and placed by the Kulturbehoerde, the first figure having stood briefly on the Thames in London during the Doubletake exhibition of 1992, and recast in aluminium at the authority's expense in 2021; the same authority lists the bronze Mann und Frau of 2004 before the central library, acquired through the Kunstmeile competition, and the 8.2 m Mann mit Giraffe of 2001 commissioned by the Hagenbeck zoo. Hannover 2002: Mann mit Hirsch, painted bronze, chosen by a jury in a limited competition, initiated and financed by KarstadtQuelle AG for its anniversary and new building and given to the city, one of three casts of the motif, the others unpainted in Karlsruhe and Ratingen.

Kleve 2004: Der Neue Eiserne Mann, a bronze on a golden sphere atop the column in Prince Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen's baroque garden whose seventeenth-century figure, the Eiserner Mann mit Schwert, French revolutionary troops destroyed in 1794, unveiled on the prince's four-hundredth birthday, 18 June 2004. Salzburg 2007: Sphaera on the Kapitelplatz, a man on a gilded sphere five metres across, and Frau im Fels in the Toscaninihof, unveiled 26 July 2007 as the Salzburg Foundation's sixth project; the foundation states that since 2013 both belong to the Wuerth Group and stand in the city as a loan, which is why they are not plates on this page. Berlin 2009: Balanceakt on the Axel Springer forecourt, unveiled by Friede Springer on 25 May 2009. Leipzig 2013: the Richard Wagner monument, won in a 2011 competition against Otto Bernd Steffen and Carsten Nicolai, financed entirely by donations through the Wagner Denkmal Leipzig e.V., which presented it to the city as a gift under a council resolution of 2009; the 25 small bronzes of the monument were published the same year. Metz 2014: Hommage a Jean Moulin in the station hall where the Resistance leader's death was recorded in 1943, unveiled on 10 July 2014 by the French culture minister and the mayor. Bonn 2018: the Macke pavilion in the Hofgarten, funded by Deutsche Telekom, the foundation's members and the university. Sneek 2018: the Fortuna fountain for Leeuwarden's year as European capital of culture. Rotterdam, 4 April 2025: a statue of the composer Willem Pijper for de Doelen. Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, 28 May 2025: Der Freiheit eine Gasse, a democracy monument in the town hall courtyard from which the 1832 march to the Hambacher Schloss set off, paid for by donors including the Sparkassenkulturstiftung Neustadt, the former BASF chief executive Juergen Hambrecht and Galerie Loehrl, with the sandstone base given by the Hanbuch firm. Osnabrueck, 1 October 2025: Homo Mobilis on the station forecourt, the fourth Station to Station work of the Bonn foundation after Berlin, Frankfurt and Kassel, paid for by local companies and foundations named on the plaque. Toronto received a larger-than-life figure in 2019 according to his gallery, and Steinhagen in 2015 a 5.6 m kneeling man, Der grosse Kniende, which had been one of three equal prize-winners in the 2010 competition for the Berlin Freiheits- und Einheitsdenkmal (no first prize was awarded; the commission went to Milla & Partner with Sasha Waltz in April 2011); the Loehrl site calls it the winning design.

Chapter 8

The market, as the German houses record it

The secondary market for Balkenhol runs through Munich and Cologne, and the houses publish results including the buyer's premium; only Grisebach's online sale shows the closing bid and states the...

The secondary market for Balkenhol runs through Munich and Cologne, and the houses publish results including the buyer's premium; only Grisebach's online sale shows the closing bid and states the premium rate, so every figure below is premium-inclusive unless stated. Ketterer's own list of sold objects puts the 1983 pair Mann und Frau at the top: estimate EUR 140,000, result EUR 175,000 on 10 June 2017, from the Hamburg collection that had owned it since 1985. Next come Ohne Titel (drei Maenner) of 1998 at EUR 95,000 in December 2014, a 223 cm Mann mit weissem Hemd und schwarzer Hose of 2011 that ran from a EUR 40,000 estimate to EUR 100,000 on 9 December 2022, a small 1993 Mann mit weissem Hemd on its tall base at EUR 78,750 in June 2019 against EUR 30,000 and a run of single figures and reliefs between EUR 60,000 and EUR 80,000. Van Ham's best is the Koelner Dom relief at EUR 81,813 in May 2019 and the bronze Pandora at EUR 63,360 in June 2021 from a EUR 25,000 estimate; Lempertz's is Die grosse Parade at EUR 74,400 in May 2015, with the two-part Chinese Wall of 2005 at EUR 55,440 in December 2023 after ten years on loan to the Belvedere.

The editions are a separate and cheaper market that a buyer can compare cast by cast. The Kleve Neuer Eiserner Mann of 2004, an edition of 20, made EUR 24,800 at Lempertz in June 2018, EUR 18,600 at an earlier Lempertz sale and EUR 15,120 in June 2024; the 2013 Wagner bronze, cast 19 of 25, made EUR 12,600 in November 2024 against a EUR 10,000 to 15,000 estimate. Drawings are inexpensive: a 2008 pencil sheet closed at a EUR 900 hammer in October 2020, EUR 1,170 once Grisebach's stated 30 percent premium is added (our arithmetic). Two early works come to Ketterer's Day Sale on 5 December 2026: the maple Mann in blauem Hemd of 1989, with which the house says he won the Bremen prize, estimated at EUR 25,000 to 35,000, and the 1992 tuff figure at EUR 18,000 to 24,000. Two of the figures in the signature dress in the record above more than doubled their estimates (2011 and 1993), while the reliefs and the two Van Ham figures sold inside or just above theirs.

Chapter 9

Authenticity today

The artist is alive, working and reachable through his galleries, so a work is confirmed today by him and by the paper trail described above: the gallery invoice at the first sale, the signature and date on the wood or the numbered plinth of a bronze, the artist-signed confirmation where one was issued and for a bronze edition the number in the Loehrl Werkverzeichnis. No fakes, disputed attributions or refused works are on the public record found for this page, and none of the fetched sale catalogues records a withdrawn or unsold Balkenhol lot; that is a finding, but it is a finding about the record, not a guarantee about the world, since the houses do not publish their bought-in lots on artist pages.

Two small cautions. The Hannover plaque spells his first name "Stepahn", as the van der Krogt survey noted, and the name is routinely written "Stefan" in listings, so a search of any database must try both spellings. And because the same motif exists in wood, in a public bronze and in a small bronze edition, titles migrate: a lot called Richard-Wagner-Denkmal is a 29 cm bronze, a Neuer Eiserner Mann an 85 cm cast of the figure that stands almost thirteen metres up on the Kleve column, a Mann mit Hirsch a bronze that also exists as a Mann im Hirschgeweih at Lempertz. Dimensions and edition numbers identify a Balkenhol; titles do not.

Chapter 10

The literature

The serious writing is in exhibition books rather than a monograph series.

