Art Deco Cold Painted Bronze Study Entitled 'Butterfly Dancer' by Prof Poertzel

A fabulous early 20th Century Art Deco cold painted bronze figure of a beautiful and elegant dancer in striking stretched pose wearing a loosely hanging ‘winged’ costume. This fine sculpture has excellent detail and rich colour heightened with inset gilding, signed Prof. Poertzel and raised on a shaped black marble plinth.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Height: 19 cm.

Condition: Excellent Original Condition.

Circa: 1920.

Materials: Cold Painted Bronze & Marble.

SKU: 9079.

ABOUT
Poertzel
Otto Poertzel (German, 1896 ~ 1963) Poertzel was born the third child of William G. Poertzel and his wife Emilie J. Candida. He attended elementary school in disk and later had private lessons with Kantor Secures and pastor Henkel. The local porcelain factory AW Fr. Kister took him on as an apprentice, initially for one year in the mold and then a further one and half years in the studio for the production of new models, where he was trained as a porcelain designer. His father was already a designer for porcelain sculptures. As of October 1, 1893 Otto Poertzel spent three years studying at the Technical Academy of porcelain in Sonneberg (Sonneberg Industrial School) at Reinhard Möller. There was a short activity in the studio G. wheelwright in Gotha, where he worked on drafts and designs of new models for various industries. From 1900 Poertzel worked as a freelance sculptor in Coburg. He received orders for stone and bronze sculptures by state and municipal authorities, creating, for example, in 1907 the bust of Alexandrinenbrunnens. In 1908 he went to Munich, where he owned his own studio and at the Art Academy in Erwin short (1857-1931), a student of Adolf von Hildebrand was learned. On June 23, 1909 he married Henny Breyding in Munich and had built in 1910 in the hills road 8 in Coburg a villa with a studio. Otto Poertzel participated in numerous international art exhibitions with factory models, such as the St. Louis World’s Fair (1904) and at the Brussels International Art Exhibition (1910). In the 1920s and 1930s Poertzel received numerous commissions for portrait busts of various family members of the family of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. From 1931 to 1938 he worked for the Max Roesler fine earthenware factory in Rodach. The work of Poertzel are with very good results can still be found around the world commercially. Poertzel became one of the most prominent sculptors in Germany and was for many years under the special protection of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg- Gotha who gave many commission orders. Many of his earlier works were to be found in the salons of German Royal Courts and a few of the most beautiful were purchased by the late King of Bulgaria. It is possible that the confusion between this artist and Ferdinand Preiss is due to the fact that their work is similar in many respects, which in turn may be due to their sharing a studio in Berlin.