Hummel Copycats

Today, March 2, marks the birthday of actress Jennifer Jones. In 1944 she appeared with Joseph Cotton in the David O Selznick film "Since Your Went Away." The film featured a small Hummel-like figure by my grandfather, Josef Josephu.

During WWII Josef and a partner had created "Decorative Figurines" to create copy-cat Hummel figurines. In his book "Hummel Copycats with Values" author Lawrence Wonsch states the artwork by Josephu was better than Hummel, and the figurines would be more valuable if the reproductions had a slightly better quality.

Oskar Kokoschka

Young Kokoschka

Today, March 1, marks the birth of Austrian painter Oskar Kokoschka, a contemporary of my grandfather, Viennese sculptor Josef Josephu.

There is strong reason to believe they would have known each other. Both studied with artists of the Secession. Kokoschka had an affair with Alma Mahler, and my grandmother was a 2nd cousin to Gustav Mahler. Carl Moll was a founding member of the Secession and father to Alma.

Oskar painted a portrait of his friend Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, husband of Adele for the famed Klimt portrait. The Josephu brothers were related to Ivan Mestrovic through a marraige, and Ivan;s wife designed hats for Emile Floge, mate of Klimt...and the borthers studied at the Vienna Academy at the same time as Egon Schiele. The Bloch-Bauers, patrons of the arts ,live very close to the Academy and Secession house.

In a letter dated 1924 nmaing Viennese artists that were to represent Austria in the 1925 International Art Exhibition in Rome, Kokoshka and Moll's names are crossed of, and Josef's is written in. 

The art and music world in Vienna was very small, and my grandfather and his brother were part of it.