Harro Magnussen


Harro Magnussen was a German sculptor.

Life

He received his first lessons in drawing, modelling and carving wood from his father, the painter Christian Carl Magnussen. In 1882, he began his formal training in Munich with Nikolaus Gysis, Gabriel von Hackl and Ludwig von Löfftz. Despite being in Munich, he was most impressed by works from the Berliner Bildhauerschule and went there in 1888, where he obtained a position in the studios of Reinhold Begas, remaining for five years. In 1889, he produced a bust of Otto von Bismarck that sold over 1,000 copies in plaster and bronze over the next ten years.
He became a free-lance sculptor in 1893 and entered several competitions for contracts, but with little success. In 1899, his smaller works attracted the attention of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who commissioned him to do a figure of the dying Frederick the Great. This finally brought him to public attention and he was awarded one of the coveted commissions for Wilhelm's ambitious Siegesallee project. His work on that project earned him the Order of the Crown, Class IV.
He committed suicide by asphyxiation with gas. Due to "suggestive evidence", his death was briefly investigated as a possible murder by strangulation.

Selected major works