Franz Xavier Bergman

FRANZ XAVIER BERGMANN (Austria, 1861-1936).
"Erotic dancer". Vienna, Art Nouveau, ca. 1910.
Polychrome bronze.
Signed "Nam Greb", pseudonym of the author.
Measurements: 18 cm. height.

Bronze sculpture of erotic dancer, with mobile skirt. Stylistically, it is a transitional piece between Art Nouveau (Sezessionstil) and Art Deco. It combines the fluidity, organic lines and ornamentation of Art Nouveau with the geometric essentialism, stylization and emerging modernity of Art Deco.

Franz Xavier Bergman was a Viennese bronze artist, son of Franz Bergman, born in northern Bohemia, who opened a bronze factory in 1860, in Bohemia. The son, Franz Xavier, opened a new foundry around 1900. As an artist, Bergman had a distinctive signature, "Nam Greb," which means "Bergman" backwards. It is said that he used this mark as a "pseudonym" when the subjects of his works were subtly erotic and not to his family's liking. Franz Xavier inherited the mastery of his progenitor, famous for having used a technique for decorating bronzes called "cold painting". Cold painting as a technique was developed in Vienna at the end of the 19th century, and consisted in the application of several layers of paint that were added to the bronze after firing.