Rudolph Hirt
Pan, 1991
Artwork Brief Description
Hirt’s youthful *Pan* stands in a playful yet seductive pose, referencing Greek and Roman mythology. Traditionally associated with fertility and wilderness, Pan’s presence in the garden celebrates the untamed beauty of nature. The sculpture evokes both ancient myths and modern interpretations, including *Peter Pan*, linking eternal youth with the spirit of mischief.
Rudolf Hirt (born October 19, 1947) is an Austrian sculptor.
Influenced by his father, who was a resistance fighter and communist, he attended the master class for sculpture and painting at the Ortwein School in Graz after completing his apprenticeship as a sculptor. He completed his studies at the Academy for Applied Arts in Vienna.
After years of traveling the world, he returned to his hometown Scheifling in 1977, where he works as a freelance sculptor.
He is married to Angelika Hirt, who is also a sculptor and with whom he has three children who are also artistically active. Together with his wife he founded the Hirt-Haus Atelier, where he organizes exhibitions, workshops and symposia.
Rudolph Hirt (Austrian b.1947) Pan, 1991
Standing atop one of the garden’s many ponds, we encounter Rudolph Hirt’s depiction of a youthful pan. He stands in a coquettish pose, with one hand resting on his hip and the other across his forehead, searching for something in the distance. In Ancient Greek, Pan is the God of wild shepherds, and in Roman myth, he was a nature god who was associated with woodlands and being outside. In all representations, he is depicted with the hindquarters of a faun or satyr. Hirt’s depiction is in keeping with both of these ideas, and he also keeps the character’s exposed genitals. In both traditions, Pan was associated with fertility, so what better placement for a character than in the midst of the bountiful Heller garden?
Pan’s sexual prowess is alluded to in many tales. Take the one in which he seduced the moon goddess Selene by deceiving her with the fleece of a sheep. Or perhaps the one in which he professed his love for a nymph named Pitys, who was turned into a pine tree in order to escape his lustful advance. In another version of the same tale, the God of the north wind, Boreas, also loved Pitys, and they fought for her affection. In an effort to impress her, Boreas used his strength to uproot all the trees to impress her, and Pan simply laughed as Pitys chose him. It was a shallow victory; however, as shortly after, Boreas chased Pitys so far over a cliff edge she fell to her death. In this version of events, the goddess of Earth, Gaia, pitied Pitys and turned her into a pine tree. It seems that whichever version of the story one chooses to adopt, Pan and his lust remain intact; his lovers do not.
Before this sculpture was made in the late eighteenth century, there was a widespread revival and interest in Pan amongst literary scholars. Perhaps the most notable is in J.M. Barrie’s 1904 “Peter Pan”. Notably, Barrie never describes the character of Peter Pan in great detail, although his playing of the flute and his very nature align him with the mythological Pan. He is portrayed as being a free spirit, not yet burdened by the mundanity of everyday adulthood, as a character who is “betwixt-and-between”. He can fly, he can speak to birds and fairies, and whilst seemingly adult in appearance, he will always be associated as being “the boy who wouldn’t grow up”.
Hirt’s sculpture conjures up this cacophony of allegorical influences and allows the viewer to create their own interpretation of the Pan before them.