The Burning Man, 1922

This small bronze statuette is a draft for a monumental sculpture, executed by the eminent sculptor Anton Hanak (1875–1934) in 1922/23. Having dropped to his knees, the male nude stretches his arms skywards. A pain inherent in the body seems to force the figure down, while unimagined powers appear to be pulling it upwards at the same time. These opposing energies are also expressed in the animated surface of the body. The artist came up with the first idea for the figure The Burning Man after World War I. Since 1915, the artist had been struggling with health problems, which in 1922 led to repeated bouts of illness and stays in health spas. Already in his early oeuvre, Hanak used the motif of “burning” as a metaphor of physical and psychological pain. The sculpture is both a visionary-symbolic reaction to his personal situation and to postwar society. For this figure, Hanak was awarded the Grand Prix at the 1925 Paris World Fair.

AK, 2023