Born to a master stonemason in the town of Elberfeld in 1900, Arno Breker early learned his eventual craft in the parental enterprise. He first visited the art school in Elberfeld and from 1920 on he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf. Four years later, he traveled to Paris in order to study the sculptural works of early modernism. There, he met the art dealer Alfred Flechtheim who offered to sell his works in Paris, thus making Breker known in the art scene of Paris, where the artist eventually settled in 1927.

He returned to Germany in 1934 after a year of studying in Italy. In Berlin, Arno Breker taught at the Academy of Fine Arts as professor of sculpture. He always remain...