Friedrich Goldscheider

FRIEDRICH GOLDSCHEIDER (Pilsen, Bohemia, 1845 - Vienna, Austria, 1897). Austria, ca. 1900.
Planter "The three nymphs".
Patinated terra cotta.
Signed with monogram on one side.
Numbering on the back.
Exhibits wear consistent with age and use. Slight loss of paint on the side.
Measurements: 77 x 20 x 18 cm.

Sculptural jardinière made by Friedrich Goldscheider is genuinely Art Nouveau style (Secession Art in Austria). The container is undulated by the impulse of the dance of the three nymphs, who, in the manner of the classical Graces, hold hands, and their dresses melt in graceful delicacy.

In 1885, the sculptor Friedrich Goldscheider left his native Pilsen and settled in Vienna, where he founded his own manufactory of terracotta pieces. He soon became one of the most influential artists in the fields of ceramics and bronze, with stores in Austria, Paris, Leipzig, Berlin and Florence. For more than half a century the Goldscheider firm, considered the best modernist terracotta factory, created masterpieces of historicism, Art Nouveau and Art Deco. The founder was able to attract both acclaimed artists and young innovators to his factory, so that great ceramists of the time, such as W. Bosse, B. Geiger, J. Lorenzl, I. Meisinger and M. Powolny, among others, worked there. After Goldscheider's death, the factory was taken over by his widow Regina, who continued to produce her husband's models, along with new ones created by artists who worked for the firm, such as D. Chiparus during the Art Deco period. Until its closure with the rise of National Socialism, more than four thousand different models were made in the factory, both by Goldscheider himself and other authors. From the beginning, the factory won a multitude of awards, first prizes and gold medals at countless world fairs, exhibitions and trade fairs. Today its pieces are in great demand by collectors from all over the world. They can currently be admired in various museums around the world, such as the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York or the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. In 2007, Goldscheider's pieces were exhibited at the Vienna Museum and, the following year, at the LBI in New York.