all Rights Reserved ©
Summer 2022 Militaria Auction
Lot 519:
Adolf Hitler 1.5x Lifesize Bronze Bust, by Fritz Von Graevnitz (1892-1959). It sits on what we think is certainly its original base. The base is a unique porous stone that appears to have some sort of dipped finish applied. Von Graevnitz Hitler busts are known as the “Lamborghini” of all AH busts – very few were cast by this maker and if they were sold, they certainly were not cheap as the casting and finish are over the top, even the Breker made busts do not compare. Graevenitz, a WWI veteran studied fine arts at the Academy of fine Arts in Stuttgart in the immediate postwar and his AH bust was featured in 1935 at a show in Stuttgart hosted by Joseph Goebbels. In 1937 he was appointed as a teacher in the Stuttgart Academy and the year after director. His status within the N.S movement as an artist allowed him to have many works featured in the Munich House of Arts during the Great German Art exhibitions as well as in Vienna in 1943 for Junge Kunst im Deutschen Reich. After his death in 1959 the Graevenitz Museum was founded by his wife in 1971 and still operates today. This bust measures in at a total height of about 18 inches. There are four small dents on the front of Hitler’s face, possibly someone shot him with a small caliber gun, but none penetrated, and the dents are not very noticeable. Shako helmet not included, only for size reference. There is a foundry mark on the flange of the bust but it’s faint and difficult to read.
Share this lot:
all Rights Reserved ©