ANTON HANAK
(Brno 1875 - 1934 Vienna)
Design for Gustav Mahler monument, 1933
plaster, height 35.5 cm
signed Anton Hanak, dated 1933
provenance: estate of the artist, private collection Langenzersdorf
ESTIMATE #Euro 5.000 - 10.000
STARTING PRICE #Euro 5.000
Hanak completed an apprenticeship as a wood sculptor in Vienna under Ludwig Sauer and studied from 1898 to 1904 at the Academy of Fine Arts under Edmund von Hellmer and Hans Bitterlich. Already during his studies (1902) he received an order for a commemorative plaque for Queen Victoria. After that Hanak was an independent sculptor. His sculptural work is situated in the area of tension between symbolism and expressionism. His early female figures, created in parallel with portrait commissions, show the influence of Auguste Rodin and Aristide Maillol. In the first two decades of the 20th century, he executed several commissions for Otto and Eugenia "Maeda" Primavesi in Olomouc and Robert Primavesi in Vienna. In 1911 he collaborated with Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffmann on the Austrian pavilion at the Rome International Art Exhibition. In 1917, he was in charge of the Austrian Art Exhibition in Stockholm. From 1913 to 1932 he headed the class for monumental sculpture at the School of Arts and Crafts; from 1932 he was professor of sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts. Hanak was a member of the Secession, the Wiener Werkstaette, and a founding member of the oesterreichischer Werkbund (oeWB), as well as close friends with Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffmann and acquaintances with Wilhelm Thoeny. As early as 1902 he participated in an exhibition of the Hagenbund. Hanak created sculptural ornaments for several buildings by Josef Hoffmann as well as for residential buildings of the Vienna municipality in the 1920s. Numerous portrait busts and monuments were created by him, such as the war memorial at the Central Cemetery, the overall design as well as the bust of Viktor Adler (1928) at the Republic Monument. Through the mediation of Clemens Holzmeister, Hanak was commissioned by the Turkish government to work on the monumental Emniyet Monument in Ankara from 1931, the bronze figures of which were completed by some of his students. From 1925 a committee (Alma Mahler, Carl Moll, Alfred Roller, Julius Tandler and others) endeavored to erect a monument to Gustav Mahler on Schwarzenbergplatz in Vienna. Karl Schwarzenberg (Prince Karl von Schwarzenberg) prevented the monument because it would have overhung his wall. Hanak's students included Fritz Wotruba, Rudolf Reinhart, Heinz Leinfeller and Franz Hagenauer.
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The purchase price consists of the highest bid plus the buyer's premium, sales tax and, if applicable, the fee of artists resale rights. In the case of normal taxation (marked #), a premium of 24% is added to the highest bid. The mandatory sales tax of 13%, for photographys 20%, is added to the sum of the highest bid and the buyer's premium.
The buyer's premium amounts to 28% in case of differential taxation. The sales tax is included in the differential taxation.