GAUL, AUGUST
1869 Großauheim - 1921 Berlin


Title: Two Beavers on a Tree Trunk.
Date: 1908.
Technique: Bronze, brown-patinated with gilt teeth.
Measurement: 24 x 22 x 21cm.
Notation: Inscribed left on the trunk: "Fr.A. Krauss z. Er. an 1907 v. A. Gaul / Weihnacht 1908".
Foundry Mark: Right on the trunk indistincly inscribed: "A. Gaul / 1908".Plinth.


Literature:
J. Gabler: August Gaul. Das Werkverzeichnis der Skulpturen, Berlin 2007, p. 134,
No. 143.
Exhib. cat. "August Gaul. The Alfons and Marianne Kottmann Collection", Museen der Stadt Hanau 21.06 - 04.09.2011, p. 45.

Provenance:
Collection Kottmann, Hanau.

Like many of Gaul's works, the group shown here was originally based on a design for a fountain, which was never realised. Instead, the beavers were cast in smaller dimensions; individual examples also feature gilt teeth.
The name Krauss mentioned on the dedication of our copy refers to the Berlin architect Friedrich August Krauss, who had built both the Berlin Secession building and Gaul's studio building on Roseneck in the years before 1907.
Gaul subsequently gave him this cast as a Christmas present in 1908.
Six further casts are documented at Cassirer from 1909 onwards.