1950s, mid century, black-patinated, bronze and brass figurine sculpture, of an African native warrior holding a shield and a spear with his arm fully-stretched. The warrior was designed and manufactured in Austria by Karl Hagenauer, Werkstätte Hagenauer Wien. In very good vintage condition with some wear commensurate with its age. The head-dress is loose and is removable. The spear is slightly crooked. The figurine has been stored in a safe-drawer over the last 20 years and very infrequently taken out. The manufacturer's mark is underneath stating then following: "Handmade, WHW (Maker's Circular stamp), Hagenauer Wien, Made in Austria.
A rare to source and beautiful collector's piece.
From 1st Dibs - "Karl Hagenauer was an important and popular figure in the decorative arts in Vienna in the decades bracketing the Second World War. While primarily a maker of sculptural decorative pieces, Hagenauer — in the same spirit as his peer Carl Auböck— created a wide array of household objects, from barware to office accessories, all designed with wit and a sleek modernist aesthetic.
Hagenauer’s father was a trained metalsmith who founded a bronzewares manufactory that produced decorative metalwork and housewares in both traditional and the then-novel Art Nouveau styles and cast small sculptures based on Old Masters paintings. After studying art and design at Vienna’s School of Applied Arts, where his teachers included architect Josef Hoffmann, a founder of the Wiener Werkstätte, he joined his father’s workshop in 1919 and began crafting items that reflected Hoffman’s modernist aesthetic. In the 1920s and ’30s, he developed an often-imitated style that combines the lithe, lissome lines of Art Nouveau (known in central Europe as Jugendstil) with the simple, unadorned forms of Art Deco. He worked primarily in brass — both polished and nickel-plated — as well as wood.
In addition to domestic items such as smoking accoutrements, teapots, trays, bowls, candleholders and tableware, Hagenauer produced a wide array of small-scale sculptures. (His younger brother, Franz— who took over the family business when their father died — was also a noted sculptor, with a style that could be described as Art-Deco-meets-Brancusi.) Karl’s sculptures fall into two main groups: humorous and whimsical animal and character figures that will remind many of the work of artist Tom Otterness and sleek, stylized animal and human forms, many with an African theme — an “exotic” connotation that was a 20th-century remnant of colonialism. As you will see from the items on offer, Karl Hagenauer was an artist-designer of great talent and many moods: affable, stylish and practical"
Dimensions: W: 7cm Depth: 4cm: Diameter of the base: 4cm Height 15cm
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