Sketch of a woman's head
Victor Karl Hammer (Vienna 1882 - Lexington, Kentucky 1967)
Category
Art / Drawings and watercolours
Date
1882 - 1967
Materials
Pencil on paper
Measurements
172 x 216 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Polesden Lacey, Surrey
NT 808380
Summary
A partial sketch of a woman's head.
Full description
A preliminary sketch of a lady with sanguine applied to the drawing. This is typical in Victor's study pieces. Signed by Victor Hammer. Hammer almost always worked by direct commission. Whilst in London he made portraits of Baron von Frankenstein, the Austrian Ambassador, and Count Paravachini, the Swiss Ambassador. He was connected with Sir Kenneth Clark, Sir Frederick Ponsonby and the Duchess of Rutland. Victor Karl Hammer was born in Vienna, he studied and later became a professor in the Vienna Academy. He was highly talented as a portraitist, painter, mezzotint printer, printer and book binder, silverpoint artist, sculptor, architect, maker of musical instruments, designer of uncial typefaces and a teacher. He worked abroad in Florence, London, Paris and Constantinople. As the Nazi party gained power Victor's political leanings and his friendships with Jews, (his daughter Christine Veronika married Baron Herman Oppenheimer) resulted in him loosing his professorship at the Academy. Victor moved to America in 1939 and taught in Wells College, Aurora, New York and afterwards Transylvania College, Lexington, Kentucky and continued as an artist and typographer.
Provenance
Bequeathed by Mrs M.E. Ruffer (Flint Cottage, Box Hill), 1959
Marks and inscriptions
Signed on front: Victor Hammer
Makers and roles
Victor Karl Hammer (Vienna 1882 - Lexington, Kentucky 1967), publisher