Karl Hagenauer table mirror

The young Karl Hagenauer entered his father’s workshop at the early age of only twenty years, but he soon was responsible for both design and production. His understanding of style was very different from his father´s; as a graduate of the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna, he was strongly influenced by the Wiener Werkstätte, where Dagobert Peche had just initiated the transition from Jugendstil to Art Deco. The business sense of Karl did not only manifest in the modernization of the designs, but also in an expansion of the assortment by several niche products. The Werkstatte Hagenauer aimed to provide all sorts of everyday life goods as possible.

This table mirror is a representative example of the phase in which Karl Hagenauer took over the workshop. It bears the striking characteristics of his modern style and was most likely designed by him. The plain frame has three brass rivets on both sides as sole decoration. On the top it is crowned by a reduced, but still very decorative Art Deco brass plastic of a women surrounded by two palmettes. The precise beaten forms as well as the elaborated face of the lady are a testimony of the craftsmanship of the Werkstatte Hagenauer.