The large portrait statues of the collector-couple became a focus of the then West German public's attention from the moment of their creation in the latter half of the 80s − but this had nothing to do with their penchant for classicism or conservative style; the public outcry at the time was caused by the person of the sculptor himself. The reason for this is that Arno Breker (1900–91) received a number of public commissions beginning in the 1930's as Hitler's favorite sculptor. His monumental works are emblems of the age, symbols of the struggle against so-called “decadent art.” Regarded after the Second World War as a Nazi fellow traveler, the sculptor worked primarily on private commissions; during this time he made portraits of many famous figures, including Jean Cocteau and Ezra Pound. Peter Ludwig considered Breker to be one of the century's leading portrait sculptors, and sat for him over a period of many months in 1986. The result is one life-sized bronze, as well as another (on view here) that is larger than life. Breker also made two versions of a bust of Irene Ludwig.
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