2831 - Josef Thorak (1889 Vienna – 1952 Hartmannsberg Castle)

Josef Thorak (1889 Vienna – 1952 Hartmannsberg Castle) Bust of Beethoven Bronze, with a dark patina. Signed "THORAK". A formally simplified sculpture focused entirely on the composer’s head, depicting him gazing downward thoughtfully with his lips pressed together, his face framed by wildly wavy hair. The top of the head is not sculpted toward the back but is cut off diagonally. The lively modeling and the “non-finito” style follow in the tradition of Auguste Rodin, yet the sculpture also powerfully conveys the solemn gravity and sublimity found in Beethoven’s music. Many sculptors had already devoted themselves to the Beethoven theme in the 19th century, a theme that remained prevalent well into the modern era—among them were artists such as Antoine Bourdelle and Max Klinger. In the case of this bronze, Thorak was likely influenced in particular by Bourdelle. Furthermore, it is reasonable to assume that Beethoven, as the culmination of the Viennese Classical period, may have personally appealed to him. Thorak studied at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts from 1910 to 1914; later, he became a master student of Ludwig Manzel in Berlin. In 1928, Thorak received the State Prize from the Prussian Academy of Arts. When the National Socialists came to power in 1933, Thorak’s monumental sculptures elevated him to the ranks of the state sculptors most favored and most frequently commissioned by the Nazi regime, and he became one of Adolf Hitler’s favorite sculptors. His personal outlook and his new, heroic and dramatic style were entirely in line with the official Nazi conception of art: In 1934, he was among the signatories of the “Call of the Cultural Workers” in support of Adolf Hitler, and as early as 1935, the office of the Nazi chief ideologist Alfred Rosenberg presented a major exhibition of Thorak’s work in Berlin. In 1936, Thorak created the bronze sculpture “Faustkämpfer” for the Reichssportfeld at the Olympic Games in Berlin; in 1937, two groups of figures were installed in front of the German Pavilion at the Paris World’s Fair, which Hitler praised as a “masterpiece.” Hitler appointed him head of a master class at the Academy in Munich. In the late 1930s, Thorak created two monumental bronze horses commissioned by Hitler, which were installed at the New Reich Chancellery in Berlin in 1939; he also created the two equestrian statues “Flag Bearer” and “Sword Bearer” for the Nazi Party Rally Grounds in Nuremberg. Thorak regularly submitted works to the Great German Art Exhibition in Munich from 1937 to 1944. From 1938 to 1941, Hitler had a massive studio built for Thorak in Baldham, Upper Bavaria, based on plans by Albert Speer, to accommodate his sculptures, which stood up to 17 meters tall. Until the end of the war, Thorak remained exempt from military service, as he was included not only on the “List of the Divinely Gifted” created by Hitler in 1944 but also on the special list of the twelve most important “irreplaceable” visual artists. H. 41.5 cm. Dark patinated bronze bust of Beethoven. Signed.