Two profile heads Franz Hagenauer ca. 1970

Among the most impressive and well-known works of Franz Hagenauer are his representations of human heads. These sculptures span from the mid-1920s until his passing in 1986, marking a significant aspect of this important designer’s oeuvre. Throughout this period, there is a recognizable continuum of development and change in Hagenauer’s work. Initially, clear parallels can be drawn to the works of contemporaries such as Amedeo Modigliani or Constantin Brancusi. However, Franz Hagenauer stylistically diverges completely independently by the mid-1930s, showcasing his own personal style that sets him apart from his peers.
Starting with his role as a professor of free design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, the new impulses from his teaching activities also inspired his artistic endeavors. While his figural representations were previously almost exclusively three-dimensional, by the late 1960s, he began designing heads that were almost two-dimensional. These were also crafted using a new technique. A brass plate served as the base onto which tubes and other metal parts were soldered or screwed. This resulted in unmistakable art objects with a particularly intense expression.