Johann P F Preiss

Johann Philipp Ferdinand Preiss (1882 – 1943) was a German sculptor who became one of the leading lights in the Art Deco movement.

He was apprenticed to the carver Philipp Willman at the age of 15 after both his parents died and lived with his family. He travelled to Rome and Paris in 1901. He met Arthur Kassier in Baden-Baden and they formed the company Preiss & Kassier in Berlin. Preiss was in charge of artistic production whilst, Kassier managed the business side of things.

The company started by producing small ivory carvings of children and statuettes often from old ivory billiard balls. The firm then went on to specialise in limited edition Art Deco cabinet sculptures using painted bronze on plinths of marble and onyx. They also produced the occasional lampstand and mantelpiece clock.

Preiss designed most of the company’s items with casting done by the founder Gladenbeck in Berlin. By the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 the company was employing six highly skilled carvers and exporting regularly to the United States and the United Kingdom.

Preiss died of a brain tumour in 1943 and the company was closed. Most of the stock of samples in their workshop was destroyed by a bomb shortly before the end of the Second World War.

Preiss’s work is highly prized by modern collectors.