Bronze Arthur Strasser (1854-1927)

In 1892, the Austrian sculptor Arthur Strasser finally realized his dream: to travel through Egypt to discover the reality of an East which has always fascinated him. This trip, accomplished in the company of his friend the painter Charles Wilda, will provide him with forms and patterns that will be the basis of his work, both graphic and plastic. It endeavors to illustrate the small trades of the street, and the different populations who coexist in the country, sometimes following slavery. With this exotic production, Strasser met with great success in Vienna, the imperial family of the Habsburgs acquiring his works to decorate the interiors of his palaces. The Negro of Timbuktu, model of this bronze with brown patina, could have been one of them. Arthur STRASSER (1854-1927) Painter and sculptor, Arthur Strasser was born on April 8, 1854 in the Old Austrian Empire in Adelsberg, a city located in present-day Slovenia. He entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 1871 where he followed the courses of the sculptor Karl Kundmann until 1875. After 3 years of military obligations, he began to exhibit at the Maison des Artistes in Vienna. He obtained a scholarship thanks to Baron Leitenberger who allowed him to work in Paris from 1881 to 1883. Arthur Strasser undertook in 1892 a trip to Egypt with his friend Charles Wilda who had a workshop in Cairo. During this stay, he devoted himself almost exclusively to the representation of popular oriental characters. By the care he brought to faithfully translating human types, Strasser deserves the qualifier of sculptor ethnographer. From 1889 to 1919 he directed the sculpture class at the Vienna School of Fine Arts. Arthur Strasser won the Kaiser Prize in 1896. From 1898 to 1900, he was a member of the Viennese Secession chaired by Gustave Klimt. It is as much for his belonging to this artistic movement as for his commitment to polychromy that the artist is recognized. He participated in the Universal Exhibition of Paris in 1900. Arthur Strasser had an influence on the production of Austrian ceramists Freiderich Goldscheider in Vienna as well as the associates Riessner, Stellmacher and Kessek in Bohemia who reproduce his works. He died in Vienna on November 8, 1927.