The serious writing is in exhibition books rather than a monograph series. Neal Benezra's Stephan Balkenhol: Sculptures and Drawings for the Hirshhorn (Stuttgart, 1995) remains the reference the auction houses cite for the early work; the Witte de With catalogue of 1992, About Men and Sculpture, belongs to the same first wave. The 2006-07 touring catalogue of Baden-Baden, Duisburg and Salzburg is the mid-career survey; the Musee de Grenoble catalogue of 2010-11 the French one; the Kunsthalle Emden catalogue of 2018, edited by Katharina Henkel, the most recent German museum catalogue before the Lehmbruck volume of 2020, published by Schirmer/Mosel with texts by Soeke Dinkla, Heinz-Norbert Jocks and Ronja Friedrichs. Jocks's long interview in Kunstforum volume 144 (1999) is the source of the most quoted sentences, and the statement he gave Volker Plagemann in 1989 for Kunst im oeffentlichen Raum: Anstoesse der 80er Jahre is the earliest on his idea of the right sculpture for the right place. The Werkverzeichnis der Bronze-Editionen 1992-2014 by Andreas Franzke and Ulrich Wolff, published by Skulpturengalerie Loehrl in 2014 and updated to 2023, and the Werkverzeichnis of the prints and photo editions 1987-2015 edited by Dirk Dobke and Holger Priess (Hamburg, 2015), which Van Ham cites by number, are the two catalogues raisonnes of parts of the work; neither touches the unique sculptures. The August 2024 studio conversation with Rene Spiegelberger is the fullest recent statement on method in his own words.

Chapter 11

What is contested

Nothing about attribution is contested; the disputes are about where the figures stand.

Nothing about attribution is contested; the disputes are about where the figures stand. In May 2012 the Catholic parish of St. Elisabeth in Kassel placed a Balkenhol man with outstretched arms on a golden sphere on its bell tower, opposite the Fridericianum, as the sign of a ten-sculpture exhibition that ran from 4 June to 18 September 2012 alongside documenta 13. DOMRADIO reported on 17 May 2012 that documenta's managing director Bernd Leifeld said the artistic director, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, would welcome the church showing respect for documenta, that visitors would not know what belonged to the exhibition and what did not and that the dominant figure contradicted her conception of art, which the documenta spokeswoman explained as a wish to move the human being out of the centre; the church declined to take it down. Balkenhol's own account, given to the Kassel cultural site in 2022, was that the figure was "zu praesent, zu raetselhaft" for her, and that a work which leaves questions open is the basic principle of art. He has since spoken of the removal in sharper terms, in the interview cited here.

In Leipzig the Richard Wagner monument, according to Monopol in February 2021, still divides the city's Wagner admirers: the Richard-Wagner-Verband, which had wanted a return to the unfinished monument projects of 1913 and 1938, was not the association admitted to the monument committee, and the critical Wagner-Denkmal e.V. was; the same article reports a 2021 dispute over the city's acquisition of reliefs by the National Socialist-era sculptor Emil Hipp for a planned exhibition, a dispute about the Klinger site's history rather than about Balkenhol's figure. In Salzburg in 2007, artmagazine reported, some found the Kapitelplatz too prominent a site for Sphaera and suggested the artist look elsewhere; the work went up on the square and became, in the Loehrl site's words, the Balkenhol Mozartkugel. The critical charge that recurs is banality: the same 2007 review says that his figures struggle with the problem of being dismissed as banal, and answers it with the Madonna, the martyrs, the Egyptian scribe and the man of sorrows it found in the Salzburg rooms.

Chapter 12

What the figures carry

Balkenhol's stated position is that the work has no programme to decode, and the page grades that as documented: "My sculptures don't tell any stories," the Ropac page quotes him, "It is not my job to reveal it, but that of the viewer to discover it." What is equally documented is how much of European iconography he has taken in while refusing to explain it. The Lehmbruck Museum built its 2020 survey around his uses of Greek mythology, the gods in their human aspects rather than their omnipotence; the Salzburg rooms of 2007 held a Madonna and Child, martyrs, an Egyptian scribe, a man of sorrows and a slave; the Wiesbaden show of 2023 set his figures among Old Masters with a modern Venus de Milo, and his statement for it said that only with a sense of history can the present and the future be mastered; the Kassel museum of sepulchral culture assembled his skulls, skull reliefs and Knochenmann in 2019; the Kunsthal in 2025 showed the twelve zodiac reliefs together for the first time, and the 2026 Salzburg figures are Figaro, Elektra, Don Giovanni, Turandot, Othello and Carmen with Eurydike, Parzival and Hamlet beside them. The DomQuartier's text reads the small bronzes as love and loss, the search for knowledge and doubt as the condition of responsible action; that is the museum's reading, an argued one rather than a documented one, and he has not contradicted it.

Where he has written the meaning down it is worth quoting, because it is rare. Of the Wagner monument he said, according to his gallery's account, that he had asked himself how to deal with Wagner's pathos and found the answer in the shadow: a small man standing before his great work, which outgrows him. Of the Bonn Macke he said that the challenge was to render the questions of painting with sculptural means, and that he wanted light and colour rather than a naturalistic portrait; the foundation's text adds that the coloured sky, not the moustache, stands for the work. Of Homo Mobilis in Osnabrueck he wrote in 2025 that a pedalo, a child's toy on former goods-wagon wheels before the station, "der Kathedrale des industriellen Zeitalters", stands for the human being as Homo faber and Homo ludens at once. The golden sphere under the Kleve and Salzburg figures is the one recurring attribute, and in Kleve it is documented as the reconstruction of a seventeenth-century column figure destroyed in 1794 rather than a symbol invented for the work. Readings that go beyond this, such as Ketterer's note that the 1983 pair can be read as Adam and Eve, the house itself labels as contrary to the artist's intention. The absence of a hidden programme is, on this evidence, the finding.

Chapter 13

Now

As of 16 September 2026 the record has a present tense.

As of 16 September 2026 the record has a present tense. Six painted bronze opera figures, each up to two metres and about 180 kg, stood on platforms on the Residenzplatz in Salzburg from 25 July to 2 September 2026 under the title La ci darem la mano; their wooden counterparts with lithographs and three small bronzes remain in the Prunkraeume of the DomQuartier until 5 October 2026, an installation the Land and city invited the Bonn foundation to realise after Jaume Plensa's the year before. The Museum Wuerth exhibition for his seventieth birthday opens on 22 November 2026 and runs to 11 July 2027. Ketterer offers two early works, of 1989 and 1992, on 5 December 2026. Galerie Loehrl has issued a Fische - Mann und Frau bronze edition of 30 dated 2026, and Koenig Galerie in Berlin gave him a third show in autumn 2025. His Karlsruhe professorship ended in 2023 after thirty-one years; he lives between Kassel, Karlsruhe, Berlin and his studio in the former glass village of Meisenthal in Lorraine, and turns seventy in 2027.

