Painted plaster
Austria, 1923
Gustinus Ambrosi (1893-1975) – Austrian sculptor and lyricist
Embossed signature ‘Ambrosi’ and date ‘1923’ on the front
Expressionist accomplishment
Height: 60 cm
With a copy of a letter from Gustinus Ambrosi to Max Jaffé, in which he refers to this bust
Gustinus Ambrosi counts as one of the most prominent sculptors of classical modernism; this sculpture may well be one of a kind, we don’t know a second copy.

The present bust by Gustinus Ambrosi shows the renowned Viennese art printer Max Jaffé and dates from 1923. The plaster sculpture in an expressionist manner is painted in beige. Although influences of masters such as Michelangelo and Rodin can be found in Ambrosi’s work, the Austrian sculptor has his own unique style. It is characterized by an incredibly three-dimensional quality. The hair, beard and wrinkles on the forehead appear as if still malleable. The pensive facial expression and the slightly tilted head give the bust a great expressive power.

Two years after this bust was made, a portfolio with 24 prints of Ambrosi’s work was published. The production of the heliotypes was executed by Max Jaffé. In reference to this, there is a letter by Ambrosi to Jaffé from the 25th of January 1925, in which he refers to the bust offered here.



Jaffé was considered a pioneer in the field of heliography. Many plates for books and artist’s portfolios were printed in his renowned workshop in Vienna.



The bust by Gustinus Ambrosi shows some paint flaking and a major loss at the left ear. It was broken several times and has been restored professionally (some cracks are still visible). The bust measures 60 cm in height.



Gustinus Ambrosi (1893-1975)

Gustinus Ambrosi was born in Eisenstadt, Austria, in 1893. In 1907, he started an apprenticeship with Jakob Kozourek, one of Prague’s largest sculptor and stuccoer companies. More apprenticeships followed in Graz. Here he was a master student at the imperial and royal Staatsgewerbeschule, where Georg Winkler recognized and promoted Ambrosi as a portraitist. At the age of 16, he was given his first public recognition. Exhibitions and awards followed. In Vienna, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts. In the interwar period, he worked for commissions in various European cities. During the Second World War, some of his works were destroyed, and Ambrosi mainly worked on his poems. Before his death the sculptor bequeathed some of his works to the Austrian republic. Ambrosi’s sculptural oeuvre comprises over 2300 works, including many portraits of important people from the sphere of politics, science and the arts.



Max Jaffé (1845-1939)

Max Jaffé was born in Schwerin in 1845. After a trade apprenticeship, he attended the art school in Nuremberg, where he became acquainted with photography, which was still in its infancy at that time. In 1865, Jaffé went to Paris to learn the photographic profession. From 1869 onwards, he lived in Vienna, where he worked for the court photographer Josef Löwy, before opening his own studio. Here he worked on commissions for portraits, landscape and architectural photographs. During that time, he experimented with new methods to improve photographic processes, in particular he developed heliotype printing, a method which reproduces most faithfully the tone and color of the original. Today Jaffé is considered a pioneer in this field. When the Education and Research Institute for Graphics in Vienna was founded, Max Jaffé accepted a position as a teacher of photography. From 1890, he published the magazine ‘Die Photographie’ for several years, before retiring after the First World War. (cko)

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