Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Karl Hagenauer was an important and popular figure in the decorative arts in Vienna in the decades bracketing the Second World War. While primarily a maker of sculptural decorative pieces, Hagenauer — in the same spirit as his peer Carl Auböck— created a wide array of household objects, from barware to office accessories, all designed with wit and a sleek modernist aesthetic.
Hagenauer’s father was a trained metalsmith who founded a bronzewares manufactory that produced decorative metalwork and housewares in both traditional and the then-novel Art Nouveau styles and cast small sculptures based on Old Masters paintings. After studying art and design at Vienna’s School of Applied Arts, where his teachers included architect Josef Hoffmann, a founder of the Wiener Werkstätte, he joined his father’s workshop in 1919 and began crafting items that reflected Hoffman’s modernist aesthetic. In the 1920s and ’30s, he developed an often-imitated style that combines the lithe, lissome lines of Art Nouveau (known in central Europe as Jugendstil) with the simple, unadorned forms of Art Deco. He worked primarily in brass — both polished and nickel-plated — as well as wood.
In addition to domestic items such as smoking accoutrements, teapots, trays, bowls, candleholders and tableware, Hagenauer produced a wide array of small-scale sculptures. (His younger brother, Franz— who took over the family business when their father died — was also a noted sculptor, with a style that could be described as Art-Deco-meets-Brancusi.) Karl’s sculptures fall into two main groups: humorous and whimsical animal and character figures that will remind many of the work of artist Tom Otterness and sleek, stylized animal and human forms, many with an African theme — an “exotic” connotation that was a 20th-century remnant of colonialism. As you will see from the items on offer, Karl Hagenauer was an artist-designer of great talent and many moods: affable, stylish and practical.
Early 20th Century Austrian Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Brass
1930s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Brass
1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Brass, Metal
Mid-20th Century Austrian Art Deco Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Brass
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Metal, Chrome
1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Brass, Metal
Mid-20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Bronze
1930s Vintage Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Mirror
Mid-20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Teak
1940s French Art Deco Vintage Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Giltwood
1960s Austrian Vintage Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Brass
Mid-20th Century American Art Deco Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Mirror
1920s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Iron
1930s Vintage Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Copper
1920s French Art Deco Vintage Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Silver Leaf
1930s Italian Art Deco Vintage Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Metal
Mid-20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Karl Hagenauer Furniture
1920s Austrian Vintage Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Silver Plate
1920s Austrian Vintage Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Brass
1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Nickel
1930s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Chrome, Brass
Mid-20th Century Austrian Art Deco Karl Hagenauer Furniture
Bronze