What is documented

Born

1957, Fritzlar, Hesse; youngest of four sons.¹⁵³⁹

Schooling

Several years at the European School in Luxembourg, where his father taught; Abitur 1976 at the Friedrichsgymnasium, Kassel. Lempertz places the Abitur in Luxembourg; the city of Kassel's cultural site places it at the Friedrichsgymnasium in Kassel, where the Kassel museum also says he went to school, and this page follows them.⁶¹⁵¹⁴⁴⁰

Training

Hochschule fuer bildende Kuenste Hamburg, 1976-1982; Ulrich Rueckriem's class from 1979. The Kunsthal Rotterdam also names Nam June Paik and Sigmar Polke among his teachers there.³⁹⁶⁴

Teaching

Teaching posts at the Hamburg academy (1988-89) and the Staedelschule, Frankfurt (to 1991); professor of sculpture at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Kuenste Karlsruhe from 1992 to 2023.¹⁵³⁹

Lives and works

Kassel, Karlsruhe, Berlin and Meisenthal in Lorraine, France, where he has kept a studio in the village for many years; the Kassel studio was described in 2022 as the best equipped for both wood and bronze models. Married to Kathrin Balkenhol, a curator and teacher in Kassel.¹⁴⁴¹

Collecting society

Member of VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn; captions on the Stiftung Kunst, Museum Wiesbaden, Museum Wuerth and Skulptur Projekte pages carry the society's line, and the Salzburg 2026 pages that of Bildrecht, Vienna.⁴³⁹⁴²⁴⁴

Prizes and honours

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff stipend 1983; Hamburg working stipend 1986; Bremer Kunstpreis (Kunstpreis der Boettcherstrasse, now Pauli-Preis) 1989, DM 20,000; Internationaler Foerderpreis des Landes Baden-Wuerttemberg 1989; Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 2014 (grade not stated in the sources read); honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts 2016 (as recorded by Kunst@SH).¹⁵⁵⁸⁵⁹⁶

First solo exhibition

1984, Neue Arbeiten, Galerie Loehrl, Moenchengladbach; the gallery still represents him and keeps the bronze catalogue.¹³³³

documenta

Never an official documenta artist; his 2012 church exhibition in Kassel ran beside documenta 13 against the documenta management's wishes.¹⁴⁵⁶

Name variants

Frequently listed as "Stefan Balkenhol"; the Hannover plaque reads "Stepahn". Search both spellings.⁸

Technique

Wood and the single block

Figure and plinth cut from one trunk, chainsaw first, then hammer, chisel and gouge; tool marks left visible. Woods on the record: wawa (ayous), cedar, poplar, red beech (1983), maple (1989), birch (2009-11).⁶⁴¹²²¹²⁵⁴⁷

Paint

Thin, partial colour that structures the figure (shirt, trousers, dress, hair, mouth) and, in the early work, accents the anatomy; the wood stays visible.¹²²¹

Scale and base

Figures always clearly smaller or larger than life; small figures on bases up to four times their height so that they meet the viewer at eye level; the trunk's girth sets the figure's volume.²²²³

Reliefs

Painted wood reliefs from panels of the same wood: Ohne Titel (Koelner Dom), 2004, 200 x 138.5 cm; Die grosse Parade, 2001, three parts, 200 x 300 cm; head reliefs of c. 30 x 30 x 4 cm (2023); the twelve zodiac reliefs (to 2025).²⁹²⁰³⁹⁶⁴

Bronze

Never cast from a wooden figure: models in clay, wax or plaster worked with self-made tools, cast (Strassacker is the founder named on Pandora, 2011), patinated and painted; used for outdoor works and small editions. Editions of 3 to 30 plus artist's proofs, signed, dated and numbered on the underside, or monogram stamp StB with the cast number.⁶³³⁰³⁷¹⁷¹⁶

Other materials

Coloured concrete (Muenster 1987); fired ceramic reliefs (Deichtorhallen facade 2008); tuff (a 1992 figure, described by Ketterer as one of very few stone works); aluminium, cast and painted (the four Hamburg buoy men, 2021).⁴⁵⁵³²⁶⁵

Works on paper

Pencil drawings, blackboard drawings, lithographs and other prints, the prints and photo editions catalogued to 2015 by Dobke and Priess; a print retrospective 1992-2008 was shown at the Kunstverein Augsburg in 2009.³²¹⁵⁴⁴¹³⁸⁰

Signatures and marks

Wood: signed and dated by hand, e.g. "Stephan Balkenhol 2004" on the reverse of a relief, "St. Balkenhol 2008" on a drawing. Bronze: signature, date and number under the plinth or the StB stamp; publisher's embossed stamp on institutional editions; foundry mark Strassacker.²⁹³²¹⁷¹⁸³⁰

Condition tells

Checks along the grain, small losses and nicks that the houses describe as consistent with the working method; ultraviolet examination is the stated test for retouching. Outdoor oak failed within three decades in Hamburg.⁶²⁵

The surviving work

What is accepted: No published count of the unique wood sculptures and reliefs exists. The Museum Wiesbaden counts more than 100 solo exhibitions since 1983; the Lehmbruck Museum showed more than 200 exhibits in 2020-21. The bronze editions are counted: the Loehrl Werkverzeichnis numbers them from 1 (Humpty-Dumpty, 1992) to entries dated 2026, with seventy-six editions listed online on 16 September 2026.
What is contested: Nothing on the public record found for this page. No rejected work, disputed attribution or fake is reported by any museum, gallery or auction house consulted.
Who rules on attribution: The artist, through his galleries (Galerie Loehrl, Moenchengladbach; Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac; Stephen Friedman; KETELEER, Antwerp; Mai 36; AKINCI; KOENIG; Galerie Ruediger Schoettle). Artist-signed confirmations accompany at least the bronze editions; wood works are signed and dated by hand. No foundation, estate plan or authentication committee is on the record.

Catalogue raisonne

Andreas Franzke and Ulrich Wolff, Stephan Balkenhol. Werkverzeichnis der Bronze-Editionen 1992-2014, Skulpturengalerie Loehrl, Moenchengladbach 2014; third updated version covering 1992-2023, kept online by the gallery (source 33). Covers the bronze editions only (title, year, material, dimensions, edition size, publisher). Auction houses cite it by number. It does not cover the unique wood sculptures, reliefs, public commissions cast as single pieces or works on paper.¹⁷³³¹⁶⁶⁹
Dirk Dobke and Holger Priess (eds.), Stephan Balkenhol - Druckgraphik und Photo-Editionen, Werkverzeichnis (1987-2015), Hamburg 2015. Covers the prints and photo editions 1987-2015; known to this page only through the auction house citation (Van Ham, 2024), not yet read.⁸⁰

My sculptures don't tell any stories. Something mysterious is hidden in them. It is not my job to reveal it, but that of the viewer to discover it.Stephan Balkenhol, as quoted on the artist page of Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac (source 12); the German original, "Meine Skulpturen erzaehlen keine Geschichten ...", is quoted by Ketterer Kunst (source 22) and in the Kunsthalle Emden press text (source 52). The sentence is his standing answer to every iconographic reading of the figures.

Questions about Stephan Balkenhol

Who is Stephan Balkenhol?

Sculptor; Draughtsman; Printmaker.

Where can you see work by Stephan Balkenhol?

