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.

St. Florian

Today, May 4th, is often referred to as "Star Wars Day" (May the fourth be with you!)....but it's also St. Florian's Day, also known as International Firefighter's Day.

St. Florian was an officer of the Roman Army, born about 250 AD in the Roman City of Aelium Cetium. now Sankt Polten, Austria) who occupied a high post in Noricum, now part of Austria. His legendary acts lead to him being declared a saint and his body was eventually moved to the Augustinian Abbey of St. Florian, near Linz, Austria, which is also home to the Feuerwehr Museum.

The Chapel of St. Florian - Augustinian Abbey.

St. Florian is also one of Josef Josephu's most revered sculptures. Originally unveiled in Vienna in 1935, at the Wiener Feuerwhermuseum of Am Hof, the statue adorned the building until World War II. A bomb gutted the building and the statue fell off, thought it sustained a small amount of damage it remained intact. Today the piece is found inside the museum and considered a a symbol of the Austrian fire brigade. The bronze statue stands at 3 Meters, almost 10 feet. The photo below features Josef, who was 6' tall, at his creation in 1935.

News recognition

This past weekend I continued more online research. When I visited Vienna in December of 2014, I visited the National Library and found to citing's of Florian and Josef's names in old newspapers. Austria is slowly scanning old newspapers into searchable PDF's - a wonderful resource! At the anticipated rate I had expected it would be years before papers released during the Josephus' most prolific time would be scanned.

 

I'm up to the time of end of the First World War, and had recalled the two clippings found in December 2014 were about the brothers' return after the war. I had hoped I could relocate the items online in the Library's searchable database. At first I had difficulty in knowing which area to search, the Library assistants there were prompt in answering my email with clear instructions.

 

So, of to work I went - and what a trove. Apparently, the digitizing of the old newspapers is going well. There are initially 137 hits on the Joseph name in the Library database. I then reviewed each one, downloading the ones that were definitively Florian or Josef....then I compared the download to the online version. Their system shows all the pages, highlights the page where the name was found. I'd then click on that page and the name is highlighted in the text. I'd then mark the same spot in my download PDF so O could study it later.

 

The result: 75 newspapers issues reference either Josef, Florian, or both!!

 

My next step is to come up with a simple cataloging system using Excel, then get each of the references translated. Hopefully the yield will be worth it. I was certainly an intense and tedious day of work, but the results were worth it. 

Das Wunder des Roten Wien

I've received the two-volume illustrate history of Red Vienna, The Wonder of Red Vienna (Das Wunder des Roten Wien)  by Harald A. Jahn, which were kindly signed by the author. I had the chance to join Harald for coffee in Café Museum, just off the Ringstrasse near the Vienna Opera House ... and I look forward to another chat with Harald upon my next visit, perhaps at Café Sperl.

 

Harald's book is a remarkable body of research about the Interwar period of Vienna (1918-1939) known as "Red Vienna."  The two-volume set features extensive color photos of buildings erected during that post World War I era. 1918-1939 was also a very prolific time for the Josephu brothers and some of their work is featured in Jahn's book.

 

 

In Volume 1, page 47, Josef's work is featured (pictured above) in a reference to the Albrecht Durer-Bundes, an artists association in which Josef was very active. In Volume 11, page 87, Josef's Zuflucht, located at Trostsrasse 68-70, Pernerstorfer-hof,  is featured along with a photo we gladly supplied; with additional Zuflucht photos on page 110 and 111.

 

 

 

In Volume 1, page 178, Florian's Putto am Zierbrunnen (above) at the Sandleitenhof Library is featured. This work of Florian is also featured in Architektur des Roten Wien by Walter Zednicek on page 147.

Public Talks

A few months ago I gave a short talk at Molloy College about "Brothers in Stone," the biography of my grandfather and his brother - Josef and Florian Josephu. The crowd must have really enjoyed it. Today I received a request to repeat the talk at a different group at Molloy College next May.

I'll refine the talk a bit by then - but this is a great to build awareness and build an audience. I hope I can find other opportunities for presentations soon.

 

I have also ordered a copy of Harold Jahn's book on the architecture of Red Vienna, "Das Wunder des Roten Wien." Red Vienna was the name for the interwar period of 1919-1939. The book, published in Austria, features my grandfather's statue Zuflucht. Harold has been kind to offer signing the book before it ships. Below is a photo of the dedication of Zuflucht.

 

 

I'm open for doing more talks if anyone knows of a place that would be interested!

 

Exciting Author for the 'Forward'

I'm very pleased that Anne Marie O'Connor has agreed to write the forward for Brothers in Stone.

