Bruno Zach

Bruno Zach 1891-1945 was born in the Ukraine, and studied in Vienna at the Vienna Academy. He worked in Art Nouveau, Art Deco and orientalist styles and he is best known for his erotica sculptures featuring scantily clad young women in stockings, garters and high heels.

One of Zach’s more controversial pieces, created around 1930 was an extremely erotic piece called ‘The Hugger’ in which a woman is depicted hugging a larger-than-life penis.

Living and working in Berlin between the years of 1918 and 1935, Zach portrayed the more seedy side of Berlin nightlife with many of his works featuring prostitutes with sadomasochistic themes such as ‘The Riding Crop’ Original period castings of this item have achieved as much as $151,849 at auction.

He generally fired his bronze sculptures and costed them with mid-brown coloured patinas. He also sometimes cold painted or polychromed his pieces. He occasionally used ivory which was well carved.