Franz Barwig - The Gods

Date	1908
Period	Early 20th century
Origin	Germany
Dimensions	37.5 x 9.4 x 11 cm (14³/₄ x 3³/₄ x 4³/₈ inches)
Gallery	Bel Etage, Wolfgang Bauer, Vienna

Description
Technical

Designed: Vienna 1908

Unsigned

Oak, carved

H 37.5 cm, W 9.4 cm, D 11 cm

Very often Franz Barwig executed a scaled-down prototype of his figures in oak. It can thus be assumed that the sculpture we are showing is the prototype of one of the two idol statues designed for the exhibition marking the 60th anniversary of the reign of Emperor Francis Joseph.

The two large idol statues were given – perhaps even sold – to each of the two presidents of the Künstlervereinigung. One statue was given to Rudolf Junk and is still in a private collection in Vienna, the other was given to Joseph Urban, who took it with him to the USA in 1911. His estate is now part of the holdings of the Avery Library at Columbia University in New York/Harlem and the sculpture stands on the first floor of the library building on the university campus.

Sincere thanks Dr Fellinger of the Belvedere, Vienna, Susanne Klein-Barwig and Franz Bogner for their kind information.

Date: 1908
Period: Early 20th century
Origin: Germany
Dimensions: 37.5 x 9.4 x 11 cm (14³/₄ x 3³/₄ x 4³/₈ inches)
Provenance:

private property, Germany

Literature: M. Kristan, Joseph Urban, Vienna, 2000, p. 372; photo archives of Belvedere, Vienna; "The Studio" Yearbook of Decorative Art, 1911, p. 245