Bronze Hound's Art Collection: Carl Kauba (1865-1922), Still In Demand Today!

If you're not familiar with Carl Kauba, well, I don't know what to say. Do a simple search and you'll find far more information that I could post here.
I bought the first, rather small bronze of an Indian standing with rifle in hand in an online auction, at an almost give-away price. This one is not very old, but it is solid bronze and cold-painted, just like the original Vienna bronzes. It is not stamped with any foundry marks or "Geschutzt" (copyright) like an early Vienna bronze would be, however. I'm of two minds about this one. It's clearly newer (I'm guessing somewhere from the 1960's-80's?), but I don't think it's a copy per se, more of a continuation of the original castings. Many people are not aware, but the Bergmann foundry in Vienna is still in existence and still producing cold-painted bronzes! It is estimated that they have 20 to 30 thousand different molds, which they rotate through from time to time. I'm given to understand that the molds for Carl Kauba's bronzes are still in their store rooms, and occasionally a run of castings are made from them. As his works were never intended to be limited in production (beyond what they felt they could sell, that is), it's not even disingenuous to call this an original. It's just not very old. I'm not certain of the official title, but since the titles tended to be simple and obvious, I'm calling it "Standing Indian With Rifle." Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

The second piece is a bit better known. "Shot In The Eye" was a Chief of the Oglala Lakota who fought and lost his eye in the Battle of Little Big Horn. He was often photographed after. This piece is a modern reproduction of a Carl Kauba original. It may have come from the modern Vienna foundries, but I have no idea if it did or not. This is a very popular piece that has never really been out of production since it first came out, from what I can tell. I've had this for a couple years, and recently found it behind a stack of books, completely forgotten!

The third bronze is another modern Vienna casting, and is a new grouping of old models on a new base. I won this for an excellent price in an online auction because the seller misinterpreted and misspelled the signature. The Indian on the horse and the kneeling Indian scout were originally cast as individual pieces but have been grouped together here in one sculpture. What the Vienna foundries often do is to take the original models and either modify or group them differently to create a new work without creating an entirely new sculpture. One can often find the elements of a complex Vienna bronze in other iterations. I think it's rather cool. Considering the new bronzes are made in the same method and about the same quantities as the antiques were, they're still a very viable and collectible form of art, in my opinion.

I have several other pieces by Carl Kauba, or at least that are signed as such. I'll add those to this post in the near future.