Product Description
Friedrich Gornik Bronze “Pelican” Art Nouveau Vide Poche c.1910

Friedrich Gornik (1877-1943) Austria.
“Pelicans” vide poche c. 1910.
Bronze with a natural gold patina of two pelicans on a rock, one seated and the other eating fish.
Marks: F Gornik and monogram.
For more information on Friedrich Gornik see: Der Österreichische Werkbund, Astrid Gmeiner & Gottfried Pirhofer (Salzburg & Wien: Residenz Verlag,1985) p. 228; Österreichische Keramik des Jugendstils, Waltraud Neuwirth (Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 1974) p. 156.
H: 9″ x W: 6 1/2″ x D: 6″
Friedrich Gornik Bronze “Pelican” Art Nouveau Vide Poche c.1910
Paul-Auguste Gagné (Sculptor) France
Egyptian Revival garniture set, circa 1875
Gilt bronze and carved rouge marble mantle clock and candelabra in a high Egyptian Revival style
Marks: P.A. Gagne (elaborate incised scroll signature on the back of the portrait bust)
For more information on Gagné see: Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs, vol. 4, E. Bénézit (Paris: Librairie Gründ, 1976) p. 579.
For other related Egyptian Revival garniture sets see: Egyptomania: Egypt in Western Art, 1730-1930 (Paris: Éditions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux and Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1994)
H: 20 3/4″ x D: 6 3/4″ x W: 14 1/2″
GUSTAV GURSCHNER (1873-1970) Austria
Vase c. 1905
Cast bronze ovoid shaped vase with decorative Celtic motif, lightly gilded, the body of the vase simulating leather with a rich brown patina
Signed: GURSCHNER, M180 (stamped in the bronze)
Related works illustrated: The Studio, Special Summer Number 1906: The Art Revival in Austria, ill. no. D6; Studio Yearbook (London, 1909), pp. 139-140; Vienna Turn of the Century: Art and Design, Fischer Fine Art, exhib. cat. (London 1979), p. 23, illus. 1; Bronzes, sculptors & Founders, H. Berman, (Atglen 1994 III) p. 781, cat. nos. 2893, 2894; Decorative Art 1880-1980, Dan Klein & Margaret Bishop (Oxford, England: Phaidon and Christie’s Limited, 1986) p. 84, illus. 1
H: 7 1/4″ x D: 7″ x D: 4″
Price: $14,500
Gustav Gurschner was born in Tirol, Austria. He attended the Fachschule für Holzindustrie in Bozen from 1885-1888. After three years, his instructors encouraged him to attend the Austrian Museum for Applied Arts’ Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna. After finishing his formal training, Gurschner pursued a career as a sculptor of monumental works. It was while he was in Paris in 1897, that he first turned his energies from the application of small-scale, sculptural works to the aesthetic design of household objects. Shortly thereafter, he returned to Vienna to join the Secessionists whose ideals he shared. By the turn-of-the-century, Gurschner was not only one of the better known artists working in Vienna but enjoyed a reputation that extended into other European countries as well.
MARCELLO FANTONI (1915-2011) Italy
Starburst mirror 1950’s
Torched bronze and original white plaster painted finish.
Marks: Fantoni, Firenze, Italy (hand script)
***This mirror has great style and character.
Overall dimension: H: 26″ x L: 33″ x D: 4″
Mirror dimension: H: 12″ x L: 17″
Price: $17,500
Born in Florence on October 1, 1915, Marcello Fantoni registered at the Institute of Art at Porta Romana in 1927 to attend the course The Art of Ceramics, which at that time was taught by the ceramist Carlo Guerrini, artistic director of the Cantagalli factory. Other teachers also contributed to his artistic formation including Libero Andreotti and Bruno Innocenti in sculpture and Gianni Vagnetti in the figure. He graduated in ’34 as a ‘maestro’ of art, and began working as a ceramist. In 1936, after having worked for a few months as the artistic director of a factory in Perugia, he established himself at Villa Fabbricotti in Florence and founded the Fantoni Ceramic studio. It’s production of serial and unique pieces had remarkable success at the Florentine Arts and Crafts Exhibit in ’37, revealing itself in line with the most recent tendencies, so much so that at the beginning of hostilities his production had already received notable artistic and commercial attention in Italy and abroad. After the war years, when Fantoni was involved in the resistance, in ’46 he began the creative and productive fervor that will allow him to enlarge his company, reaching at the beginning of the next decade the impressive size of over fifty collaborators. Among his employees were many students who, in ceramics and other fields, would become excellent artisans and even famous artists. In the following decades, especially between 1950 and the 70’s, the success of his work continued to increase, his unique pieces of sculpture and sculptural work, characterized by a design in step with the contemporary artistic currents, like archaic stylization inspired by Etruscan models, rendered modern because of their modern handling of materials, glazes and colors. For this original spirit of modernity, his works are in many private collections and in some of the most important museums of the world: in the United States his works can be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Fine Art of Boston, the Currier Gallery, the Syracuse Museum. In Britain they are in the Victoria and Albert Museum of London, the City Art Gallery of Manchester, at Royal Scottish Museum of Edinburg. In Japan they are present at the Museum of Modern Art of Tokyo and Kyoto. In Italy they are represented at the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza, the National Bargello Museum and at the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe of the Uffizi. In his long and versatile career, Fantoni has completed works for churches, public and private buildings, schools, cinemas, theaters and ships cementing himself in both figurative and abstract ceramics and various metals, and qualifying himself also in the field of medalism. In 1970 he founded the International School of Ceramic Arts at his laboratory in via Bolognese in Florence. Fantoni died at the age of 95 in 2011.
W. P. HARTGRING
ROZENBURG POTTERY The Hague, The Netherlands
Blackbird mantle clock 1904
Handpainted earthenware with exotic foliage and a bird, porcelain face, gilt bronze surround, original clock mechanism.
Marks: H (artist’s monogram) 534, Rozenburg den Haag trademark, date mark symbol for 1904
For more information see: Art et Décoration, vol. 8 (1900) 193, illus. p. 189 (A. Sandier, La ceramique à l’Exposition); Kunst und Kunsthandwerk, vol. 3. (1900) 395, illus. p. 392; Art et Décoration, vol. 9 (1901) 56 Abb. S. 54 (A. Sandier, La Ceramique à l’Exposition II); Der Moderne Stil, Julius Hoffmann, Vol. 3, (1901) Taf. 53.; La Kunstgewerbeblatt Neue Folge, Vol. 12. (1901) p. 95, Abb. S. 82,89; “The International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art at Turin – The Dutch Section,” Enrico Thovez in The Studio, vol. 26 (1902), pp. 204-6; Kunst und Kunsthandwerk, Vol. 7 (1904), p. 568, Abb. S. 574-5, (K. Ruge, Kunst und Kunstgewerbe auf der Weltausstellung zu St. Louis); Art et Décoration, vol. 17 (1905) p.86 Abb. S. 77, 88 (G. Mourey, L’Art Decoratif Hollandais); Sprechsaal, Vol. 38, (1905) p. 517 (W.H. Zimmer, Die Weltausstellung in St. Louis; Rozenburg, Monographie einer Manufaktur 1883-1917, Marjan Boot et al. (Munich: Verlag Künst & Antiquitäten, 1984); Sammlung Bröhan: Kunsthandwerk 1-Jugendstil, Werkbund, Art Deco, Glas, Holz, Keramik, (Berlin: Karl H. Brohan, 1976) p. 367-380.
H: 15″ x W: 10″ x D: 5 1/8″