Out of hiding: Karl Duldig (1902-1986) Mask (1921), marble.
COURTESY OF NGV
A sculpture created in Vienna in 1921 was hidden in Paris during the war. In 1961 the piece was reunited with its creator, who, by then, was living in Melbourne.
The only Australian work featured in the recent Vienna: Art and Design exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria was Karl Duldig’s marble sculpture titled Mask.
Karl Duldig (1902-1986) was a student of the acclaimed Austrian sculptor Anton Hanak who was a close personal friend and artistic colleague of Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffman.
During the intervening 90 years between the creation of this sculpture in Vienna and its display in Melbourne, there evolved a fascinating story of dramatic escape, luck, loss and unexpected recovery.
Karl married fellow student Slawa Horowitz, who was the inventor of the world’s first folding umbrella. Named Flirt, it was included in the inventor’s pavilion at the 1931 Vienna Spring Fair. A contemporary newspaper described “the magic umbrella of the sculptress” and commented on the inclusion of “female inventors” at the fair.
Their only child, Eva, was born in February 1938, just one month before the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany. Soon after, the family was forced to flee from their homeland and found a refuge for a brief time in Switzerland.
Before leaving their Viennese apartment, Slawa managed to pack up all its contents, including Mask. Her sister, Aurelie (Rella), who married a French citizen, took all these things with her when she left Austria. Eventually she hid the whole consignment in the cellars of her apartment house in the middle of Paris.
Vienna: Possibly from the Wiener Werkstätte, beaded evening bag (c1930)
STEFAN DAMSCHKE
Arriving in Singapore in 1939, Karl and Slawa Duldig established a successful art school and Karl completed a number of important commissions before the family was deported to Australia in September 1940. Classified as “enemy aliens” they were interned in a camp near Tatura alongside the “Dunera Boys”.
Karl found the incarceration difficult but continued to work, carving sculptures from firewood and drawing on envelopes and even toilet paper.
The Duldigs were released from the camp in 1942 after Karl enlisted in the Australian army.
In 1944 he was appointed senior art master at Mentone Grammar, where he taught for the next 23 years. He also pursued his career as a professional artist and was named the Victorian sculptor of the year in 1956.
One of Duldig’s public sculptures, a monument to Raoul Wallenberg, can be seen at Kew Junction.
Slawa taught art at St Catherine’s, Toorak, for many years.
Inspiration: Anton Hanak (1875-1934) Standing female nude with drapery, (1921), pen and ink. No. 3669.
CHRISTIAN MARKEL / NGV PHOTO SERVICES
In 1961, Eva Duldig, who was a leading Australian tennis player, travelled to France to compete in the French Open. She stayed with her mother’s younger sister, Rella, who revealed the boxes of sculptures that had remained in the cellar of the Paris apartment since 1939. Not long afterwards these sculptures, including Mask, began to arrive in Australia.
Before her death in 1975, Slawa was determined to create a museum showcasing the Duldig collection and, following Karl’s death in 1986, Eva has been able to fulfill her mother’s vision and oversee the transition of the original family home to a public museum and art gallery known as The Duldig Studio.
To compliment the Vienna exhibition at the NGV, The Duldig Studio is showcasing an exhibition titled The Duldigs in Vienna. Visitors to the former family home, artists’ studio and sculpture garden in East Malvern can see the furniture, photographs and letters, sculptures, drawings and paintings that illustrate their rich artistic lives in pre-war Vienna. The exhibition will run for the remainder of 2011.
During World War Two, Australia provided refuge for many Europeans who had been displaced from their own countries. The Duldig house/studio museum is a remarkable reminder of the extraordinary contribution to Australian knowledge and culture made by these émigrés.
» The Duldig Studio (public museum and art gallery) is open to individuals and groups by appointment: Tuesday to Thursday 10.30am-3pm and Saturday 1pm-4pm.
Also open on the second Saturday of every month, 1-4pm (no appointment necessary) Phone \ 9521 0525
» inquiries@duldig.org.au