Werkstätte Hagenauer Wien - (wHw) - was a family business in Vienna that produced fine, handcrafted objects for decoration and use over its nearly ninety-year history. The workshop closed in 1987 but the company's retail premises, opened in 1938 on Vienna's Opernring, survives today as a museum and shop.
Carl Hagenauer Carl Hagenauer (1872 - 1928) founded what became the Werkstätte Hagenauer Wien in 1898. He began as an apprentice at Würbel & Czokally, a silverware producer in Vienna.Mrazek, Wilhelm. Werkstätten Hagenauer 1898-1971, exhibition catalogue, Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna, 1971 He then trained as a goldsmithByars, Mel. The Design Encyclopedia. New York, 2004 before founding his own business, one of many in Vienna producing small figurines and useful objects. His workshop produced his own designs and those of other artists such as Josef Hoffmann and Otto Prutscher.Galerie Hagenauer His sons Karl (1898 - 1956) and Franz (1906 - 1986) both became renowned designers.
Karl Hagenauer
Karl was an influential designer in the Art Deco style. He enrolled at the Vienna School of Applied Arts at age eleven. He studied with Josef Hoffmann and Oskar StrnadLong, Christopher. "The Werkstätte Hagenauer: Design and Marketing in Vienna Between the World Wars." Studies in the Decorative Arts 10 (Spring-Summer 2003) and created designs for the Wiener Werkstätte art collective. After wartime service in the infantry, he resumed his training and qualified as an architect. He joined the family business in 1919 and soon took on leadership in both design and management.Hagenauer, Ronald. "The Workshop Hagenauer Wien - wHw." Collectables Trader 91 (December 2009 - March 2010) and 92 (March - May 2010)
Karl Hagenauer was responsive to the change in public taste influenced by the popularity of the Vienna Secession. His stylized animals and whimsical creatures (reminiscent of Wiener Werkstätte designer Dagobert Peche) handcrafted in brass had broad appeal in domestic and American markets.Rosenthal, Rudolph and Helena L. Ratzka. The Story of Modern Applied Art, New York, 1948 Some were useful, such as mirrors, cigar cutters, ashtrays,"MOMA" cigarette stubbers - many in the form of athletes or animals, candlesticks, corkscrews, bookends, and lamp bases. Figurines, hood ornaments and other larger sculptures in wood and metal (such as the iconic Josephine Baker in the collection of the Casa Lis Art Nouveau and Art Deco Museum in Salamanca) were purely decorative.Miller, Judith. Art Deco. Dorling Kindersley, 2005
He designed the company’s trademark encircled "wHw" and registered it in 1927. The first catalogue to use the trademark dates to 1928,Werkstätte Karl Hagenauer. Vienna, 1928. the year his father died and Karl assumed leadership of the business. The company later expanded to produce furniture, chiefly designed by Julius Jirasek.Beyerle, Tulga and Karin Hirschberge. A Century of Austrian Design: 1900-2005. Basel; Boston : Birkhäuser, 2006
Karl's designs were popular enough to be reproduced and marketed by counterfeiters in the 1930sRosenthal, Rudolph and Helena L. Ratzka. The Story of Modern Applied Art, New York, 1948 and more recently.Hagenauer Fakes
Karl Hagenauer's work found an avid American market partly through the efforts of New York gallery owner Rena Rosenthal, who featured the Josephine Baker sculpture in a 1935 window display. He made two voyages to New York to visit her in the 1930sLiberty Ellis Foundation and stamped some of the merchandise retailed through her store with a custom "RENA" mark in addition to his trademark "wHw." Rosenthal's patronage was critical to the post-war success of the Werkstätte Hagenauer; the hostilities caused a delay of several years in her payment for a last container of products shipped in 1938, and the subsequent change in exchange rate was very advantageous to the Austrian firm, supporting rebuilding efforts.Kronsteiner, Olga. Hagenauer, Wiener Moderne und neue sachlichkeit. Vienna, 2011 The company turned to the production of metal objects and furniture needed for the restoration of houses and other structures damaged or destroyed in the war. The 1950s saw a reintroduction to the more decorative products.
Franz Hagenauer
While Karl was the principal designer of everyday objects (and some sculptures), his younger brother Franz specialized in sculpture. Franz Hagenauer also studied from an early age with Franz Cižek at Vienna's School of Applied Arts, and joined the family business at age twenty. His interest and talent lay in sculpture with sheet metals rather than cast figures, and later in his career he was head of metalwork and metal design classes at the Academy of Applied Arts.
Franz took over the running of the company after Karl died in 1956.
Apprentices and associates
Julius Jirasek (1896 - 1965) was an Austrian architect who trained under Oskar Strnad and Josef Frank at the Vienna School of Applied Arts. He also designed jewellery, ceramics and glassware. Jirasek spent the thirty years from 1930 to 1960 with the Werkstätte Hagenauer, where he was responsible for furniture and utensils.Wien Werkbundsiedlung
Richard Rohac (1906 - 1956) was a master metal craftsman and designer who apprenticed at the Werkstätte Hagenauer Wien from the age of fourteen. He remained with the company until 1932, when he opened his own workshop and gained master certification.Robinson, Sal & Wayne Meadows. Austrian Figural Corkscrew Design: Auböck ∙ Bosse ∙ Hagenauer ∙ Rohac Following the war, the Richard Rohac Company produced a wide range of decorative and practical objects in brass, which served both domestic and overseas markets. His work, along with that of his business partner enamel artist Elfi Müller, was the subject of an American newsreel item in the 1950s.Skopp, Peter. "RR: Nicht Rena, sondern Richard – Künstlersignatur oder Importmarke?" Der Krätzer 23 (September 2006) and 24 (February 2007)
Karl Schmidt (born 1948) is a sculptor, painter and industrial designer. In 1962, he began a four-year apprenticeship in brass work under his professor, Franz Hagenauer.Karl Schmidt He went on to manage the workshop and then the company on Franz's death, until 1987.Atelier Karl Schmidt He founded his own workshop in Vienna in 1987, and then Atelier Karl Schmidt in Neudorf in 2009.
Recognition
1923 Prima Mostra Biennale Internazionale delle Arti Decorative, Monza (Diploma) 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, Paris (Silver and Bronze medal) 1927 World's Fair, Philadelphia (Gold medal) 1934 Austrian State Prize 1937 World Fair, Paris (Grand Prix) 1948 Triennale, Milan (Gran Premio) 1951 Triennale, Milan (two Gold medals and a Silver medal) 1954 Triennale, Milan (Gold medal) 1957 Triennale, Milan (Silver medal) 1958 World's Fair, Brussels (Gold medal)
Exhibitions
1938 Österreichische Werkkunst der Gegenwart, Mannheim 1971 Austrian Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna 1986 Würthle Gallery, Vienna 2011 Otto Wagner Museum, Vienna
Literature
References
Further reading
External links Galerie Hagenauer Atelier Karl Schmidt Hagenauer Fakes Wagner:Werk