Globally celebrated Austrian metalworker Franz Xaver Bergman(n) is known for his bronze statuettes and figurines, which are rich with personality and alive with color.
Bergmann's father, Franz Bergmann, Sr., apprenticed under Josef Ott and became a professional caster and chaser, and moved from Gablonz, Bohemia, to Vienna in 1860, where he opened a small foundry. There, he used what he’d learned about naturally patinating bronzes and created popular figurines and sculptures. At the turn of the century, Franz Xaver inherited the company from his father and opened a second foundry.
At the Bergmann Foundry, Franz Xaver Bergmann created numerous bronze figures, employing a technique now known as “cold painting” that has since been lost to time. Bergmann’s early works were based on his father’s molds. He hired local workers to cast his own designs.
Bergmann’s works encompass an immense variety of subject matter. His foundry created bronzes of humanized animals, mythological creatures and animals in natural poses. Many of his statuettes are representative of his fondness for faraway lands and peoples, with a great number of his works depicting Native American, Asian, Persian and Arabian cultures. He's also known to have created some risqué Art Nouveau figurines — to some collectors, the Bergmann Foundry is known for its sculptures of women in various sensuous poses wearing ingeniously executed removable articles of bronze clothing.
Franz Xaver Bergmann’s recognized maker’s mark was a capital “B” inside a scrolled horseshoe, but Bergmann would employ the pseudonym "Nam Greb" — the reverse of his last name — on his racier pieces in order to keep his more conservative and conventional customers from connecting his name to those works.
Bergmann had to close his company’s doors in 1930 owing to the financial strains that came with the Great Depression. He died in 1936 before the company could open again. His son, Robert Bergmann, reopened the foundry many years later and continued to own and operate it until his death in 1954.
Karl Fuhrmann & Co. purchased what remained of the Bergmann Foundry after Robert died. Franz Xaver Bergmann’s cast-bronze figures endure to this day and are highly prized by collectors and enthusiasts of figurative art.
Find antique Bergmann Foundry decorative objects on 1stDibs.
Antique Austrian Cold Painted Figural Bronze Of Children Dancing By Bergmann
By Bergmann Foundry
Located in Swedesboro, NJ
Dimensions - H: 3 1/2 in W: 7 3/4 in D: 5 1/2 in This antique 19th century Austrian cold painted bronze of children playing by Bergman Foundry is made of the highest quality! Bronze...
Bronze
$2,000
H 1.19 in W 0.79 in D 0.99 in
Cold-painted bronze cat sculpture attributed to Franz Bergmann. Austria.
By Franz Bergmann
Located in Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires
Cold-painted bronze cats sculpture attributed to Franz Bergmann. Austria, early 20th century.
Bronze
Austrian Cold Painted Bronze Owl Sculpture. Bergmann 1900´s
By Franz Bergmann
Located in Buenos Aires, Olivos
Austrian Cold Painted Bronze Owl Sculpture. Bergmann 1900´s. Early 20th century, Bergmann Bronze Sculpture. An Austrian cold painted bronze model of an Owl. The body naturalisticall...
Bronze
$2,000
H 1.97 in W 1.97 in D 1.58 in
Cold-painted bronze cats sculpture attributed to Franz Bergmann. Austria.
By Franz Bergmann
Located in Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires
Cold-painted bronze cats sculpture attributed to Franz Bergmann. Austria, early 20th century.
Bronze
$2,000
H 2.37 in W 1.19 in D 1.97 in
Cold-painted bronze cat sculpture attributed to Franz Bergmann. Austria.
By Franz Bergmann
Located in Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires
Cold-painted bronze cat sculpture attributed to Franz Bergmann. Austria, early 20th century.
Bronze
$2,000
H 2.56 in W 1.78 in D 1.19 in
Cold-painted bronze cats sculpture attributed to Franz Bergmann. Austria.
By Franz Bergmann
Located in Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires
Cold-painted bronze cats sculpture attributed to Franz Bergmann. Austria, early 20th century.
Bronze
Antique Vienna Bronze Bull, Franz Bergmann
By Bergmann Foundry
Located in Petaluma, CA
This is a very fine example of a detailed casting of a bull. Nicely factory patinated in a warm brown finish bring this guy to life. Done in the manner of the noted Vienna bronze mak...
Bronze
Austrian Cold-painted Bronze Figure of a Red Squirrel
Located in Autonomous City Buenos Aires, CABA
Austrian Cold-painted Bronze Figure of a Red Squirrel Made in Austria Austrian Cold-painted Bronze Figure of a Red Squirrel, late 19th/early 20th century, the figure modeled stand...
Bronze
$2,000
H 1.38 in W 0.99 in D 0.99 in
Cold-painted bronze cats sculpture attributed to Franz Bergmann. Austria.
By Franz Bergmann
Located in Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires
Cold-painted bronze cats sculpture attributed to Franz Bergmann. Austria, early 20th century.
Bronze
Franz Bergmann Vienna Cold Painted Bronze Figure of Snake Charmer
By Franz Bergmann
Located in Forney, TX
A highly coveted Franz Bergmann Vienna Cold Painted Bronze Figure of an Arab Snake Charmer on an alluring carpet of alluring colors and patt...
Bronze
$2,500
H 2.76 in W 1.58 in D 2.17 in
Cold-painted bronze sculpture by Franz Bergmann. Austria, early 20th century.
By Franz Bergmann
Located in Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires
Cold-painted bronze sculpture by Franz Bergmann. Austria, early 20th century.
Bronze
$950
H 2.5 in W 4.5 in D 3.5 in
Antique Franz Bergmann Style Austrian Cold Painted Bronze Cat Sculpture
By Franz Bergmann
Located in Atlanta, GA
This charming antique Austrian bronze sculpture of a cat captures delightful character and fine detailing, crafted in the style of Franz Bergmann, a master of cold-painted bronzes. T...
Bronze
$1,250
H 2.25 in W 5.75 in D 2 in
Orientalist Cold Painted Vienna Bronze, Young Boy, Signed, Bergmann Foundry
By Bergmann Foundry
Located in Petaluma, CA
This well designed and executed Vienna bronze has a young boy resting on his stomach and enjoying what is left of a cigar. His clothes are meticulously cold painted, and this bronze...
Bronze