Candelabra c. 1930

This is a Candelabra, made by Karl Hagenauer; it's a shiny silver-colored metal sculpture, or a set of them. I just love the pure geometry and shiny chrome. It's pretty literal; you can tell that it's a tree with branches. But it’s also not that literal—it’s still very abstract. I can imagine Karl Hagenauer, the artist, thinking about how to make something functional and beautiful. What’s the right angle? How wide should the base be? It must have taken him a lot of planning and thought, and maybe he threw some away and started again. The way the branches come out at right angles gives it a real modernist feel. You can see the influence of Bauhaus design. It reminds me of other sculptors who work with metal, like David Smith. I love seeing how different artists can take similar materials and create such different things. It’s all about that conversation.