Later Life
After World War II, Marcks became Professor of Sculpture at the Landeskunstschule (Regional Art School) in Hamburg, where he taught for four years, before retiring to Cologne. He also designed memorials for soldiers and civilians who had died in the war. In 1949, he was awarded the Goethe Medal; and in 1952, he was given the Knight of the Order Pour le Mérite, civil class.
Marcks died in 1981 in Burgbrohl, Eifel. A decade earlier, the Gerhard Marcks Haus, which houses a permanent exhibition of his artwork, had been established in his honor in Bremen, Germany. In this museum are 12,000 of his sketches and preparatory drawings, 900 prints, and all his sculptures (about 350). In the U.S., there is a collection of Marcks' work (68 drawings, 65 prints and 9 nine bronze sculptures) at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, most of which were given to that school by his former student and close associate, Marguerite Wildenhain. Of particular note is a momumental Marcks bronze statue titled Oedipus and Antigone (1960), which was installed on that campus in 2000.
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