The Hagenauer Workshop

Carl Hagenauer (1872 – 1928) He became a journeyman with the master goldsmith Bernauer Samu in Pressburg and became a trained chaser and master metal former. In his early years as a freelancer, he received orders for restoration work at the Esterhazy Palace. In 1898, he founded the Hagenauer Workshop in Vienna. He produced the so-called "Vienna Bronzeware" according to his own designs and those of others, and recast small sculptures of old masters. Carl increasingly embraced the modern age and produced metal goods designed by Josef Hoffmann, Otto Prutscher, and other Viennese artists. He was represented at numerous exhibitions, as in Paris, London and Berlin, where his awards resulted in increased exports of the workshop. Karl Hagenauer (1898 – 1956) He studied at the School of Applied Arts in Vienna with the architects Josef Hoffmann and Oskar Strnad, and acquired his architect certificate. Josef Hoffmann recognized his great talent: "Karl Hagenauer has a very good understanding of form, his craftsmanship is very skilled;" he is "very gifted at drawing" and "very talented at design, and perfectly prepared technically." In the wake of Hoffman’s conviction of Karl Hagenauer's talent, he commissioned him to execute objects for the Wiener Werkstätte. From 1917-1919 Karl did military service. In 1919 he joined his father’s workshop, and was increasingly responsible for the commercial artworks. He created numerous works in silver, brass, copper, enamel, ivory, stone and wood which reveal the influence of Josef Hoffmann and the Wiener Werkstätte. After his father’s death in 1928, Karl Hagenauer, with his brother Franz and sister Grete, led the company further and expanded it to include a woodworking shop and sales branches in Vienna and Salzburg. Franz Hagenauer (1906 – 1986) At the age of twelve he took Franz Cizek’s course for teens at the School of Applied Arts in Vienna. From 1921 he studied sculpture under Anton Hanak and graduated, in addition, from the "workshop for metal forming” headed by Josef Hoffmann in his last academic year. Franz Hagenauer also was praised by his professors in the highest terms. Hoffmann called him "exceptionally gifted technically and artistically, very industrious and inventive." Even at this time (1925) he provided work for the exhibition space at the World Exhibition in Paris. From 1926, Franz worked as a metal former in his father's business, where he found his artistic fulfilment less in the creation of utility and decorative objects, than in his work as a sculptor. Early on, he created the later-famous big brass busts and figures, mostly done in sheet metal. It was only in the 1960s to 1980s that this design line gained increased recognition and aroused the interest of international art dealers. Franz Hagenauer became a member of the "Kunstschau" and took part in the 1934 Venice Biennale. A very important government commission was for the design and manufacture of large federal eagle in the Austrian Parliament. Other art objects, but also simple items of equipment (hardware, ashtrays, etc.), can be found in many public buildings. Franz was awarded the 1950 prize of the City of Vienna Applied Arts. In 1962 he was appointed Director of a Master Class for free forms in metal at the University of Applied Arts. Franz died in 1986. A year later, the Hagenauer workshop closed. Wiki