After the war, Voll returned to Dresden, where he enrolled at the
Kunstgewerbeschule and gradually entered Dresden's dynamic artistic milieu. In 1920, he joined the
Dresdner Sezessionsgruppe 1919, a creative society of intellectuals and artists intent on recasting world orders according to a utopian form of
socialism. The group included prominent contemporary artists such as
Otto Dix,
Conrad Felixmüller,
Hugo Zehder (architect),
Lasar Segall, Otto Schubert and
Gela Forster. It was in the context of this group's exhibitions that Voll sold his first major works, and received important working grants.
Oskar Kokoschka was an honorary member of the group, but never actually exhibited with them. Among Kokoschka's students was a young Danish painter, Erna Sørensen, and to his dismay, she and Voll fell in love and got married in May 1922. This initiated a period of artistic productivity and emotional calm in Voll's life; a combination that he very much attributed to the positive influence of his wife.). Also included in his social circle was the African-American painter
William Johnson (artist), whom he and his wife
Erna Krake met in
Cagnes-sur Mer in 1928–29. During his time in Saarbrücken, Voll attained increasing recognition as an artist. In 1926, he participated in the International Art Fair of Dresden with three wooden sculptures, and this resonated with both the public and the artistic elite to such an extent that other major exhibitions followed; the most important of which was a solo exhibit at
Galerie Neumann & Nierendorf in
Berlin in 1927. As part of this wave of success, Voll was appointed Professor of Sculpture at the
Badischen Kunsthochschule in
Karlsruhe in 1928. Here, Voll intensified his professional life, dedicating himself fully to his work and his best students. This came at the expense of the students he deemed unworthy. His demanding approach to apprenticeship caused dismay and bruised egos among those that in his opinion were not dedicated or talented enough, and some of them would harbor enough resentment to later become key figures to feeding the
national-socialist denunciation of Voll. In Karlsruhe, Voll engaged with his colleagues (Hubbuch, Schnarrenberger, and Scholz) to formulate and execute a new style, and the academy became a major center of
Realism in Europe. It was not to last. By the late 1920s, Baden was marked by violent national-socialist tendencies. When the
Nazis came to power in 1933, many of Voll's colleagues were forcefully
entpflichtet from duty. While Voll was declared ‘
Kulturbolschewist’, was interrogated, and was the subject of major ideological critiques, he escaped the initial wave of persecution, and was allowed to retain his position and continue his work. In this period, he turned away from some of his traditional
leitmotifs, and began dedicating himself to portraying the female body, and in particular the complexity of its movement. Among his masterpieces from this period are major works in stone such as
Eva/Erwachen (1928–33) and
Sitzender Akt mit Zopf (1932). In 1937, the tides turned against Voll as well. His sculpture ‘
Schwangere’ was selected for the exhibition of ‘
Entartete Kunst’ in Munich. While the exhibit included many artists and works, Voll's sculpture was selected from more than 17,000 works that the Nazis has confiscated; reflecting the societal impact of his art. The exhibit sought to generate funds by selling so-called
degenerate art to foreign collectors and institutions. Among the four agents charged with selling the confiscated art was
Hildebrand Gurlitt, whose son,
Cornelius Gurlitt, kept at least two of Voll's works in his private collection that was discovered in 2012. Before 1937 had ended, some of Voll's works were also denounced as degenerate in the Nazi publication
SA-Mann. Voll's
anno terribilis culminated in the de facto dismissal from the academy in Karlsruhe, when his contract was not extended. While Voll seems to have been painfully aware of the consequences of his beliefs and actions, in the end, both his art and his person were simply too expressive to be tolerated by the Nazi regime. Following his dismissal in 1937, Voll became increasingly affected by the toxic political milieu, and the propaganda launched against him. Over the following two years he tried dedicating himself to his work, but was far from as productive as during his time in Saarbrücken and Karlsruhe. He became ill – most likely of
intestinal cancer, though Professor Dietrich Schubert of
Heidelberg University has attributed his illness to the "psychological disruptions" he faced. In June 1939, Voll died at 42 years old. By then, his wife and daughter had sought refuge in Erna's native
Denmark, and so his body was taken to
Oksby, on the west coast of Denmark, where he was buried. == The Nachlass Collection ==