Promenadenring / Goerdelerring (Leipzig); Hofgarten (Bonn); Arno-Schmidt-Platz, Zentralbibliothek; Aussenalster; Hagenbeck entrance (Hamburg); Andreaeplatz / Schillerstrasse (Hannover); Axel Springer forecourt, Axel-Springer-Strasse 65 (Berlin); Hauptbahnhof forecourt (Osnabrueck).

What does the market for Stephan Balkenhol look like?

What is still unresolved about Stephan Balkenhol?

Is there a studio inventory of the unique wood sculptures and reliefs, who keeps it and will it be published as a catalogue raisonne? Nothing on the record answers this.

Open questions

Is there a studio inventory of the unique wood sculptures and reliefs, who keeps it and will it be published as a catalogue raisonne? Nothing on the record answers this.
Which museums own works, with accession numbers and dates? The gallery CV lists more than fifty collections; this page could verify only Chicago, the Sammlung Wuerth, the Kunstverein Bremerhaven and, by the prize's terms, the Kunsthalle Bremen, because most German collection databases render only in the browser. The Hirshhorn's pages were blocked.
What is the hammer price behind the EUR 175,000 record and the other premium-inclusive results? None of the three houses publishes it on the lot page.
Who owns Homo Mobilis in Osnabrueck and the Bonn Macke pavilion: the cities, or the Stiftung fuer Kunst und Kultur e.V. that placed them? The cities' pages describe both as monuments made for their sites but do not state the owner; a plaque line crediting the foundation was recorded in Osnabrueck but has not been verified.
What did the Hamburg Kunstmeile competition pay for Mann und Frau in 2004? A figure of about EUR 165,000 circulates in secondary summaries but was not found on a city page.
Did the artist take the Abitur in Kassel (city of Kassel, Museum fuer Sepulkralkultur) or in Luxembourg (Lempertz)? The page follows the Kassel sources.
Where are the wooden figures of the 1988 Hexagon und Fries and the 57 Penguins of 1991 today?
The Wagner Denkmal Leipzig e.V. website named in the 2013 press now redirects to an unrelated coupon site; the association's own record of the donations and of the 25-bronze edition is therefore no longer online.

