Native American Indian Warrior Sculpture Attributed to Carl Kauba

There were many bronze foundries operating in Vienna in this period, but it was Bergman’s which became the most celebrated, working with a number of celebrated Viennese sculptors at the turn of the 20th Century, such as Bruno Zach, to produce designs for his famous bronze figures. Bergman bronzes are especially famous for having utilised a technique for decorating the bronzes called cold painting. Cold painting as a technique developed in Vienna in the late 19th Century, and involved the application of several layers of paint added to the bronze after firing. It was used to make fashionable collectors’ items. Bergman figures came in three main forms: animal figures, Orientalist sculptures, and erotic figures in the Art Nouveau style. His animal figures were often whimsical and humorous, and often satirical. They have become highly sought-after collectors’ items today. Bergman’s Orientalist sculptures are equally highly sought-after. He was producing these figures at a time when interest in the exotic lands of the Middle East and North Africa was at its peak among Europe’s artists and buyers.

Austrian sculptor Carl Kauba was fascinated by the American West, creating dynamic cast bronze sculptures of cowboys, Native Americans and buffalo. Between 1895 and 1912, his polychrome pieces captured the attention of an American audience, while his domestic statutory work in Austria helped solidify his artistic reputation.

He was born the son of a shoemaker in 1865 in Vienna, Austria. He later studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna before learning from sculptor Karl Waschmann and sculptor and medallist Stefan Schwartz. 

Although some accounts have Kauba traveling to the United States to create models and sketches, scholars have questioned the inaccuracies in his work’s weapon detailing and equestrian costumes. Kauba loved the Western tales of German author Karl May and was known to have a friend in Ohio who mailed him costume material, all of which may have provided his references for art.

Kauba’s bronze work is recognized as exceptional Viennese craftsmanship imbued with artistic intricacies and realism. His sculptures of cavalrymen, cowboys and Indigenous people from the American West put him in the same category as titans of American Western art like Frederic Remington and Charles Marion Russell. 

Original Carl Kauba art experienced a resurgence in popularity during a 1950s advertising campaign for Latendorfer in New York. His works have remained prized by Wild West collectors everywhere. 

Kauba’s art has been exhibited at many American art galleries, including the Thomas Nygard Gallery in Montana and the Ophir Gallery in New Jersey.

On 1stDibs, find a collection of Carl Kauba decorative objects, collectibles and more.