This terracotta sculpture of a woman's head was made by the Goldscheider Porcelain Works and Majolica Factory in Vienna, Austria, in around 1925. The head's African features, loose curls and painted hair and lips were influenced by African masks as well as fashion advertisements and magazines. Indeed, its manufacture coincided with a European interest in African and Oceanic artwork, following the development of a cultural attitude, called 'Primitivism'. Promoted by artists like Picasso, Brancussi, Braque and Matisse, Primitivism represented a romantic fascination for 'naïve' cultures unaffected by industry or materialism.

The Goldscheider factory opened in 1885 and later produced a range of items depicting women, such as terracotta heads as well as masks and female figures in fashionable clothing. It also reproduced Classical and Renaissance sculptures for the Osterreichisches Museum fur Kunst und Industrie (Austrian Museum for Art and Industry) in Vienna. The factory closed in 1953.

This hollow, terracotta sculpture of a woman's head was most probably designed by Rudolf Knoerlein at the Goldscheidersche Porcelain Works and Majolica Factory in Vienna, Austria, in around 1925. Its African features, loose curls and painted hair and lips were influenced by African masks as well as fashion advertisements and magazines. The sculpture is mounted on a wooden plinth.

Ian Neil Whalland (1963-1996) acquired this sculpture for his collection of twentieth-century decorative art objects. He lived in Sydney, and developed his collection during the 1980s and 1990s.

Sculpture, woman's head, terracotta with hand-painted details / wood / metal, probably modelled by Rudolf Knoerlein, made by the Goldscheider Porcelain Works and Majolica Factory, Vienna, Austria, 1925-1930

Hollow terracotta head of a woman, standing on a black square wooden base. Long slim neck joins oval shaped face of a woman; skin is painted dark brown in a matte finish; skin surface appears rough. The face's features are well-defined; small red shiny lips and a long slim nose. Almond shaped eyes are hollow and are outlined in pale green enamel paint, as are the raised eyebrows; high, curved and thin. Individual thick strands of hair are attached to the scalp representing curls, some entwined in each other; hair proceeds from top of forehead to base of head, also covering both sides of head. Each strand is painted in enamel pale green paint, providing a shiny finish.

Made: Goldscheidersche Porcelain Works and Majolica Factory; Vienna, Austria; 1925 - 1930

No marks.

2005/66/10

1925 - 1930

266 mm

120 mm

145 mm