Anne-Marie is a veteran foreign correspondent and culture writer who has covered everything from post-Soviet Cuba to American artists and intellectuals. O’Connor attended Vassar and the San Francisco Art Institute and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, where she and fellow students co-created an award-winning documentary on the repression of mural artists after the 1973 military coup in Chile. She covered the wars in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala as a Reuters bureau chief in Central America; the Shining Path guerrillas in Peru, coups in Haiti and U.S. interventions in Haiti and Panama; and covered Cuba and Haiti for a newspaper chain. At the Los Angeles Times she chronicled the violence of Mexico’s Arellano-Felix drug cartel, U.S. political convention; and profiled such figures as Nelson Mandela, George Soros, Joan Didion, John McCain, and Maya Lin.

Her story on Maria Altmann’s effort to recover the family Klimt collection appeared in the Los Angeles Times Magazine in 2001. She has written for Esquire, The Nation, and The Christian Science Monitor. She currently contributes to The Washington Post from Jerusalem.​

 

 

Most recently Ms. O'Connor has written the definitive book on Gustav Klimt's masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, otherwise known as "Woman in Gold." Her book Lady in Gold is superb and highly recommended. Ms. O'Connor is a leading expert on Gustav Klimt, and had introduced me to his grandson, Gustav Zimmerman, on my last trip to Vienna.

 

Above: Gustav Zimmerman, me, my cousin George
and dear friend Herbert Fischer in Vienna, Dec 2014.

 

It'll be quite some time before my draft is done, and I'm very honored she has accepted to write the forward. Thanks, Anne Marie! 

Ongoing Research and Results

The research on Josephu is an ongoing process, sometimes very slow and sometimes surprisingly fast. Sunday night I sent an email to three facilities in Vienna seeking a photo of one of Josef's teachers, Josef Muellner. The next morning I had three replies and the photo, which they have given me permission to use in the book credited as courtesy of them.

Then, in a quick search today, I found another statue I did now know about, titled "Salome" (1920) probably cast by Argentor, the company that reproduced many of Josef's work.

 

Then another piece of interesting data showed up. We know my mother went to school with Hedy Lamarr in Vienna (before she was Hedy Lamarr). A wooden statue by Josef (St. Anthony) stands in the beautiful Karlskirche (St. Charles' Church) located in Karlsplatz just off the Ringstrasse. Hedy married Friedrich Mandl August 10, 1933, in Karlskirche. My great-grandfather, Wenzel Josephu, was born on August 10th....and so was I. Fun stuff.

 

Meanwhile, I am looking forward to seeing some documents from the archives of the Fire Brigade Museum of Am Hof, Vienna. They reached out to me that they have several documents about my grandfather. He sculpted a large bronze (St. Florian, patron saint of firemen) and has 8 pieces in their museum.

NY Times 1940

Josef Josephu had his first exhibition in America at NY's Steinway Hall (Feb 1940). The NY Times called him a Viennese Rodin. Looking at this photo comparison and you can see why.

Great Artists Alike

The Josephu brothers, Florian and Josef, were surrounded by many artists who went on to achieve lasting fame. It is entirely logical to assume that the paths of Florian, Josef, Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt and Oskar Kokoschka - even Adolf Hitler - would have crossed.

In 1918, Josef married a young concert pianist, Olga Kohn, who was the 2nd cousin to Gustav Mahler (who died in 1911).

Florian Josephu entered the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts (Akademie die Bildenden Kunste) in 1904/1905, and Egon Schiele entered in 1906. In 1907 Josef entered the Academy; Alois Schicklbruber (Adolf Hitler) was rejected by the Academy in 1907.

 

In 1914 Josef had an exhibition at Gustav Klimt's Secession House, and in several magazine/newspaper articles identify Josef as a sculptor who came out of the Secession movement. 

Gustav Mahler

In my ongoing research into my grandfather, Josef Josephu, the Viennese sculptor, I am building my family tree. The main source has been both the help of friend Herbert Fischer or Vienna, and the web site MyHeritage.com. The more detailed my entries the more that web site finds connections to other family trees, which helps to add "branches" to my family tree.

Among the family are many artists and musicians, such as the violinist Florian Zajic. Recently we have confirmed a distant relation to famed composer/conductor Gustav Mahler, who was my grandmother's aunt's cousin. I can't help wondering of Josef ever met Gustav since they were both in Vienna around the same time.

 

 

 

 

A Family Tree Grows

My,  hoe simply adding a middle name or birth/death date can cause a family tree to grow. Assuming the connections made on MyHeritage.com are correct, the Josephu family tree now has 328 people in 120 families. Some luminaries include renowned violinist Florian Zajic, legendary sculptor Ivan Mestrovic, and actor Otto Waldis. There's a small thread of a chance that there's a connection to Gustav Mahler.

We know some of the well know friends of my grandfather include composer Emerich Kalman, Walter Slezak and Jose Ferrer.

