Lot 6236: KUNST IM DRITTEN REICH

KUNST IM DRITTEN REICH Josef Thorak (1889 - 1952) - a life-sized bronze portrait bust of Ernst Putzi Hanfstaengl dating from 1934 Bronze with beautiful dark brown patina. Signed in the nape of the neck J. Thorak. Height 35 cm. On a marble base total height 42.5 cm. Apart from Arno Breker Josef Thorak was the most important sculptor of the Third Reich. Before the war Hitler had a huge studio built for him in Baldham near Munich according to drafts by Albert Speer. It was at that time the largest art studio in Europe - spacious enough for Thorak to create one-piece sculptures with a height of up to 17 metres. Beside the monumental sculptures he also created numerous busts among them portrait busts of Frederick the Great Otto von Bismarck Friedrich Nietzsche Paul von Hindenburg Rudolf Heß Benito Mussolini Fritz Todt and in 1934 apart from a bust of Hitler also that of Ernst Hanfstaengl. Cf. Mortimer G. Davidson Kunst in Deutschland 1933 - 1945 - Skulpturen p. 507. Ernst Hanfstanegl (1887 - 1975) wealthy son of a publisher and art dealer and one of Hitler's most colourful and important patrons from the early years of the NSDAP (after the failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 Hitler went into hiding in Hanfstaengel's country house in Uffing at Lake Staffel) becomes the NSDAP's foreign press officer in 1931. Goebbel's deliberate discrediting of Hanfstaengel to strengthen his own position with Hitler caused Hanfstaengel to escape to the United Kingdom in 1937 where he is captured at the outbreak of the war and finally extradited to the USA. As Hitler's friend of many years he was to advise the allied forces on their subsequent steps.
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As long as catalogue owner, auction participants and bidders do not state otherwise, they agree to the condition that the catalogue and the items displayed in the catalogue that refer to the Third Reich are used exclusively for the purpose of civic education, the purpose of defense against actions that defy the constitutional rights, the purpose of art or science, the purpose of academic research and education, coverage regarding contemporary/historic developments or for purposes similar to the ones stated above (§ 86a , 86 penal code). Hermann Historica oHG, its auctioneers and suppliers will only yield ownership of the corresponding items according to these conditions.

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