Sources

1Stadt Leipzig, Newsarchiv, "Stephan Balkenhol stellt seinen Entwurf fuer das Richard Wagner Denkmal vor", 15 July 2011 (competition, jury, Klinger plinth, materials, dimensions). leipzig.de/newsarchiv/...
2Leipziger Zeitung (l-iz.de), "Richard auf dem Sockel: Am 22. Mai wird das Wagner-Denkmal eingeweiht", May 2013 (council resolution RBIV-1716/09 of 16 September 2009; financed entirely by donations through Wagner Denkmal Leipzig e.V.; "ein Geschenk an die Stadt Leipzig"; unveiling 22 May 2013). l-iz.de/kultur/...
3Bundesstadt Bonn, "August Macke" (section "Macke-Skulptur im Hofgarten"): the city's own page on the monument Balkenhol made in 2018 for the Hofgarten, freely accessible. bonn.de/bonn-erleben/...
4Stiftung fuer Kunst und Kultur e.V., Bonn, "4. Kunstprojekt Bonn: Stephan Balkenhol - Hommage an August Macke, 2018, Hofgarten Bonn" (unveiling 2 September 2018, 4.5 m pavilion, bronze, artist statement, caption "(c) VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2018"). stiftungkunst.de/kultur/...
5Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, Behoerde fuer Kultur und Medien, press release "Kunst im oeffentlichen Raum: Ein Mann fuer die Alster", 31 August 2021 (history of the Vier Maenner auf Bojen since 1992/93, the 2021 aluminium recasts "so dass sie der Stadt dauerhaft erhalten bleiben", production cost EUR 100,000 borne by the authority, artist waived his fee; the two other public bronzes in Hamburg: Mann und Frau 2004 on Arno-Schmidt-Platz and Mann auf Giraffe 2001). hamburg.de/politik-und-verwaltung/...
6Kunst@SH (Jan Petersen), "Stephan Balkenhol: Mann und Frau", entry K2145, created 29 May 2018, last edited 12 July 2022 (2004, bronze, Huehnerposten 1; biography incl. European School Luxembourg, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff stipend, 1986 Hamburg working stipend, 1989 Baden-Wuerttemberg prize, 1990 Bremer Kunstpreis as given there, 2014 Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, 2016 honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts). Secondary database; the prize year 1989 is taken from the Kunstforum record. sh-kunst.de/stephan-balkenhol-mann-und-frau
7Hannover Marketing und Tourismus GmbH, visit-hannover.com, "Kunst im oeffentlichen Raum: Stephan Balkenhol | Mann mit Hirsch", location Andreaeplatz / Schillerstrasse; chosen by jury in a limited competition, initiated and financed by KarstadtQuelle AG; page updated 22 June 2026. visit-hannover.com/Event-Highlights,-Kultur-Freizeit/...
8Rene and Peter van der Krogt, "Statues - Hither and Thither": "Hannover - Mann mit Hirsch", 2002, painted bronze on a steel table, with the plaque inscription "Mann mit Hirsch Stepahn Balkenhol (2001) Spende der Fa. Karstadt AG" (sic), photographed 3 April 2014. statues.vanderkrogt.net/object.php
9Bildhauerei in Berlin (BiB), "Balanceakt": Axel-Springer-Strasse 65, forecourt of the Berliner Verlagshaus; bronze, concrete, original Berlin Wall segments; 5.7 m, 740 kg; unveiled 25 May 2009 by Friede Springer; plaque text. bildhauerei-in-berlin.de/bildwerk/...
10Stadt Osnabrueck / Marketing Osnabrueck GmbH, "Homo Mobilis von Stephan Balkenhol am Hauptbahnhof in Osnabrueck", 10 October 2025 (made specifically for the station forecourt; "Station to Station" project of the Stiftung fuer Kunst und Kultur e.V.; sponsors; the artist's statement on the work). erleben.osnabrueck.de/de/...
11Salzburg Foundation, "Stephan Balkenhol, 2007" (Walk of Modern Art): Sphaera on Kapitelplatz and Frau im Fels in the Toscaninihof, unveiled 26 July 2007; since 2013 owned by the Wuerth Group and made available to the city as a loan. salzburgfoundation.at/walk-of-modern-art/...
12Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, artist page "Stephan Balkenhol" (quotation "My sculptures don't tell any stories ...", biography, materials, list of gallery exhibitions with dates, available works with materials). ropac.net/artists/...
13Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, CV document for Stephan Balkenhol (solo and group exhibitions 1983-2025, public and private collections). A gallery-supplied list; used for years, cross-checked against the institutions where possible. ropac.net/gallery-documents/...
14WELT.KUNST.KASSEL (documenta Stadt Kassel), Jan-Hendrik Neumann, "Stephan Balkenhol", published 31 March 2022 (Abitur 1976 in Kassel, Rueckriem, professorship since 1992, wife Kathrin, the Kassel studio, the 2012 St. Elisabeth episode in his own words, clay and plaster models for bronze). welt-kunst-kassel.de/balkenhol
15Kunsthaus Lempertz, artist index "Stephan Balkenhol" (biography: youngest of four sons, father a teacher at the European School in Luxembourg, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff stipend 1983, teaching posts, Muenster 1987 and Doubletake 1992 anecdotes, 1989 prizes; list of results including premium). lempertz.com/en/...
16Kunsthaus Lempertz, Auction 1257 (Contemporary Art - Day Sale, Cologne, 30 November 2024), lot 430: "Richard-Wagner-Denkmal", 2013, bronze, patinated and painted, cast 19/25, edition Galerie Loehrl / Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac / H. Schmitter, Hamburg; catalogue raisonne of the bronze editions no. 39; estimate EUR 10,000-15,000; result EUR 12,600 incl. premium. lempertz.com/en/...
17Kunsthaus Lempertz, Auction 1248 (Modern Art and Contemporary Art - Day Sale, Cologne, 5 June 2024), lot 409: "Neuer Eiserner Mann", 2004, bronze, cast 16/20, monogram stamp "StB", Museum Kurhaus Kleve stamp; catalogue raisonne: Skulpturengalerie Loehrl (ed.), Stephan Balkenhol, Werkverzeichnis der Bronze-Editionen 1992-2014, Moenchengladbach 2014, no. 13 (by Andreas Franzke and Ulrich Wolff); estimate EUR 10,000-15,000; result EUR 15,120 incl. premium. lempertz.com/en/...
18Kunsthaus Lempertz, Auction 1111 (Contemporary Art II, Cologne, 2 June 2018), lot 847: "Neuer Eiserner Mann", 2004, bronze, cast 5/20, edition of the Freundeskreis Museum Kurhaus and Koekkoek-Haus Kleve; estimate EUR 20,000-30,000; result EUR 24,800 incl. premium. lempertz.com/en/...
19Kunsthaus Lempertz, Auction 1233 (Evening Sale - Modern and Contemporary Art, Cologne, 1 December 2023), lot 66: "Untitled (Chinese Wall)", 2005, two-part, wawa wood and relief; provenance private collection Bavaria, permanent loan to the Oesterreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, c. 2012-2023; estimate EUR 50,000-70,000; result EUR 55,440 incl. premium. lempertz.com/en/...
20Kunsthaus Lempertz, Auction 1052 (Contemporary Art, Cologne, 30 May 2015), lot 543: "Die grosse Parade", 2001, wawa wood, painted, three parts, 200 x 300 x 2.5 cm; provenance Monica De Cardenas, Milan, private collection Netherlands; exhibited XII Biennale di Scultura di Carrara 2006 and Musee de Grenoble 2010/11 (cat. no. 162); estimate EUR 65,000-85,000; result EUR 74,400 incl. premium. lempertz.com/en/...
21Ketterer Kunst, Munich, Auktion 451 "Kunst nach 1945 I", 10 June 2017, lot 861: "Mann und Frau", 1983, red beech, partly painted, each c. 202 cm, the artist's first free-standing full-figure wood sculptures; provenance Galerie Loehrl, private collection Hamburg since 1985; exhibitions Impulse I (Galerie Loehrl, 15.5.-22.6.1983), Kunstverein Braunschweig (6.2.-15.3.1987), Halle K3 Hamburg (6.2.-8.3.1987), Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (15.7.-17.9.2006), Museum Kueppersmuehle (28.9.2006-28.1.2007), Museum der Moderne Salzburg (17.2.-24.6.2007); literature Neal Benezra, Stephan Balkenhol. Sculptures and Drawings, Hirshhorn Museum, Stuttgart 1995; estimate EUR 140,000; result EUR 175,000 incl. buyer's premium; the artist's 2017 quotation on the pair. kettererkunst.de/kunst/...
