“GIVING SHAPE TO LIFE”: THE LEOPOLD MUSEUM PRESENTS “THE DESIGNER AMONG SCULPTORS” FRANZ HAGENAUER
25.05.2022
The exhibition “The Replicating Business” shines the spotlight on the “Photographic Art Publisher” Otto Schmidt
The exhibition The Replicating Business, one of the Leopold Museum’s two summer exhibitions, sheds light on the complex conditions of reproduction photography around 1900 based on the history of the “photographic art publishing company” founded by Otto Schmidt (1849–1920). Like Otto Schmidt, Franz Hagenauer (1906–1986), too, studied at the progressive Vienna School of Arts and Crafts. His oeuvre, which is situated at the point of intersection between artisan craftwork and sculpture, is presented at the Leopold Museum as part of a comprehensive retrospective. The exhibition features 170 exhibits, including works from all the periods of the metal sculptor’s oeuvre. The metal objects, made from copper, brass or alpacca, are presented in a treasury-like setting. The majority of loans hail from the world’s largest Franz Hagenauer collection, owned by the Breinsberg family, from the Leopold Museum, the MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, as well as from several private collections.
The designer among sculptors: Reduction and radical Modernism
Franz Hagenauer systematically combined free sculptural design with artisanal aspirations. As a sculptor among designers and a designer among sculptors, he was committed to the tradition of internationally popular Viennese arts and crafts. Orienting his designs on the human body as well as on shapes from the flora and fauna, Hagenauer derived inspiration from the form repertoire of Neo-Classicism, from the design approaches of the trend-setting German Bauhaus movement and from Art Deco. His heads and busts created from the late 1920s from chased metal are among the most radical Modernist forays in Austrian art of the interwar period on account of their reduction.
“Firmly rooted in the tradition of refined Viennese arts and crafts, but invariably propelled by a non-purposive creative drive, Franz Hagenauer saw beyond the regional context of art already in the 1920s. In early Paris Modernism, Neo-Classicism, the Bauhaus movement and Art Deco, he found manifold possibilities to formulate his artistic ideas which were ultimately aimed towards an absolute purification of forms. A large-scale solo exhibition dedicated to this singular protagonist of Austrian Modernism was long overdue, especially since Franz Hagenauer features in the collection of the Leopold Museum with eminent works.” Hans-Peter Wipplinger, Director of the Leopold Museum
The “Werkstätte Hagenauer”: Success in Europe and overseas
The “Werkstätte Hagenauer”, founded by Carl Hagenauer (1872–1928) in 1898, was among the most successful of the approximately 230 metal processing companies and factories that operated in Vienna and its environs around 1900. Already by the interwar period, decorative objects and articles of daily use from the Hagenauer brand were exported overseas along with sculptures. Around 1930, the family business employed some 80 members of staff. The company founder’s sons, Franz and his older brother Karl (1898–1956), took over the family business when their father died in 1928. After Karl’s passing in 1956, Franz became the head of the company. Between 1962 and 1976, he headed the master class for metal design at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, and remained a tireless experimenter until his death in 1986.
Fashion and film
In the 1930s, a period in which “l’art pour l’art” – art for art’s sake – was increasingly stigmatized by the emerging mass movements, Hagenauer’s stylized, at times faceless heads were used as sophisticated shop window decorations. His objects also appeared in the international movie business, for instance in the French comedy Arthur (1931) and in Grand Hotel starring Greta Garbo. Sculptures by Hagenauer further featured in the art collections of Barbra Streisand and Andy Warhol.
Giving shape to life
Hagenauer’s oeuvre was influenced by his wish, expressed several times, to “give shape to life”: “Reproducibility – a modern phenomenon par excellence – was no impediment to the intentions of Franz Hagenauer, the sculptor in the family, not even to his oft-quoted purpose of ‘giving shape to life’. Textual sources that would afford more detailed insights into Franz Hagenauer’s artistic views and intentions are unfortunately scarce. The few direct quotes that do exist, however, are highly revealing: ‘We were craftsmen and I still am one today’, he avowed several days before his death.” Ivan Ristić, in the exhibition catalogue
The exhibition was developed in scientific cooperation with the MAK – Museum of Applied Arts and with the kind support of the Breinsberg family. It is accompanied by a comprehensive bilingual (German/English) catalogue, Franz Hagenauer, published by Walther and Franz König publishers, edited by Ivan Ristić and Hans-Peter Wipplinger, and available at the Leopold Museum Shop.
