Here we are with some thoughts around two images I encountered over half-century apart. I came across the first image in 1967, when I was doing German literature at school. The course included Alfred Andersch’s novel Sansibar oder der Letzte Grund, in which the work of Ernst Barlach, his Lesender Klosterschüler — the Reading Monk — was a central image and important symbol. My copy of the book had the photo of the carving. I wrote about this here : Der Lesender Klosterschüler
The second encounter came recently, while revisiting the BBC
documentary series Art That Made Us, which opens with the Anglo‑Saxon
“Spong Man,” discovered in Norfolk. I enjoyed the co-incidence that Norfolk was my domicile for many years, and that
earlier blog piece on Barlach had been written there. The BBC documentary’s
brief glimpse of the Spong Man prompted me to think some more about the clear and
instinctive parallels which these figures present.
Two Figures, Two Worlds
At first glance, the Spong Man and Barlach’s Reading Monk belong to entirely different cultural universes. One is a small clay figure from the 5th or 6th century, found on top of a cremation urn in an early Anglo‑Saxon cemetery. The other is a modernist sculpture carved in 1930, shaped by the artistic and political tensions of interwar Germany. Yet both are seated human figures gathered into themselves, their postures expressing a timeless interiority, in spite of the 1,500 years between their creation.
The Spong Man was unearthed at Spong Hill, Norfolk — the
largest early Anglo‑Saxon cremation cemetery known in England. Its date places
it in the turbulent period following the end of Roman rule New migrant
communities were establishing themselves and religious life was a mixture of
ancestral practices and emerging influences.
The posture is simple: elbows on knees, hands raised to the cheeks. Whether guardian, mourner, or ancestral presence, the figure conveys a moment of inward attention. The rough modelling does not disguise – but actually enhances - the emotional clarity. It expresses a capacity to turn inward to find solace in times of uncertainty.
Ernst Barlach’s Lesender Klosterschüler belongs to a
very different moment of transition. Created in 1930, it reflects the spiritual
searching and political unease of the Weimar years. Barlach’s simplified forms
and inward‑turned figures stood in opposition to the rising ideological
rigidity of the period. His work was later denounced as “degenerate,” removed
from public spaces, and in some cases destroyed.
In Andersch’s novel, the Reading Monk becomes a focal point for the moral imagination. Each character sees something different in the figure — spiritual inheritance, intellectual freedom, resistance to oppression. The sculpture’s bowed head and gathered posture represent an enduring stillnes. More about this is in my earlier notes in : Der Lesender Klosterschüler
Despite their differences, both sculptures rely on posture as the primary means of expression. Their inwardness is conveyed not through facial detail but through the geometry of the body: the Spong Man forms a compact loop of thought, the limbs enclosing the head. The Reading Monk forms a downward arc, the robe and bowed head creating a sheltered space of concentration.
Both figures simplify the human form to reveal an interior
life. Each came into being at at time of cultural instability — one after the collapse
of Roman Britain, the other on the eve of totalitarianism.
Notes:
The comparative observations on posture and inwardness draw on publicly available information from:
- Norfolk Museums Service for archaeological information on Spong Hill
- The British Museum (which holds the Spong Man) for basic object detail
- The Ernst Barlach Stiftung (Foundation) for biographical and catalogue information on Barlach