Update 1-10-16: Another illustrious addition to the family tree was revealed - the Oscar winning film director Milos Forman.

A family Forest

Thanks to the genealogical prowess of friend Herbert Fischer, and the power of an internet family tree site, my family tree has grown into a forest with over 277 people and 103 connect families. And in addition to the close family, there are many out there who share some DNA throughout Europe and even in Israel.

 

Among them are renown violinist, a Mayor knighted by the Austrian Emperor, Franz Joseph, and of course my grandfather, Josef, and his brother, Florian, respect sculptors. 

 

One name in three is fairly common, Mahler, but wouldn't it be a kick to find perhaps there's a relation to Gustav Mahler?

Looking back at the research...

Just stepping back a bit to look at and reorganize the research materials for the book on Josef Josephu - Florian Josephu ... wowsers. In addition to two filled large file boxes, there are 100's of emails and may 100's of scans of photos, articles and certificates. 15 years is really adding up, and now I'm on the slow process of putting into form. The challenge is...what to include and what to exclude. In addition to the biographical text there will be many photos and copies of certificates....I wouldn't be surprised if the final text exceeds 200 pages....easily.

More discovery

This Memorial Day weekend was put to use with more research, and putting more thoughts down on paper. The project is taking form. I do need to find a better way to organize so as to make it easier to go through all the materials while I process the information.

Some patience paid off...while searching the internet I found two more Argentor bronze statues by Josef Josephu. One titled "Spring," the other "Summer." This makes me wonder if there was originally 4 pieces and there's a "Fall" and "Winter" out there somewhere. Hopefully, time will tell.

August Rodin

In February, 1940, Josef Josephu had his first American exhibition, just four months after immigrating to the United States. The showing was held at Steinway Hall on Manhattan's West 57th Street. All of the pieces were brought by ship from Vienna, along with Josef, his wife, Olga, and their daughter, Micaela. The exhibit was reviewed by the New York Times, which called Josef "a modern-day Rodin."

Here's some rare footage of August Rodin sculpting in his studio.
http://voxpopulisphere.com/2015/03/13/video-4/

More discoveries!

Once again, thanks to the help of friend Herbert Fischer, we've made another discovery. There was a company that Josef worked with in Vienna called Argentor. They sold goods made of silver, bronze and gold.

 

I had located a copy of their catalog from the 1930's but was having difficulty getting a response from the seller. Herbert purchased it on my behalf and sent me photos of the pages. Among are offered small reproductions of several pieces I own, smaller versions of a few pieces I've known about, and then some pieces I did not know of. It was a wonderful find. For example, here is a cut from the page showing one of two pieces Josef called "The Kiss" (both masters are in my apartment).

 

 

 

Another discovery

I was contacted a few months ago through this blog by someone in Wisconsin who had two pieces by my grandfather, Josef. He sent me photos. Very exciting! These are pieces I did not know existed - supporting my continuing theory that there are still many more works by Josephu waiting be rediscovered.

To add to my please, these are dated 1946 which means they were created after Josef came to the US, making them even more rare. They are a set of lamps, each different. Standing 20" tall, with a base of 8.5" ... the owner said they were plaster and he had them restored: they are excellent.

I hadn't originally intended on purchasing these, but when my cousin Georg heard of them he suggest let's get them, and reproduce in bronze. So We got them! They look great next to my couch. The next step will be to see how to best travel them to Vienna, both cost-effectively and safely. I plan on visiting this December, so one option might be to somehow pack and bring on the plane.

 

Always something turns up!

I received from very interesting news from my cousin, Georg, in Vienna. Through a chance meeting he came across a couple who restore statues. The man, Rindler, is a sculptor and his wife an artist. Georg told them of the funny story regarding one of my grandfather’s statues, a bust of Guido Holzknecht,  which had been improperly restored crediting the work Josephu Sheu who was not a sculptor. They later discussed Georg’s connection to the Josephu family. It turns out that Rindler has been hired to restore one of my grandfather’s works, a statue of St. Francis of Assisi, and that the statue will be returned to its original location.

Part of my research report on this statue was bout how it was moved and appeared to be lost for many, many years...and my failed effort to locate it during my first visit to Vienna.

 

 

After I connected with Georg he told me he knew the piece – it was in an area he’s been many times. So this chapter of the book will have a second happy ending – not only was the statue found, be restored and returned.

Steinway Hall, NYC

Visited Steinway Hall today. One of Manhattan's hidden gems. My personal connection; my grandfather, Josef Josephu, had his first US showing of his sculptures here in February of 1940 - only 5 months after arriving from Vienna. The NY Times review called him a modern-day Rodin. The staff were friendly and accommodating allowing my to go behind the 'velvet rope' and take many photos for the biography.

 

http://www.steinwayshowrooms.com/steinway-hall