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Description
Josef Hinterseher, ‘Grabfigur’ (‘Grave Figur’), bronze.
Monumental bronze of 2.20 meters high, 1.00 meter width and 1.00 meter length. Created in 1933 by Josef Hinterseher.
Original model of ‘Grabfigur’ (‘Grave figure’); awarded with a Golden Medal at the Große Berliner Kunstausstellung in 1906.
Left: depicted in ‘Die Kunst für alle’, folder 8, January 15, 1910.
Right: also displayed at the Münchener Jahresausstellung 1904 im köninglichen Glaspalast; photo from the original exibition-catalogue.
| – condition | : II |
| – size | : 210 cm high x approx. 100 cm x 100 cm |
| – signed | : ‘Hinterseher 1933’ |
| – type | : bronze |
| – misc. | : original model rewarded with gold (1906, Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung) |
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BIOGRAPHY: JOSEF HINTERSEHER
Left: ‘Waldidylle’ (‘Forest Idyll’), City of Mannheim. Created before 1904. Cast A. Brandstetter München. A cast of ‘Forest Idyll’ was sold at Christies in 2011 for 25,000 euro; another cast at Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, was sold in 1994, for 8,200 euro. Measurements: 165 cm (height). More casts of this model were executed by Gießerei Anetsberger und Lefin in Munich. One of these casts was exhibited during the St. Louis World’s Fair of 1904. Finally this cast became the grave figure of beer manufacturing giant August Busch Sr., on a hilltop in Sunset Memorial Park in St. Louis, Missouri.
Right: ‘Apoll mit Löwin’ (‘Apollo with Lioness’), marble, sold at Auctionhaus Schloss Ahlden, 2008. Height: 71.5 cm. Signed with location Paris (between 1904-1914).
Right: a cast of Waldydille in bronze, sold by an Austrina auction house in 2018. Height 72 cm. Signed at base: ‘J. Hinterseher, Paris’.
‘Apoll mit Löwin’ (‘Apollo with Lioness’), marble, sold at Auctionhaus Schloss Ahlden, 2008. Height: 71.5 cm. Signed with location Paris (between 1904-1914).
Left: ‘Faun und Nymphe’ (‘Faun and Nymph’). Bronze; 24 high, signed ‘fec. J. Hinterseher’. Foundry stamp ‘Anetsberger München’. Sold at a German auction house in 2010.
Right: ‘Entwurf zu einem Jung-Goethe Denkmal’ (‘Design for a Goethe Memorial’). Depicted in ‘Die Kunst für alle’, folder 8, January 15, 1910.
‘Fries’, depicted in ‘Die Kunst für alle’, folder 8, January 15, 1910.
Josef Hinterseher, ‘Der Gänsedieb’ (‘Goose thief’), created before 1906. Height: 109 cm. For ‘Gänsedieb’ Hinterseher was awarded in 1906 with the Silver State Medal of Austria.
Below: depicted in ‘Die Kunst für alle’, folder 8, January 15, 1910.
‘Der Gänsedieb’ by Hinterseher, zinc cast. Height 100 cm, wide 110 cm. Offered by a German art gallery in 2020.
‘Schalenträger’. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst für alle’, folder 8, January 15, 1910. Displayed at the Münchener Kunstaustellung 1903 im köninglichen Glaspalast.
Left: ‘Grabmal’ (‘Gravestone’). Depicted in ‘Die Kunst für alle’, folder 8, January 15, 1910.
Right: ‘St. Cacilia’ (‘Saint Cecilia’, the patron saint of musicians). Depicted in ‘Die
Kunst für alle’, folder 8, January 15, 1910.
Left: Bust of ‘Houston Stewart Chamberlain’ (1855–1927), English author of books on political philosophy, natural science and son-in-law of the German composer Richard Wagner. He is described as a “racialist writer”. Chamberlain’s two-volume book, ‘Die Grundlagen des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts’ (‘The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century’), published in 1899, functioned as an anspiration for the pan-Germanic movement of the early 20th century, and, later, of the anti-Semitism of Nazi racial policy. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst für alle’, folder 8, January 15, 1910.
Right: ‘Brunnen’ ( ‘Fountain’). Depicted in ‘Die Kunst für alle’, folder 8, January 15, 1910.
Left: ‘Schlafende Diana’ (‘Sleeping Diana’). Postcard.
Left: ‘Sich bekränzendes Mädchen’ (‘Female Nude Garlanding Herself’). Bronze, Sold in 2012 for 7,000 euro at Auctionhaus Reis & Sohn, Germany. Measurements: 152 cm by 62 cm by 48 cm.
Right: ‘Sich bekränzendes Mädchen’. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst für alle’, folder 8, January 15, 1910.
Left: ‘Der Kuss’ (‘The Kiss’) by Hinterseher, bronze. Sold for 6,000 euro in 2014 by a German auction house. Size 113 x 189 x 60 cm.
Right: ‘Der Kuss’ by Hinterseher, marble. Sold by a German auction house in 2021. Size 66 x 27 x 48 cm.
Two postcards depicting different versions of ‘Der Kuss’ by Hinterseher.
Josef Hinterseher
Josef Hinterseher (1878-1955), German sculptor, was born in Munich. He went first to the Kunstgewerbeschule in Munich and later to the Art Academy in the same city. At a relatively young age (before he was 20) his works were already displayed in the Glaspalast (a portrait-bust and ‘Vasenträger’). At the age of 25 he was awarded the ‘Rompreis’ which enabled him to travel to Italy. In the same year, 1903, his sculpture ‘Fruchtträger’ was displayed in the Glaspalast. A year later, in 1904, when Hinterseher was travelling to Paris (where he stayed until 1914), his sculpture ‘Forest Idyll’ (sold at Christies in 2011 for 25,000 euro) was exhibited during the St. Louis World’s Fair. Finally this cast became the grave figure of beer manufacturing giant August Busch Sr., on a hilltop in Sunset Memorial Park in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1906 Hinterseher was awarded the Silver State Medal of Austria for his work ‘Gänsedieb’. Also in 1906 his ‘Grabfigur’ won the Golden Medal at the ‘Berliner grossen Kunstausstellung’ (‘Great Berlin Art Exhibition’). At the beginning of the 20th century Hinterseher seemed to have begun a very promising career. However, after World War I his prospects -like those of many other German artist- diminished and he tried to get support from right wing political circles. Nevertheless, in 1920 Josef Hinterseher created a bust of Richard Martin Willstätter (a German organic chemist whose study of the structure of plant pigments won him the 1915 Nobel Prize for Chemistry; Willstätter born into a Jewish family in Karlsruhe, ended his career in 1924 when, as a gesture against increasing anti-Semitism, he announced his retirement). After the Christal Nacht someone removed the Willstätter bust out of the Honor-foyer of the State Laboratory in Munich. Josef Hinterseher did not have any works displayed at the Great German Art Exhibitions in Munich from 1937 to 1944.