In search of prototypes - Historical soft-tissue reconstructions of Mladeč 1

Abstract

The collections of the Anthropological Department still contain a plaster soft-tissue reconstruction which had been produced on the basis of Mladeč 1. The object was made by the academic sculptor Friedrich Fahrwickel, presumably in the late 1930s. A second sculpture, made as early as the beginning of the thirties by the academic sculptor Egon Grenzer, under scientific instructions by the curator Viktor Lebzelter, is apparently missing. However, this sculpture was used as an early element of anthropological showcasing at the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien and forms a major, historically relevant item in the context of correspondence preserved to this day. The object underscores the motivation of the artists and curators involved as well as the collecting strategies and exhibition policies practiced in the museum during the interwar period. © 2006 Springer-Verlag/Wien. All rights are reserved.