Robert Prenzel's Australian Carved Fire Screen

Robert Prenzel superb fire screen adorned with carved kookaburras, gum blossoms, leaves and waratahs, early 20th century, 92.5 cm high, 99.5 cm wide, 39 cm deep. The Morgan Collection contains several fine examples of the wood carver's craft and artistry, with the works of Robert Prenzel being central to this project. As James Mollison, AO, wrote in his introduction to the NGV exhibition catalogue by Terence Lane [1994], 'It is fitting that Robert Prenzel, who devised a uniquely Australian style in his furniture and carvings, should be included in the programme.' [of retrospective exhibitions]. Prenzel's work celebrates the beauty of Australian timbers, flora and fauna. Prenzel was a conservationist, and already an experienced wood carver at the age of 22, when, attracted to this country in 1888 by the stories of 'Marvellous Melbourne' associated with the Centennial exhibition, he took up residence here. In November 1890 he married Mina Schelling; they had three children and he was naturalized in 1897. His story is particularly fascinating because of 'His formulation of a style of furniture that captured the mood and aspirations' of his newly-federated adopted home, but also because of 'His abandonment by his patrons during the anti-German campaign of the first World War. In a working life of almost five decades in the country, he enjoyed barely ten years of real success' (op cit). Prenzel became a champion of things Australian, establishing a native garden at black rock and becoming an adviser to the Commonwealth Government on Australian timbers. His circle of friends included the photographer J. W. Lindt and the botanists J. H. Maiden and Percy St. John. He is the most important member of a group of professional and amateur carvers who worked in a distinctly Australian idiom in the first quarter of this century. The largest collection of his work is in the National Gallery of Victoria, which also holds papers, including drawings, sketches, templates, trade catalogues and photograph albums of executed work. He is also represented in the National Gallery of Australia and the Art galleries of South Australia and Queensland.