Animals Are Only Humans Too. Sculptures by August Gaul

Press Release

Animals Are Only Humans Too. Sculptures by August Gaul

13 November 2025 – 3 May 2026
Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung

The Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung is dedicating a major exhibition to the sculptor August Gaul (1869–1921), showcasing the artist in all his diversity as one of Germany’s first modern sculptors. Under the title Animals Are Only Humans Too. Sculptures by August Gaul (13 November 2025 – 3 May 2026), the museum is showing around one hundred of Gaul’s animal sculptures in dialogue with sculptures from three millennia. The topics range from animal worship in ancient Egypt and the hybrid creatures of Greek mythology to domestic animals in ancient Rome and animals in Christian iconography. August Gaul is considered to be one of the pioneers of modern sculpture in Germany. Through his depictions of animals, he liberated the motif from centuries-old symbolism, developing a new sculptural language that would continue to influence artists well into the twentieth century. The exhibition invites visitors to discover Gaul’s modernity through some one hundred works in bronze, ceramics and marble. Alongside his impressive, life-size sculptures of lions and apes, Gaul also turned his attention to animals that had previously been overlooked in art, including donkeys, geese and ducks.

For the first time, the exhibition shows almost the entire important private Frankfurt collection of Carlo Giersch and is supplemented by numerous loans from Berlin, Hamburg, Hanau and Leipzig. The presentation extends across almost all areas of the Liebieghaus and places Gaul’s work in a multifaceted dialogue with the collection. A particular highlight is the larger-than-life eagle in the museum garden, which the artist originally created for the Kaiser Wilhelm National Monument in Berlin. Unlike traditional heroic depictions, the bird is shown here landing on its nest—an impressive example of Gaul’s artistic programme of replacing the animal’s political symbolism with its natural behaviour. His work aligns with contemporary scientific research and the study of animal psychology, such as that of Charles Darwin. This is particularly evident in the juxtaposition of Gaul’s 1895 _Portrait of the Orangutan ‘”Jumbo” _ (1895) with an ancient portrait of the Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius (after 169 AD).

The exhibition showcases Gaul’s work within the context of his exploration of the relationship between art and science, while also shedding light on socially relevant issues of his time. The theme of the close relationship between humans and animals runs like a thread through the entire exhibition. This theme was already reflected in popular culture during Gaul’s lifetime: Margarete Steiff invented the teddy bear, while Rudyard Kipling’s __The Jungle Book shaped generations’ ideas about humans and animals in the context of survival and the wilderness. All of this reflects the fascination of an era in which animals became a mirror image of humans. The exhibition concludes with a media installation featuring images of animals from social networks, offering a contemporary perspective on the relationship between humans and animals.

“Around 1900, the image of animals became a field of experimentation for modernism. Young sculptors such as August Gaul sought new forms of artistic expression, capturing animals not as symbols of mythology, Christianity or political power, but as living, sentient beings—artistically reduced to basic forms, characterized by a quiet presence and at the same time precisely observed. As a lively venue for viewing sculpture, the Liebieghaus allows visitors to experience how August Gaul’s modern visual language interacts with the long history of sculpture”, explains Philipp Demandt, Director of the Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung.

The full press release can be found here.