22Ketterer Kunst, Contemporary Art Day Sale, 9 December 2022, lot 169: "Mann mit weissem Hemd und schwarzer Hose", 2011, wawa wood, partly painted, 223 x 56 x 39 cm; provenance Galerie Leu, Munich (2013), private collection Baden-Wuerttemberg; estimate EUR 40,000; result EUR 100,000 incl. premium; quotation from the 1999 Kunstforum interview with Heinz-Norbert Jocks. kettererkunst.de/kunst/...
23Ketterer Kunst, Evening Sale, 7 June 2019, lot 165: "Mann mit weissem Hemd", 1993, painted wood, figure 47.2 x 15.5 cm, overall 167.2 x 38.5 x 28.5 cm; estimate EUR 30,000; result EUR 78,750 incl. premium. kettererkunst.de/kunst/...
24Ketterer Kunst, "Kunst nach 45 / Zeitgenoessische Kunst", 6 December 2014, lot 880: "Ohne Titel (drei Maenner)", 1998; estimate EUR 70,000; result EUR 95,000 incl. buyer's premium. kettererkunst.de/kunst/...
25Ketterer Kunst, Day Sale, 5 December 2026 (upcoming), lot "Mann in blauem Hemd", 1989, maple, painted, 130 cm (241 cm with base); provenance Galerie Ruediger Schoettle, Munich, private collection Schleswig-Holstein since 1989; exhibited "Bremer Kunstpreis 1989", Kunsthalle Bremen, 29.10.-26.11.1989, cat. no. 4; estimate EUR 25,000-35,000. kettererkunst.de/kunst/...
26Ketterer Kunst, Day Sale, 5 December 2026 (upcoming), lot "Mann mit weissem Hemd", 1992, tuff, painted, 135 cm with plinth, unique; acquired directly from the artist in 1992; estimate EUR 18,000-24,000; quotation from the August 2024 studio conversation with Rene Spiegelberger. kettererkunst.de/kunst/...
27Ketterer Kunst, list of objects by Stephan Balkenhol sold at Ketterer (results incl. premium), read 16 September 2026. kettererkunst.de/result.php
28Van Ham Kunstauktionen, artist page "Stephan Balkenhol" with results incl. premium, read 16 September 2026. van-ham.com/en/...
29Van Ham Kunstauktionen, Auction 429 (Modern, Cologne, 29 May 2019), lot 371: "Ohne Titel (Koelner Dom)", 2004, wawa wood, painted, 200 x 138.5 cm, signed and dated verso; provenance Galerie Loehrl, German corporate collection; exhibited Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne, 2014; estimate EUR 60,000; result EUR 81,813 incl. premium. van-ham.com/en/...
30Van Ham Kunstauktionen, Auction 467 (The Lauffs Collection, 16 June 2021), lot 547: "Pandora", 2011, bronze, patinated and painted, c. 165 x 60 x 45 cm, edition of 3, foundry mark Strassacker Kunstgiesserei; provenance Skulpturengalerie Loehrl; an artist-signed certificate of authenticity accompanies the work in copy; estimate EUR 25,000; result EUR 63,360 incl. premium. van-ham.com/en/...
31Van Ham Kunstauktionen, Auction 450 (Modern, Post War, Contemporary, Eggers Collection, 10 June 2020), lot 404: "Frau in violettem Kleid", 2012, wawa wood, partly painted, 169 x 30 x 22 cm; provenance Deweer Gallery, Otegem, private collection Belgium; estimate EUR 40,000; result EUR 50,160 incl. premium. van-ham.com/en/...
32Grisebach, Berlin, Third Floor online auction VG10097 (25 September - 11 October 2020), lot 1248: "Ohne Titel", 2008, pencil on paper, 31.9 x 23.9 cm; estimate EUR 700-900; hammer EUR 900; EUR 1,170 with 30 percent premium. online.grisebach.com/auctions/...
33Galerie Loehrl, Moenchengladbach, balkenhol-bronzen.de, start page ("der offiziellen Homepage der Galerie Loehrl rund um das spannende Thema der Bronze-Editionen von Stephan Balkenhol"); the official catalogue raisonne of the bronze editions, third updated version covering 1992-2023; news of 12 August 2026 on the Salzburg installation (six bronze opera figures up to 2 m, c. 180 kg each, on the Residenzplatz until 2 September 2026; wooden versions in the DomQuartier until 5 October). balkenhol-bronzen.de
34Galerie Loehrl, balkenhol-bronzen.de, "Historie": first bronze edition "Humpty-Dumpty" 1992 (eight casts, no. 1 of the catalogue raisonne); Mann im Hirschgeweih in Hannover, Karlsruhe and Ratingen (2000-2002); Mann mit Giraffe, Hamburg 2001 (8.20 m, 2.5 t); Der Neue Eiserne Mann, Kleve, unveiled 18 June 2004 on the 400th birthday of Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen; Sphaera, Salzburg 2007 (gilded sphere 5 m, 2 t, figure 300 kg); Balanceakt, Berlin 2009; Der grosse Kniende, Steinhagen 2015 (described there as the winning design of the 2010 Berlin Freiheits- und Einheitsdenkmal competition; the BBR record, source 72, gives three equal prizes and no first prize); Richard-Wagner-Denkmal 2013 with the artist's remark on Wagner's pathos; Jean Moulin, Metz 2014. balkenhol-bronzen.de
35Galerie Loehrl, balkenhol-bronzen.de, catalogue entry "Richard-Wagner-Denkmal", 2013: bronze, patinated and painted; figure 29 x 12 x 6.5 cm, shadow 57 x 17 x 0.7 cm; edition of 25, signed, dated, numbered; publishers Galerie Loehrl, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, H. Schmitter, Hamburg; "Letztes verfuegbares Exemplar!". balkenhol-bronzen.de
36Galerie Loehrl, balkenhol-bronzen.de, catalogue entry "Demokratie Denkmal", 2025: bronze edition issued on the occasion of the large monument "Der Freiheit eine Gasse", inaugurated by Balkenhol on 28 May 2025 in front of the Rathaus of Neustadt an der Weinstrasse near the Hambacher Schloss; the gallery supported the large sculpture with a donation (the other donors are named in sources 75 and 76). balkenhol-bronzen.de
37Galerie Loehrl, balkenhol-bronzen.de, catalogue entry "Hommage an August Macke", 2018: bronze, patinated and painted, 55.5 x 30 x 30 cm, edition of 30 plus E.A., signed, dated and numbered underneath; publisher Stiftung fuer Kunst und Kultur e.V., Bonn. balkenhol-bronzen.de
38Galerie Loehrl, balkenhol-bronzen.de, catalogue entry "Humpty-Dumpty", 1992: bronze, patinated, 19.5 x 17 x 11 cm, publisher Stephan Balkenhol, Karlsruhe. balkenhol-bronzen.de
39Museum Wiesbaden, "Stephan Balkenhol trifft Alte Meister - Zeitfenster", 10 November 2023 - 2 June 2024 (curator Peter Forster; the artist's statements; two editions sold through Galerie Loehrl or the museum with part of the proceeds funding the catalogue; biography: youngest of four sons, Rueckriem's class from 1979, first wooden heads 1982, professor in Karlsruhe 1992-2023; caption "(c) VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023"). museum-wiesbaden.de/stephan-balkenhol
40Museum fuer Sepulkralkultur, Kassel, "Stephan Balkenhol. Deadline", 4 April - 14 July 2019 (curators Dirk Poerschmann and Michael Goebel; skulls, the Knochenmann; his first thematic museum show in Kassel, opposite his old school, the Friedrichsgymnasium). sepulkralmuseum.de/ausstellungen/...
41Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, newsroom, "Stephan Balkenhol", 22 October 2020 - 28 February 2021, extended to 24 May 2021: more than 200 exhibits, "die groesste Museumsausstellung Stephan Balkenhols in Deutschland seit 2008", a comprehensive survey from 1990 to the present; catalogue Schirmer/Mosel, Munich, texts by Soeke Dinkla, Heinz-Norbert Jocks and Ronja Friedrichs, 120 pages; works of the NATIONAL-BANK collection acquired from 2004. lehmbruckmuseum.pr.co/191189-stephan-balkenhol
