Hermann Hohaus

Hermann Hohaus was born in 1920 in Silesia, Germany, later to become part of Poland. He arrived in Melbourne in 1954 and became a naturalized Australian in 1959.

Hermann Hohaus stated that he began carving in wood when he was only 10 years old and subsequently learnt a great deal about art in general from the priest in his town. He started his training at the School of Applied Art in Bad Warmbrunn, but his studies were interrupted by service in the army. After World War II he studied at the University of Fine Art in Munich, 1946 until 1952.

Unable to return to his hometown, which was now part of Poland, he accepted his wife’s suggestion and migrated to Australia. On arrival in Melbourne in 1954 he worked as a stonemason, was a modeler in a terracotta factory and worked in the design department of a car manufacturer. He was lecturer in sculpture in the art school at RMIT from 1961 until 1972.

He worked in a restrained, early modernist style, producing a great number of small bonze figures as well as numerous depictions of animals. He carried out several commissions for religious sculptures for churches in Melbourne before his death in 1990.

PAST EXHIBITIONS

2018