BARLACH, ERNST German artist and poet, was born at Wedel, Holstein, on Jan. 2, 1870. After distinguishing himself as a sculptor he attracted public notice with his dramatic works, Der tote Tag (1912), Der arme Vetter (1918), Die echten Sedemunds (1920), Der Findling (1922) and Die Siindflut (1924).
He received the Kleist prize for the last named drama in He illustrated the majority of his pieces with woodcuts. He is an expressionist and his philosophical dramas represent the mythi cal struggles of mankind with the powers of darkness. Notwith standing the massiveness of his forms, his drawing and sculpture reflect a delicate and sensitive understanding.
a town, France, capital of the department of Meuse, 5om. E.S.E. of Chalons-sur-Marne, on the railway be tween that town and Nancy. Pop. (1931) 14,463. Bar-le-Duc was at one time the seat of the countship, later the duchy, of Bar. Though probably ancient, it was important only when it became the residence of the loth century counts. The modern town ex tends along the narrow valley of the Ornain shut in by wooded or vine-clad hills. On the north-east is the canal from the Marne to the Rhine, on the south-west the Canal des Usines with the upper town (Ville Haute) on the left bank. The Ville Haute, reached by staircases and steep narrow thoroughfares, has houses of the 15th, i 6th and 17th centuries, and the remains of the château of the dukes of Bar, dismantled in 167o, and of the church of St. Pierre (14th and i 5th centuries). The lower town contains the official buildings. The town served as an important base for the southern quadrant of the western front during the World War (1914-18). Industries include iron-founding and man ufacture of machinery, corsets, hosiery, flannel goods, jam, wall paper and brewing, cotton-spinning, weaving various mixed fab rics, leather dressing and dyeing. Wine, brandy, beer, leather, timber and iron are important articles of commerce. Bar-le-Duc has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a board of trade arbitrators, a chamber of commerce, and an art museum.