Kunsthandel Nikolaus Kolhammer

Couple "Paradise Group", mod.no. 1368, Franz Hagenauer, Werkstätte Hagenauer Wien, ca. 1986

Throughout his life, Franz Hagenauer regarded himself primarily as a sculptor and developed a distinctive, highly stylized formal language from an early age. Through clarity of reduction and geometric precision, he created an impressive variety of sculptures in which the human body is continually reinterpreted through expressive poses.
The present work depicts a strikingly large couple, over one meter in height, expertly crafted in half-relief from hammered brass. The nude figures of man and woman are shown from the back in a tender embrace. The title, Paradies, evokes associations with Adam and Eve, a motif that Hagenauer explored in numerous variations. The warm brass finish enhances the sculpture’s sensual presence and accentuates the elegant, timeless quality of the figures clearly reduced, stylized forms.
Resting on a triangular base subtly shaped like a plant, the figures are firmly anchored and balanced in space. 
This masterful synthesis of reduction, dynamism, and formal as well as technical precision exemplifies the unmistakable artistic signature of the Werkstätte Hagenauer and highlights the timeless modernity and refined elegance of Franz Hagenauer’s sculptures.

marked with "wHw" in a circle, "FRANZ", "HAGENAUER/ WIEN", "MADE IN/ AUSTRIA" and "KS" (Karl Schmidt; last workshop manager of the Werkstätte Hagenauer Wien)