autograph letter signed ("A. Hanak"), dated January 23, 1921, Vienna

1 pg., 4to

The Daulton Collection

In the general emergency after the end of the World War I, Hanak writes from Vienna to the General Director of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlung [Bavarian State Painting Collections], Friedrich Dörnhöffer (1865-1934), seeking work in Munich.  He makes his desperate plea in the most florid terms:

"... Don't be frightened that I emerge from the depths of the grave. I can't go any further here; I want to emigrate from here. Here I suffocate and yet I have to climb higher. Can't the invisible patrons offer me their hands to free me? ...."   (partial English translation by Jack Daulton)

larger context in the the original German:

"... Erschrecken Sie nicht daß ich aus den Tiefen der Gräber auftauche. Hier kann ich nicht mehr weiter. Ein Leben lang will ich von hier auswandern. Hier ersticke ich und muß ich doch noch höher steigen. Können mir die unsichtbaren Förderer nicht dazu ihre Hände bieten, mich befreien? Hätte ich nicht schon früher laut rufen sollen? selbst das Streben steuern? Ich fühle daß ich angerannt bin und keine Zeit mehr habe den Kreis der sich um mich gebildet hat zu unterhalten. Jetzt da ich am meisten vollbringen könnte muß ich mich als Musikant entdecken. Der Gesellschaft einen Komiker oder musikalischen Hanswurst bieten damit vielleicht ein plastisches kleines Werk entstehen kann? Nein, ich muß aufbauen. Dort wo das Material heilig spricht, dort wo die göttliche Erhebung das Irrdische [!] auslöscht. Dorten, irgendwo? Und so melde ich mich zur Arbeit, will mit der Jugend die Stätten der Erhebung vertheidigen. Ich verlange nichts nur zur Arbeit will ich aufgefordert sein. ..."

The Daulton Collection also owns a whimsical portrait of Anton Hanak by Mäda Gertrude Primavesi:

Mäda Gertrude Primavesi (Olmütz, now in Czech Republic 1903-2000)

Portrait of Anton Hanak

circa 1910-1915

pencil on paper

28 x 12 cm

verso inscribed "M. Primavesi"

The Daulton Collection

Provenance:

Estate of architect/designer Josef Hoffmann

Discussion:

Mäda Gertrude Primavesi was one of the four children of the businessman Otto Primavesi and his wife Eugenia Primavesi, née Butschek, a former actress. Otto Primavesi came from one of the wealthiest and most influential families in Moravia. He owned several companies in the sugar and textile industries and also had his own bank.  He and his wife Eugenia, who were ardent supporters of progressive Vienese art and design at the beginning of the 20th century.  Their social circle included Gustav Klimt, Josef Hoffmann, and Anton Hanak, among other cultural luminaries. 

 

Hoffmann designed the family's country house in Winkelsdorf near Schönberg in Moravia, (nowadays Kouty nad Desnou near Sumperk in the Czech Republic), and in 1914 Otto Primavesi took over as business manager of the design company the "Wiener Werkstätte" (Vienna Workshop) which had been co-founded by Hoffmann in 1903.  The Primavesis regularly invited artists, including Hanak, to stay at their country house for salon-like gatherings; and this is likely where the young Mäda sketched this charming portrait of Hanak.

Between 1913 and 1914, Klimt painted Primavesi's wife, Eugenia (her portrait is now in the Toyota Museum of Art, Japan).  And as early as 1912, Otto also commissioned Klimt to paint his young daughter, Mäda.  Klimt's portrait of nine-year-old Mäda, his only major work featuring a child, is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (since 1964).  “Mäda Primavesi was, by her own account, an independent, assertive young girl,” wrote The Metropolitan Museum, "qulaities amply captured in his [Klimt's] portrait of her." Mäda ― who died in 2000 ― was the last living subject of one of Klimt’s works.

Jack Daulton

The Daulton Collection

Los Altos Hills, California

info@symbolismus.com