New issue

Issues of 2008

Curieux vienna bronze

Collecting has a long history and old-established traditions in Russia. In XVIIIth century private collectors were called ╚curieux╩, which meant ╚curious╩ and ╚inquiring╩ in French. Those collectors were often interested in not only rare and unique art pieces of great cultural and historical importance but also in funny and amusing works featuring some secret or surprise.

By the late XIXth√XXth century many collectors and connoisseurs of art used to gather curious figurines and compositions produced by a number of celebrated Austrian artists ≈ the founders of the so-called Vienna bronze (Weiner bronze or bronze de Vienne). Among the prominent Russian collectors of statuettes, representing animals and various funny scenes were Russian writer and publicist Maxim Gorky (1868√1936) and composer and author of first popular Soviet songs, people▓s artist of the Soviet Union Dmitry Yakovlevich Pokrass (1899√1978). Famous American writer Ernst Hemingway (1899√1961) was also a great fan of miniature statuettes produced by Viennese workshops and factories.

Doorbell ╚Bullfinch╩. Vienna. Early XXth century. Bronze. Moulding, polychrome painting [zoom (91k)]

Bronze making is traditionally French, but was imported to Vienna in 1850 when Mathias Bermann established a smelting works and began to mould, to chase and to paint animal figurines. Another workshop, belonging to Franz Bergmann, gained an equal reputation. Following in his tracks, Bergmann▓s son established the ╚Namgreb╩ stamp, which is the anagram of his name.

The production of bronze figurines will gain such success that some fifty workshops will be opened by the end of the century. Prospering until the First World War, it is at this time that a stamp is introduced to fight against forgeries. Only alloys of yellow copper and copper and bronze are entitled to bear this stamp. Because the smaller bronzes were not signed by the artists, specific markings appeared such as; Ges. (Gesellschaft ≈ company or corporation), Gesch (geschдtzt ≈ registered), U. (und Sohn ≈ and son), Ausgabe (edition). Signed pieces are generally more valuable than unsigned pieces.

Because of Bermann▓s success, many others followed and at the turn of the сentury there were already about 50 companies working in this field. Viennese artists who did their job with much of empathy produced designs and models. Many famous names were amongst them: Kauba, Zach, Hagenstock, Titze, Perl, Lorenzl and many others. They have created up to14, 000 different figurines.

Viennese bronzes are famous and distinguished by their naturalistic and detailed representation of human figures, and all species of animals, ranging from Oriental bazaars, or elegant erotic nudes to life-like birds of prey or amusing frogs, pigs, dogs (of every breed), cats, and insects acting like people, or just themselves. Also, there is the wonderful line of Beatrice Potter figures. The pieces can differ in size from a few millimeters up to almost a meter. They are unequalled in their state of the art finish as they are beautifully cold painted in naturalistic colors, skillfully patinated, or gilded. Through their broad variety of subjects, sizes and finishes, these bronzes reflect the contemporary taste of the Viennese and European public in general and they are being sold to collectors all over the world. They are directly designed by the artists to give shape to the casting moulds for further reproduction.

Сat with a poster ╚Wiener bronze╩. Late XXth century. Bronze, polychrome painting [zoom (45k)]

The Vienna Bronze foundries have been in existence since 1850. Mr. Bermann and Mr. Bergmann, the original owners, designed many, many bronzes. There are approximately 20 to 30 thousand different bronzes that the foundries are capable of producing. No one has ever taken the time to hand count them.

Each bronze separately cast. This means, if you have a bronze bird on a nest, the bird is one piece and the nest is one piece. There is only one man doing all the casting and filing. The bronzes are sand-casted. This is a procedure that consists of wet sand. They take the original mold, press it into the sand, which leaves an impression. Then the man pours in the hot bronze. He lets it cool and then will hand file each piece. The pieces are then soldered together to create the bird on the nest.

Once the bronze is made, it is taken into a room where 2 or 3 women will hand paint the piece with oil paint. Each piece has approximately 5 to 10 coats of paint on them. This is a feast in itself. All these people are artists and should be appreciated for all the work they do. Figure groups featuring the denizens of fairy tales and Beatrix Potter▓s stories, hunting scenes, mice orchestras, frogs in taverns, and realistic depictions of a wide variety of animals were very popular. The animals were sometimes family pets immortalized in precise detail or they were incredibly realistic, miniature renderings of specimens found in the Vienna Zoo. There were also erotic representations of young women posed in the Art Nouveau style. Their nudity was characteristically hidden by some sort of covering that opened when a button was pushed or a segment moved. An owl, for example, might pop open to reveal a sensuously posed woman inside. In addition, depictions of Native Americans and Asian themes were much in demand. Beautiful representations of American Indians by Carl Kauba (an American artist working in Vienna) and others are much in demand as are elaborate lamps, which typically feature camels, Arabs, an oasis pool, a beautiful woman and palm trees.

Among rare and unique Vienna bronze pieces representing erotic scenes, nude figurines, etc. that survived up to now is a selection of sculptural compositions from the collection of the State Museum-Reserve ╚Tsarskoe Selo╩ (St. Petersburg). This selection was a part of comprehensive collection of the owners of Ekaterininsky Palace. Notably, in the second half of XIXth century many Russian nobles, Grand Dukes and Emperors including Alexander II and Alexander III were devoted fans and collectors of erotic pieces produced by Viennese masters. During the Soviet age, Vienna bronze pieces rarely appeared at the art and antiquarian market; Moscow-based and Leningrad-based collectors highly valued those unique artworks.

Statuette ╚A Turk Selling a Carpet╩. Vienna. Late ХIХth century. Bronze. Moulding, polychrome painting. Height 12.0 cm [zoom (90k)]

Speaking about the most known Viennese artists, we must mention Peter Tereszczuk (1875√1963), very prolific, gifted and successful master, one of the brightest representatives of Vienna chryselephantine bronze in the first third of XXth century. His pieces largely created in Art Nouveau or Art Deco style are highly sought-after among collectors worldwide. For instance, a bronze sculpture representing a woman of fashion of 1920s by Peter Tereszczuk (height 28√30 centimeters, incrusted with ivory) costs about 5,000√7,000 dollars. The inkpot with two-figured composition made in chryselephantine technique (height 21 centimeter) is worth 1,500 dollars; letter opener knives are estimated at least at 200√300 dollars apiece, while similar knives with ivory incrustations cost 600√700 dollars. Art dealers and experts are also interested in works produced by Joseph Lorenzl, another popular sculptor of the early XXth century. For example, bronze figurines representing dancers standing on a green onyx and marble platform (height 25√40 centimeters, circa 1920s√1930s) cost within the range from 1,600√1,900 dollars to 8,000√9,000 dollars depending on the intricacy of decor and a dance posture of a statuette. Nude silver patinated figurine on a marble stand (height 65 centimeters) is estimated at 9,000√11,000 dollars.

Notably, there are not so many Vienna bronze pieces at the national art and antiquarian market; that is why prices for these rare artworks at the Russian art market can be compared with the world ones.