141 - Stephan Hlawa* (Vienna 1896 - 1977 Vienna)

Stephan Hlawa* (Vienna 1896 - 1977 Vienna) Conductor, 1946 watercolor and pencil/paper/cardboard 39,7 x 30,4 cm signed Hlawa, dated 46 verso inscribed Dr. Fiala Dirigent + Komponist SCHÄTZPREIS / ESTIMATE € 250 - 400 STARTPREIS / STARTING PRICE € 250 Stefan Hlawa was a 20th-century Austrian painter, graphic artist, and set and costume designer. He studied painting under Rudolf Bacher at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and voice at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts. His work occupies a space between realism, New Objectivity, and expressionism; alongside painting, graphic art—specifically drawings and works in ink—played a significant role in his output. His precise approach to figures and spatial composition reveals connections to the Viennese art scene surrounding Emil Orlik, Ferdinand Andri, and Anton Faistauer, while Richard Gerstl and Egon Schiele represent the expressive side of that era. From 1932 onwards, Hlawa worked as a set designer for institutions including the Burgtheater, the State Opera, the Theater an der Wien, the Volksoper, and the Salzburg Festival. In doing so, he built upon the reformist impulses in Viennese stage design championed by figures such as Alfred Roller and Oskar Strnad. He became a member of the Vienna Künstlerhaus in 1935 and worked at the Tyrolean State Theatre in Innsbruck from 1945 to 1948. In 1971, he designed the arrivals hall at Vienna-Schwechat Airport. His circle included the art dealer Erich Fiala, who—along with his wife, the harpsichordist Isolde Ahlgrimm—collected historical musical instruments and organized concerts at the Palais Pallavicini; Fiala founded the Strudlhof Gallery in 1940. Within the context of 20th-century Austrian art, Hlawa belongs to a generation that bridged the gap between academic traditions of portraiture and drawing, modern painting, and the fields of stage and spatial design. Artists such as Herbert Boeckl, Josef Dobrowsky, Albert Paris Gütersloh, Willy Eisenschitz, Max Domenig, and Robin Christian Andersen form part of the broader art-historical context of this group. PLEASE NOTE: The purchase price consists of the highest bid plus the buyer's premium, sales tax and, if applicable, the fee of artists resale rights and platform fee. In the case of normal taxation (marked ° at the estimate), a premium of 24% is added to the highest bid. The mandatory sales tax is added to the sum of the highest bid, the buyer's premium and platform fee. This amounts to 13% for paintings, drawings, graphic works and sculptures and 20% for photographs and all other items. The buyer's premium amounts to 28% in case of differential taxation. The sales tax is included in the differential taxation.