42Museum Wuerth, Kuenzelsau, "Ausstellungsvorschau: Stephan Balkenhol. Sammlung Wuerth und Leihgaben", 22 November 2026 - 11 July 2027, daily 11-18, free admission; for the artist's 70th birthday, made in close cooperation with him; collection work "7 Figuren mit Haus", 2005/2006, wawa wood, painted, inv. 9254-9261; caption "(c) VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026". kunstkultur.wuerth.com/kunstkultur/...
43Wuerth Group news, "Neues Programm der Kultursaison 2026/2027 bei Wuerth vorgestellt": from 22 November an exhibition on Stephan Balkenhol at the Museum Wuerth, also marking 35 years since the museum opened. news.wuerth.com/de/...
44DomQuartier Salzburg, "Stephan Balkenhol. La ci darem la mano ...": Residenzplatz 25 July - 2 September 2026 (six painted bronze figures: Figaro, Elektra, Don Giovanni, Turandot, Othello, Carmen), Prunkraeume 27 July - 5 October 2026 (the same figures in wood, lithographs, small bronzes of Eurydike, Parzival and Hamlet); invited by Land and Stadt Salzburg with the Stiftung Kunst und Kultur e.V. Bonn; "Alle Werke von Stephan Balkenhol (c) Bildrecht, Wien 2026". domquartier.at/sonderausstellung/...
45Skulptur Projekte Archiv (LWL-Museum fuer Kunst und Kultur, Muenster), 1987, project 43, "Stephan Balkenhol: Mann mit gruenem Hemd und weisser Hose": coloured concrete, 200 cm, fixed 5 m up on a chimney breast at Salzstrasse 40, temporary June 1987 to June 1989; owner Kunstverein Bremerhaven, now on the outer facade of the Kunsthalle Bremerhaven; text by Daniel Friedt citing Volker Plagemann (ed.), Kunst im oeffentlichen Raum. Anstoesse der 80er Jahre, Cologne 1989, p. 260. skulptur-projekte-archiv.de/en-us/...
46Skulptur Projekte Archiv, "Skulptur Projekte in Muenster 1987", 14 June - 4 October 1987, directed by Klaus Bussmann and Kasper Koenig. skulptur-projekte-archiv.de/en-us/...
47Portikus, Frankfurt am Main, "#11 Stephan Balkenhol: Hexagon and Frieze", 15 December 1988 - 15 January 1989, in cooperation with the Kunsthalle Basel and the Kunsthalle Nuernberg; six male figures in three sizes and a frieze of twenty poplar panels in low relief. portikus.de/en/...
48Kunstinstituut Melly (formerly Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art), Rotterdam, "Stephan Balkenhol", 6 February - 21 March 1992, curated by Chris Dercon and Gosse Oosterhof; includes 57 Penguins (1991) and a permanent relief figure for the stairwell; quotation "I have to reinvent the figure, the tradition is interrupted." kunstinstituutmelly.nl/en/...
49The Arts Club of Chicago, "Stephan Balkenhol", 21 April - 30 May 1998 (the page header; the body text says April 22), nine works, the artist's first Midwest one-person exhibition; quotation "Human figures have to do with self-reflection on some level ..." artsclubchicago.org/exhibit/...
50Musee de Grenoble, "Archives" (past exhibitions): Stephan Balkenhol, 30 October 2010 - 23 January 2011. museedegrenoble.fr/1927-archives.htm
51Kunsthalle Emden, "Rueckblick: Liste der bisherigen Ausstellungen": Stephan Balkenhol, 9 June - 16 September 2018. kunsthalle-emden.de/ausstellungen/...
52art-in.de listing of the Kunsthalle Emden exhibition (9 June - 16 September 2018) carrying the Kunsthalle's press text: c. 40 works in wood plus works on paper; "Mann mit drei Loewen", 1994, cedar; the Fortuna fountain in Sneek unveiled at the end of April 2018 as part of "11 Fountains" for Leeuwarden 2018; the artist's quotation in German. art-in.de/ausstellung.php
53art-in.de, "Stephan Balkenhol - Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (14.11.08 - 01.02.09)", entered 4 November 2008: about a hundred works, two new reliefs on the facade of the large Deichtorhalle incl. "Hockender Mann", 2008, ceramic, 148 x 149 cm. Listing service, used for the dates. art-in.de/ausstellung.php
54artmagazine.cc, Daniela Gregori, "Stephan Balkenhol: Denkmal fuer Jedermann", 27 May 2007: review of the Museum der Moderne Salzburg exhibition (18 February - 24 June 2007) and of the 2007 Salzburg Foundation project, including the objections to the Kapitelplatz site and the 1983 sketch note "Wohin mit den Armen". artmagazine.cc/content26414.html
55Monopol, Marie-Louise Monrad Moeller, "Streit um Leipziger Denkmal: Der Schatten ueber Wagner", 9 February 2021 (history of the Leipzig monument projects 1904-2013; the monument "spaltet die Leipziger Wagner-Verehrer bis heute"; the Richard-Wagner-Verband's 2010 statement; the 2021 dispute over the Emil Hipp reliefs). monopol-magazin.de/wagner-denkmal-leipzig-kontroverse
56DOMRADIO.DE, "In Kassel streiten Kirche und documenta ueber Kunst", 17 May 2012 (documenta managing director Bernd Leifeld and spokeswoman Henriette Gallus on the figure on the tower of St. Elisabeth; the church's ten-sculpture exhibition; documenta 13 dates 9 June - 16 September 2012). domradio.de/artikel/...
57Kunst+Film (kunstundfilm.de), "Stephan Balkenhol in Sankt Elisabeth", June 2012: info box "Stephan Balkenhol in Sankt Elisabeth, 04.06.2012 - 18.09.2012, Sankt Elisabeth-Kirche, Friedrichsplatz 13". Opinion piece; used only for the dates. kunstundfilm.de/2012/...
58Kunstforum International, "Preise und Stipendien", Bd. 105 (1990): on 13 November 1989 the jury (Jens Christian Jensen, Dieter Koepplin, Katharina Schmidt, Dierk Stemmler) chose Stephan Balkenhol for the Bremer Kunstpreis 1989, endowed with DM 20,000, successor to the Kunstpreis der Boettcherstrasse last awarded in 1983. kunstforum.de/artikel/...
59Kunsthalle Bremen / Kunstverein in Bremen, "Kunstpreis der Boettcherstrasse in Bremen" (since 2024 Pauli-Preis): Balkenhol named among the laureates; the Stifterkreis has carried the prize since 1985 and enables the purchase of a work by each laureate. kunsthalle-bremen.de/de/...
60Ville de Metz, "L'hommage de Metz a Jean Moulin", 10 July 2014: the sculpture "Hommage a Jean Moulin" unveiled in the station hall by minister Aurelie Filippetti and mayor Dominique Gros; speeches quoted. metz.fr/actus/...
61Art Institute of Chicago, collection record 1998.523: Stephan Balkenhol, "Man Sitting", 1998, cedar wood and paint, purchased with funds provided by Barbara Bluhm, Stanley M. Freehling, Shirley Ryan, Horst Schmitter, Paul and Dorie Sternberg, Marjorie and Louis Susman and Twentieth-Century Discretionary funds (read through the museum's public API). artic.edu/artworks/...
62Christie's, First Open | Post-War and Contemporary Art (online, New York), "Untitled (Ape)", 1997, painted wawa wood, 160 x 33 x 23.5 cm, provenance Barbara Gladstone Gallery, acquired 1997; condition report noting scattered wear, small losses and a linear crack on the pedestal consistent with the artist's working method. onlineonly.christies.com.cn/s/...
63Spiegelberger Stiftung / PArt Foundation, "Ateliergespraech Stephan Balkenhol: Als Bildhauer denke ich mit den Haenden", conversation with Rene Spiegelberger, August 2024 (wood chosen for its speed; bronze for outdoor works and small editions; he never moulds a wooden figure, bronzes come from clay, wax or plaster models worked with self-made tools; "hoelzerne Spiegel"; the Frau and Mann bronze edition with NZZ). spiegelberger-stiftung.de/ateliergesprache/...
