Profile head Franz Hagenauer ca. 1970

Among Franz Hagenauer’s most striking and recognized works are his representations of the human head – a theme that occupied him from the 1920s until his death in 1986, spanning every phase of his artistic development. While his early figurative sculptures were almost exclusively fully three-dimensional, by the late 1960s he began creating head forms that appear nearly two-dimensional in character.

This shift was accompanied by a new technical approach: using nickel-plated brass sheets as a base, onto which he applied tubing and other metal elements.
The male head in profile clearly reflects influences from Cubist painting—ist geometric structure, planar reduction, and frontal flatness evoke the visual language of modernist abstraction. With just a few carefully placed elements, Hagenauer constructs the entire face, demonstrating his exceptional skill in distilling form to ist essence.

The stylized, swept-back hair introduces a sense of movement and dynamism, further emphasizing the sculptural clarity and graphic elegance of the piece.
This work exemplifies Hagenauer’s ability to merge fine art and design, combining modernist aesthetics with the precision and innovation of the Werkstätte Hagenauer. It stands as a testament to his lifelong exploration of form, material, and expression.