Karl Hagenauer Racks and Stands
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.
1930s Austrian Bauhaus Vintage Karl Hagenauer Racks and Stands
Steel, Nickel
Mid-20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Karl Hagenauer Racks and Stands
Iron, Brass
Mid-20th Century Dutch Mid-Century Modern Karl Hagenauer Racks and Stands
Metal
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Karl Hagenauer Racks and Stands
Brass
2010s Brazilian Minimalist Karl Hagenauer Racks and Stands
Steel
20th Century Karl Hagenauer Racks and Stands
Brass
1910s Italian Vintage Karl Hagenauer Racks and Stands
Wrought Iron
1940s French Vintage Karl Hagenauer Racks and Stands
Brass
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Karl Hagenauer Racks and Stands
Lucite
1860s English Antique Karl Hagenauer Racks and Stands
Brass
Early 20th Century Karl Hagenauer Racks and Stands
Brass
1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Karl Hagenauer Racks and Stands
Aluminum
1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Karl Hagenauer Racks and Stands
Brass, Iron
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Karl Hagenauer Racks and Stands
Metal, Aluminum
Mid-20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Karl Hagenauer Racks and Stands
Iron, Brass
1950s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Karl Hagenauer Racks and Stands
Brass, Iron
20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Karl Hagenauer Racks and Stands
Brass
20th Century Austrian Mid-Century Modern Karl Hagenauer Racks and Stands
Brass, Iron