Doing the cakewalk – in bronze

Back in November, my auction buddy Janet found four neat postcards among a lot of cards she had just bought. They were images of two black couples demonstrating how to do the cakewalk around 1904.

Well, at another auction this week, she fell in love with a pair of bronze figures of a boy and girl – who appeared to be black – dancing the cakewalk. The bronzes were to be auctioned near the end of a Decorative Arts sale – and likely would pull in a lot more money than she was willing to spend – and we left early. I encouraged her to leave a bid, but she didn’t.

I was curious about the bronzes and the maker. The auction house described the pieces as Vienna bronzes, “youthful male and female figures,” signed by T. Curts. The dancers looked black to us, based on their detailed facial features.   

In my research, I found that T. Curts was a pseudonym for a noted Austrian sculptor named Carl Kauba, who was born in Vienna in 1865 and died in 1922. He was known for his bronzes of the American West – Native Americans and cowboys – although there is some debate over whether he ever visited this country. One account said that he did, and was also inspired by the German writer Carl May, who wrote about the West, and the stories of photographers and illustrators. Others say he never did. I found very little definitive background information on Kauba.

Kauba was also known for what were called “naughties,” or mechanical erotic sculptures. Jennmaur Gallery in San Francisco, whose website has examples of his works, noted that the most collectible and rarest of his naughties was “Metamorphosis (circa 1910),” a colorful nude butterfly woman in bronze. Another piece I saw on the web was a female figure whose metal dress could be slipped off, exposing her nudity.  

The sculptor also used the named Karl Thenn, according to the gallery, most likely to avoid copyright issues since he worked for several foundries (the bronzes at auction had the inscription “Copyright Thenn Vienna”). He apparently cast his clay models at local foundries after fashioning them at a studio in his home.

Some of his bronzes were imported to the United States between 1895 and 1912, and cast at a New York foundry.

How Kauba came across two black children doing the cakewalk was a mystery I couldn’t solve. The cakewalk was pretty popular in minstrel shows in the late 1800s and at the turn of the century.

His depiction of the children were not stereotypical but natural – much unlike the way blacks were portrayed around the same time in this country. There was movement in the pieces, and these children were having fun. The boy had a smile on his face, and the girl tilted her head, her eyes closed, her thoughts focused on the cakewalk steps.

What complimentary images could he have seen of black children doing the cakewalk? Did he intentionally decide not to mimic the common portrayal of blacks at the turn of the century? I’d love to know.

These were apparently not the only bronze cakewalk figures he did of black children. I found others signed by Kauba himself on the websites of another gallery and auction house. 

This was an interesting and unusual find for me, especially after coming across the cakewalk postcards. They would have been a nice companion to Janet’s postcard collection. I’m not sure if they would have been affordable because I found that Kauba’s bronzes sell for thousands of dollars. I know, though, that at auction most things can be gotten for much less. Just depends on who wants them at a given time.

NOTE: I found out later that the Kauba cakewalk bronzes sold for $325.