Wilhelm Siegmund Anton Louis Krieger was born on 2 June 1877 on Norderney and became a German sculptor known for his animal sculptures. He grew up in Norden and attended the Ulrichsgymnasium, which he left without completing a degree. Krieger began a three-year apprenticeship as a decorative painter in Bremen, later studying briefly at the Kunstgewerbeschule in München in 1906 and 1907. He left formal study early and from about 1901 trained autodidactically as a sculptor, developing skills in modeling, bronze casting, and stone carving.

Krieger became a partner in the Munich firm Zierhut & Krieger in 1903, producing art-craft objects before turning increasingly to animal sculpture. He worked with several ceramic and metal wor...