Pamono Franz Hagenauer, Female Bust, 1980s, Copper> Art Nouveau

Female bust, Franz Hagenauer, Werkstatte Hagenauer Wien, early 1980s, marked The designs of Prof. Franz Hagenauer from the 1980s show an artistic spirit in motion. Even in this late period towards the end of his life, Hagenauer was interested in new impulses for his artworks. A sculpture from our catalog volume 6 made of brass with a copper hair curl and glass eyes shows this quite impressively. In this piece Franz Hagenauer goes even further and uses copper wire for a veritable mane of hair. Except for an example in the Hagenauer archive in the MAK, this is the only beaten metal object of the Werkstatte Hagenauer known to us in which the entire magnificence of the hair is fully sculptured and not just hinted at. We want to thank Mr. Mally for his help. The representation of the eyes is also remarkable. It is true that eyelashes were already documented in the 1970s with the rather flat, relief-like heads. However, we have not yet been able to observe them in this dynamic way, worked directly from the metal of the sculpture. Merely the scarf and the general optical appearance, together with the characteristic reduction of the physical attributes, are typical of the work of the Werkstatte Hagenauer. This bust is an exciting testimony to the late work of Professor Franz Hagenauer. marked with “wHw” in the circle, “FRANZ”, “HAGENAUER WIEN”, “MADE IN AUSTRIA” and “1009”; contemporary photograph in the Hagenauer Archive at Museum of Applied Arts Vienna, inv. no. 1139