Modernist Drawing By Alfred Hagel ( Austrian 1885-1945)

This modernist drawing was created in the 1920s by the well-known Austrian painter, graphic artist, draftsman, and illustrator Alfred Hagel (1885 - Vienna - 1945).

Hagel studied from 1904 to 1909 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna under Christian Griepenkerl and Heinrich Lefler. From 1910 to 1912, he transferred to the Royal School of Applied Arts in Munich, where Julius Diez was his teacher. At the 1912 Bavarian State Fair, Hagel won three second places with designs for Christian art. From 1913 onward, Hagel worked as an illustrator for magazines such as Die Jugend, Die Dame, Leipziger Illustrirte, and Die Muskete. He also illustrated books for the Artur Wolf Verlag in Vienna, including Ferdinand Raimund's The Diamond of the Ghost King (1920) and Prosper Mérimée's Novellas of Passion (1923). In collaboration with the architect Paul Ludwig Troost, Hagel designed several transatlantic liners for the North German Lloyd overseas service, such as the Berlin and the Sierra Ventana. In 1929, he designed tapestries for the Europa. Together with Troost, he also worked on other projects for the Vereinigte Werkstätten in Munich, for example, decorative designs for Nymphenburg porcelain in the 1920s. Eventually, he also worked as a set designer for plays and operas, such as The Marriage of Figaro and A Waltzing Dream. He received international recognition in 1926 when the London magazine The Studio published an article about his murals. Around 1927, he decorated the restaurant in Nuremberg Central Station with a mural. From 1930, Hagel worked as an art teacher in Vienna, where, after the Anschluss of Austria in 1938, he was excluded from teaching and artistic work for "racist" reasons.

Exhibitions: 1908; Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna; 1923, International Watercolor Exhibition, Chicago; 1925, Kunstverein München; 1927, Künstlerhaus Vienna; 1987, solo exhibition, Galerie Hiecke, Vienna.

Literature: H. Fuchs, "Österreichischer Maler 1881-1900 geboren," Vienna, 1975; Künstlerlexikon von Saur, Berlin, 2010.

Inscription: Signed lower left.

Technique: Pencil drawing on paper, unframed.

Dimensions: W. 22 x H. 28.5 cm.

Condition: Good.