Hammer Price w/ BP
$7,440
| Lot #: 179 Carl Kauba (Austrian, 1865-1922), Chief Wolf Robe |
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Circa 1910. Sand cast, cold-painted bronze. Signed and titled on plinth. Catalog Note: This image of the Southern Cheyenne Chief Wolf Robe was taken directly from an 1898 photograph made in Omaha, Nebraska, at the Indian Congress associated with the Trans Mississippi International Exposition. Frank Rinehart photographed the more than 500 Indians in attendance, including Wolf Robe, who had been forced to Indian Territory in 1870. Rinehart’s popular images were published as books and sold individually at the Exposition. Carl Kauba was an Austrian sculptor who lived in Vienna. It is believed that he never visited the United States and sculpted his American subjects from photographs like this one. His recreation of the beadwork colors on the moccasins and pipe bag indicate he worked from the pricier hand-tinted version of the photograph. Typical of Viennese bronzes of the period, the colors are made with paint rather than with chemicals, as was the case in the U.S. Kauba is said to have personally supervised the casting of his work at various Viennese foundries. |
| Ht. 26 1/2 in. |
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Auction Date Sep 29, 2023 |
Details:
Carl Kauba was born August 13, 1865 in Vienna, Austria. The son of a shoemaker, Kauba chose to follow his calling into the world of art. Collectors now rank him in a class with Remington and Russell as one of the great portrayers of American Western. His subjects were typically American Indians, calvarymen, cowboys, and roughriders. In addition to his American bronzes, Kauba produced a lifetime's worth of Austrian statuary. His work became fully appreciated on both sides of the Atlantic.
Carl studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna under Professor Laufenberg. Later he would study at the academies under Carl Waschmann and Stefan Schwartz. Next, he went to Paris in 1886 to further study before he set off for the U.S. In fact, some debate still remains as to whether Kauba ever visited the U.S.
Kauba's fascination with the West was fed by the stories of the German writer, Carl May, whose tales of Western adventures were known throughout Europe. It has been suggested that Kauba traveled to the American West when he was about twenty-five years old, possibly returning to Austria with voluminous notes, sketches, and several models of Western sculpture.
However the majority of scholars feel that the artist actually never traveled to the United States at all, but instead relied upon the accounts of others and first hand artifacts to execute his bronzes. Without a doubt, his work is most worthy of artistic merit. His bronzes, all produced in Austria, were of the American West. The polychrome finish, intricate detail, and the realistic forms make Kauba's sculptures excellent examples of Viennese bronzes at the turn of the century. Most were cast for the American market between 1895 and 1912 and were widely advertised and sold by Latendorfer in New York during the 1950's. In contrast to most artists, Kauba's business successes were equal to his artistic achievement.
Kauba personally directed the casting of his clay models in local foundries. Kauba expressed a great affection for Indians of the American West. He loved ornament, and this detail is seen in the reins of his horses, Indian headdresses, weapons, and costumes. He frequently created scenes of high drama depicted in his bronzes of cowboys and Indians. Kauba's work is in the Harmsen Collection of American Western Art.
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