Satyr’s Head, n. d.

The artist Bernhardine Kuhn (1891–1963), called Dina Kuhn, was born in Vienna in 1891 and began her studies in 1912 at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts under Franz Čižek (1865–1946), Michael Powolny (1871–1954), Koloman Moser (1868–1918) and Josef Hoffmann (1870–1956), among others. From 1916, Kuhn worked at the studio of the Wiener Werkstätte, where she designed not only ceramic works but also fabric patterns, wallpapers, posters and postcards. In 1924, she started to work for the factory Goldscheider und Augarten, and from 1926 for the glass manufacturers Bimini. This ceramic head, which may represent either a hybrid creature in the shape of a satyr or a depiction of a Triton from Greek mythology, boasts a deliberately rough molding and is painted in shades of cool blue and yellow. The hair and beard is rendered in long strands, with the head further featuring three horns.

EF, 2021