64Kunsthal Rotterdam, "Stephan Balkenhol. Something is Happening", 24 May - 14 September 2025, Hal 3, over 35 works incl. the Zodiac reliefs shown together for the first time and "Mickey Mouse" (2022); technique (chainsaw, hammer, chisel, gouge; figure and plinth from one block of poplar, wawa or cedar); teachers named as Rueckriem, Nam June Paik and Sigmar Polke; the statue of Willem Pijper for de Doelen unveiled 4 April 2025; partners AKINCI and Galerie Loehrl. kunsthal.nl/en/...
65KOENIG GALERIE, Berlin, "Stephan Balkenhol", Chapel, Alexandrinenstrasse 118-121, 10 September - 9 November 2025, the artist's third show with the gallery. koeniggalerie.com/blogs/...
66ARTEINFORMADO listing, "Stephan Balkenhol", CAC - Centro de Arte Contemporaneo de Malaga, 19 January - 22 April 2018. Listing service; the CAC's own page answered 403/500 to every fetch. arteinformado.com/agenda/...
67Sotheby's, New York, Contemporary Art Day Auction 2010 (sale N08679), lot 372: "Tiger", 2003, painted wood, 66 x 63.5 x 30.5 cm, estimate USD 30,000-40,000; provenance Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, acquired 2003; the result is not shown on the page. sothebys.com/en/...
68Wikimedia Commons, Category:Sculptures by Stephan Balkenhol (the plates below were chosen from it; each licence was read from the Commons API extmetadata LicenseShortName field on 16 September 2026). commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/...
69Galerie Loehrl, balkenhol-bronzen.de, "Das Werkverzeichnis" (location=catalog): the online list of all bronze editions, seventy-six entries from Fische - Mann und Frau (2026) to Humpty-Dumpty (1992), read 16 September 2026. balkenhol-bronzen.de
70Galerie Loehrl, balkenhol-bronzen.de, catalogue entry "Fische - Mann und Frau", 2026: bronze, patinated and painted, height c. 55 cm, plinth 38.5 x 28 x 0.8 cm, edition of 30, publisher Galerie Loehrl, price on request. balkenhol-bronzen.de
71Wikimedia Commons, "Category:Mann und Frau (Stephan Balkenhol, Zentralbibliothek Hamburg)", category text (TERTIARY): the group was bought in 2004 in the Kunstmeilenwettbewerb for just under EUR 165,000 (citing Hamburgische Buergerschaft, 21. Wahlperiode, Schriftliche Kleine Anfrage "Kunstwerke im oeffentlichen Raum") and unveiled on 13 November 2004 in the presence of the Kultursenatorin (citing Hamburger Abendblatt, 5 November 2004). Replace with the Buergerschaft Drucksache when read. commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/...
72Bundesamt fuer Bauwesen und Raumordnung (BBR), "Gestaltungswettbewerb fuer ein Freiheits- und Einheitsdenkmal in Berlin - 2010, Wettbewerbsergebnisse": on 3 October 2010 the jury unanimously selected, with equal rank, the entries of Prof. Stephan Balkenhol (entry 1008, "Der Kniende", with Ulrich Wolff), Prof. Andreas Meck and Milla & Partner with Sasha Waltz; the binding decision on realisation lay with BKM and BMVBS. bbr.bund.de/BBR/...
73KETELEER GALLERY, Antwerp, artist page "Stephan Balkenhol": gallery artist; solo exhibitions 24 September - 24 October 2021, 13 May - 24 June 2023 and 5 September - 11 October 2025; the 2021 press text calls the show a co-production with Deweer Gallery Estate and a symbol of the collaboration between KETELEER GALLERY and the former Deweer Gallery. keteleer.com/artists/...
74Deweer Gallery Estate, Otegem, "Opening hours": "From January 1st, 2020 onwards no more exhibitions will be organized in Otegem. All exhibitions of our active artists will take place at Keteleer Gallery" (Antwerp and Brasschaat). deweergallery-estate.com/en/...
75Stadt Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, press text of 2 June 2025 "Geschichte wird fuehlbar: Balkenhol-Plastik im Rathaus-Innenhof erinnert an das Hambacher Fest", as carried by mittelpfalz.de ("von PM Stadtverwaltung Neustadt"; the city's own URL answered 404 on 16 September 2026): the figure stands in the Rathaus-Innenhof, from which the 1832 march to the Hambacher Schloss set off; part of the Demokratiestadtkonzept adopted by the Stadtrat. mittelpfalz.de/2025/...
76Wochenblatt-Reporter Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, "Balkenhol-Figur im Rathausinnenhof: Der Freiheit eine Gasse", 30 May 2025: dedication with Marc Weigel, Stephan Balkenhol, Malu Dreyer and Gerhard Hofmann; "Moeglich gemacht wurde das Ganze durch mehrere Spender, so die Sparkassenkulturstiftung Neustadt an der Weinstrasse sowie durch den ehemaligen BASF-Vorstandsvorsitzenden Juergen Hambrecht"; the sandstone base from the Haardt quarry was a donation of the Hanbuch firm. wochenblatt-reporter.de/neustadtweinstrasse/...
77Galerie Ruediger Schoettle, Munich, artist page "Stephan Balkenhol": gallery artist; exhibitions "Stephan Balkenhol | Dan Graham", 22 November 2025 - 14 February 2026, and "Stephan Balkenhol", 9 December 2009 - 30 January 2010. galerie-schoettle.de/en/...
78Galerie Ruediger Schoettle, Munich, exhibition page "Stephan Balkenhol | Dan Graham", 22 November 2025 - 14 February 2026. galerie-schoettle.de/en/...
79Katharina Henkel, list of publications 2014-2018 (katharina-henkel.de): "Zu sechs Aspekten im Oeuvre von Stephan Balkenhol, in: Stephan Balkenhol, hrsg. von Katharina Henkel, Ausst.-Kat. Kunsthalle Emden, o.O. 2018, S. 17-25". katharina-henkel.de/index.php/...
80Van Ham Kunstauktionen, Auction 520 (The Kasper Koenig Collection - His Private Choice, 1 October 2024), lot 72: "The Task of Solitary Man", 2003, portfolio of 29 serigraphs on maple veneer, no. 4/50, publisher Har-El Printers & Publishers, Jaffa; literature: Dirk Dobke and Holger Priess (eds.), Stephan Balkenhol - Druckgraphik und Photo-Editionen, Werkverzeichnis (1987-2015), Hamburg 2015, no. 069.1-29; estimate EUR 5,000; result EUR 5,940 incl. premium. van-ham.com/de/...
81Museum Jorn, Silkeborg, "Stephan Balkenhol", 05.07.-27.09.2020; part of the Danish-German friendship year 2020; catalogue published for the exhibition. museumjorn.dk/exhibit/...
82art-in.de listing, "Stephan Balkenhol - Bildhauer", Kunstmuseum Ravensburg, 12.04.-24.08.2014, entered 17 April 2014 (listing service; also given as 12 April - 24 August 2014 by kultur-online.net). art-in.de/ausstellung.php
83vienna.at (APA), "Bildhauer Stephan Balkenhol in Landesgalerie Linz", published 23 October 2014: the exhibition opens that Thursday and runs to 22 February 2015, his first solo exhibition in Linz (press report; the Landesmuseum's own pages answered 404 on 16 September 2026). vienna.at/bildhauer-stephan-balkenhol-in-landesgalerie-li...
84Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, "Stephan Balkenhol. Big Head-Column", 30 April - 16 September 2013, Grand Canal Terrace, curator Sandro Rumney, in agreement with Art of The Next Century and Galerie Loehrl. guggenheim-venice.it/en/...
85The National Museum of Art, Osaka (NMAO), exhibition archive, "Stephan Balkenhol", 29 April - 18 July 2005: about 50 sculptures, the first comprehensive showing of his work in Japan. nmao.go.jp/archive/...
86Conseil economique, social et environnemental (CESE), Paris, agenda "Exposition Le prevu et l'imprevu de Stephan Balkenhol", Palais d'Iena, 17 to 30 October 2020 (thirteen new painted wood sculptures in the Perret nave). lecese.fr/agenda/...

Cite this pageIconotheca, “Stephan Balkenhol”, The Provenance Record, iconotheca.com/artists/stephan-balkenhol/, version of 16 September 2026.

Last verified 16 September 2026