Maske in Blau: Rudolf Podany

 

This ceramic lady stared down at me, from above my piano, in the early 1950s.  I found her a bit off-putting. My mother loathed her. Vater must have liked her, though: he'd brought her all the way from Vienna to New Zealand in the late 1930s.

And so, in the way of things, finally, she descended to me. To a dusty top shelf in my study. I'm not sure why I went to that shelf yesterday. Anyway, it was obvious that she needed a wash and brushup. So she came down from her gloomy nooklet and ...

What was she?, I wondered. The back should give a clue ...

Nice clear markings. Keramos. Austria. 926/M2. Podany.

Here we are. A lovely site named PROANTIC. https://www.proantic.com/en/982453-rudolf-podany-1876-1963-for-keramos-in-vienna-austria-mask-of-camilla-horn-1930.html

Artist: Rudolf Podany (1876-1963).  Oh!  This is a mask, with eyes, of the performer Camilla Horn. Maybe my mask is 'someone' as well...

Ah! Here she is!  https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/dining-entertaining/ceramics/1920-s-art-deco-woman-face-mask-ceramic-rudolf-podany-keramos-austria/id-f_28740012/

$1500? US? But she seems to have eyes.  Maybe that accounts for the price. Elsewhere Podany wall-masks eyes or more rarely no-eyes seem to sell for £100 or so ...

Ah, here's another, similar, dated 1936. No eyes. 892/M2. 

He seems to have made a whole series of these fashionable ladies of the period. Sometimes with names, sometimes not.

Occasionally using the same colour palette.

Just remembered. Dad had a couple of little ones too .. here they are ...

No eyes, but not pierced. And not stamped or marked with any maker's or artist's name ... rough interior, not the glazed inside of the bigger mask .. hole in the back, obviously meant to go on a pin in the wall ...

Ah, well, back on the shelf ...

Let's see if I can find a Podany expert or catalogue and find out if 926/M2 is actually someone ...