A Life-Size Figure 'Standing Female Nude' (Anny Ondra)
Josef Thorak (Wien 1889 - Schloss Hartmannsberg am Chiemsee 1952)
Lot-No. 344
Proceeds : 53.000 €
Around 1934/35. Bronze with brown patina. Sign. 'THORAK' to the top side of the plinth, on the reverse long side of the plinth inscribed 'LICH'. H. 165 cm. - The life-size bronze, leaning forward and looking into the water, is depicting Anny Ondra (1902/03-1987), the famous Czech filmstar at that time and since 1933 the wife of Max Schmeling. From an exchange of letters between the owner family and Max Schmeling which dates from 1975/76 we know that according to Schmeling's memory Thorak made 2 or 3 copies of the Anny Ondra Bronze, one of them belonged to the Schmeling couple themselves and was destroyed during the war in Pomerania. Another copy was sold on 12 December 2001 in Zurich at Gallery Koller, another one reappeared 2015 in Bavaria. - Provenance: since 1953 private property Hamburg. - Austrian sculptor and medal maker, first educated as a potter Thorak studied from 1910 to 1914 at the Vienna Art Academy, then in Berlin. Besides Arno Breker one of the most popular sculptors during the 'Third Reich', until his sudden death 1952 Thorak received continously public orders.
Josef Thorak: A Life-Size Figure 'Standing Female Nude' (Anny Ondra)
Josef Thorak (Wien 1889 - Schloss Hartmannsberg am Chiemsee 1952)
A Life-Size Figure 'Standing Female Nude' (Anny Ondra)
Lot-No. 344
Proceeds : 53.000 €
Around 1934/35. Bronze with brown patina. Sign. 'THORAK' to the top side of the plinth, on the reverse long side of the plinth inscribed 'LICH'. H. 165 cm. - The life-size bronze, leaning forward and looking into the water, is depicting Anny Ondra (1902/03-1987), the famous Czech filmstar at that time and since 1933 the wife of Max Schmeling. From an exchange of letters between the owner family and Max Schmeling which dates from 1975/76 we know that according to Schmeling's memory Thorak made 2 or 3 copies of the Anny Ondra Bronze, one of them belonged to the Schmeling couple themselves and was destroyed during the war in Pomerania. Another copy was sold on 12 December 2001 in Zurich at Gallery Koller, another one reappeared 2015 in Bavaria. - Provenance: since 1953 private property Hamburg. - Austrian sculptor and medal maker, first educated as a potter Thorak studied from 1910 to 1914 at the Vienna Art Academy, then in Berlin. Besides Arno Breker one of the most popular sculptors during the 'Third Reich', until his sudden death 1952 Thorak received continously public orders.
