Gustav Seitz is one of the more important German sculptors of the 20th century. From 1928-32 he was a master student of W. Gerstel at the Hochschule für Bildende Kunst in Berlin.

From 1946-50 he was appointed professor of sculpture in Berlin, and from 1958 he was professor at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg.

His works were shown at Documenta II and III as well as at the World Exhibition in Montreal in 1967. In 1968 he represented the Federal Republic of Germany as a sculptor at the Venice Biennale.

His oeuvre consists mainly of female nudes and portraits.

Source:
Berlin (Nat.-Gal.), Hamburg (Kunsthalle, MKG), München, Wien (Kunsthist. Mus.), Peking u.a. - Comp.: U. Grohn, Das plastische Werk. Werkverzeichnis, Hamburg, 1980, Schüler, Schälicke a.o. Lit.: U. Grohn, A. Hentzen: Das plastische Werk, WVZ, Hamburg, 1980.

Born in Mannheim, Gustav Seitz (1906-1969) regularly visited the local art gallery during his school years. From 1922 to 1924, he trained as a stonemason and sculptor under the guidance of the sculptor August Dursy in Ludwigshafen and took drawing classes in the vocational school Mannheim until his final examination as a sculptor.

From 1924 to 1925, he studied under Georg Schreyögg at the State Art School in Karlsruhe. From 1925 to 1932, he visited the classes of Ludwig Gies at the United State Schools for Free and Applied Arts in Berlin (now University of the Arts). Starting in 1928, he was a master student of Wilhelm Gerstel, and from 1933-1938 of Hugo Lederer at the Berlin Academy of Arts.

From 1946 to 1950, he worked as a professor at the Technical University of the Arts in Berlin. During the Cold War, he was suspended from his teaching positions at the College of Fine Arts and the Technical University. In 1950, he moved to East Berlin, and in 1958 to Hamburg, where he took a teaching position at the city's Academy of Fine Arts.

Seitz has repeatedly exhibited at the documenta II in Kassel and at the Venice Biennale. In Hamburg is located the Gustav-Seitz Foundation.