A man reads the newspaper for six other men sitting on a bench. The inscription on the base reads “special edition” (Extra- Ausgabe). 1915 has seen intense battles on the eastern front during World War I. Many Jews had to flee away from the war zone in Galicia and reached Vienna, the capital city of the Austrian Empire. It is known that the Czech artist Hélène Zelezny-Scholtz arrived in Vienna at the beginning of the war. We can therefore suppose that this sculpture was inspired by a group of exiled men looking for news for their homeland through reading this « special edition » on a bench in Vienna.
H_16 cm L_33 cm P_10 cm (6 ¹⁹/₆₄ x 12 ⁶³/₆₄ x 3 ¹⁵/₁₆)
Helene Zelezny-Scholtz was a Czech sculptor and architectural sculptor. She received her education in sculpture, drawing and ceramics in Vienna, Dresden, Berlin, Brussels and Florence. She was an influential figure in the sculpture of north Moravia and Silesia at the turn of the 20th century.
She became famous for sculpted portraits of the Hapsburg family. She was also known as an important Italian sculptor as she worked and lived many years in Rome where she died at the age of 91.
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Lot #366