THE REPLICATING BUSINESS
This summer, the Leopold Museum’s Graphic Cabinet presents an exhibition dedicated to the “photographic art publisher” Otto Schmidt, who around 1900 was considered one of the most important European producers of study sheets in Vienna and published photographic material via portfolios, magazines, postcards and books. The exhibition investigates the processes of production, as well as of image circulation and consumption, including the exchange relationship with the fine arts, particularly painting.
Michael Ponstingl, curator of the exhibition: “The exhibition The Replicating Business. ‘The Photographic Art Publisher Otto Schmidt’ was developed in cooperation with Photoinstitut Bonartes. It is a contribution to the exploration of professional photography in the 19th century, especially of photographic publishing. Throughout the last three decades of the 19th century, Otto Schmidt, who was active as a photographer, publisher and printer (heliogravures), created a stockpile of images which are in circulation to this day.”
Publishing photographs and the circulation of images
The rapid growth of photographic studios gave rise in the 1860s to a highly competitive market of collector’s images with new themes and formats. Countless replicas (positives) of photographs were distributed via major publishing houses and distributors operating on a pan-European scale. Both photographers and distributors promulgated their publishing programs via catalogues, sample sheets, leaflets, brochures and advertisements. Among the most successful instances of a photographer turned publisher was Otto Schmidt. His early success in 1873 with his series showing Viennese Types was followed by the production of study sheets (Études d’après nature) which served as templates to artists close to Historicism.
Nude studies
Schmidt’s most lucrative production was that of nude studies, which was incidentally the most extensive in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. When Schmidt retired in 1903, the painter Eduard Büchler (1861–1958) took over the company and extended the repertoire of nude studies. Via international dealer networks, these also entered into circulation overseas, often in secret.
Production and “practices of appropriation”
The production of photographs is a two-step process, with the editing of negatives considered an autonomous creative practice that may even take place independently of the person who took the photograph. Viewed in this light, the production based on Schmidt’s negatives has not ceased to this day. The objects shown at the Leopold Museum illustrate how artists, scientists and protagonists of popular culture appropriated Schmidt’s and Büchler’s images. The presentation The Replicating Business. “The Photographic Art Publisher Otto Schmidt” shows around 330 exhibits, including photographs, books, magazines, leaflets, promotional brochures, postcards, heliogravures, paintings, decorative fabrics and archival material. It is accompanied by an eponymous book published by Fotohof edition (Salzburg).
Opening of the exhibitions
The new exhibitions were opened by the Leopold Museum’s Director Hans-Peter Wipplinger in the presence of the museum’s Commercial Director Moritz Stipsicz. The opening was attended by numerous guests of honor, including the artist’s daughters Caja Hagenauer and Claudia Schröckenstein, the collectors Erich and Monika Breinsberg, MAK-CEO Lilli Hollein, the director of Photoinstitut Bonartes Monika Faber, MAK-CCO Theresa Mitterlehner-Marchesani, Knut Kreuch, the mayor of Gotha, which was Otto Schmidt’s hometown, the collector Ernst Ploil, Gerald Piffl (APA Picture Desk), the artist Gerda Leopold, the graphic designer Nele Steinborn, Roland Fischer-Briand (photographic collection of the Theatermuseum), Rainer Iglar (Fotohof Salzburg), Astrid Hammer (Volkskundemuseum Vienna, custodian of the photographic collection), Walter Moser (Albertina, head of the photography department), Astrid Mahler (Albertina, photography curator), Uwe Schögl (photographic historian, Austrian National Library), the art historian Maren Gröning (Döbling district councilor for finance and culture), the gallery owners Florian Kolhammer and Patrick Kovacs, Franz Frania (head of finance, Autohaus Liewers), the photography collector Mila Palm, the publisher Christian Brandstätter, Leopold Birstinger (vice president of the Association of Friends of the Leopold Museum), Hagenauer catalogue authors Marie-Luise Jesch and Marco Antonio Ricci, Marianne Kirstein-Jacobs, the writers Josef Haslinger and Stefan Kutzenberger, the photographic artist Seiichi Furuya, and many others.
Franz Hagenauer
20th May – 12th Sept. 2022
The Replicating Business. “The Photographic Art Publisher Otto Schmidt”
20th May – 28th Aug. 2022
Link to detailed press material and high-resolution press images:
https://www.leopoldmuseum.org/de/presse/presseunterlagen?cat=2
Link to the APA photo gallery:
https://www.apa-fotoservice.at/galerie/27864
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