MR R. PRENZEL

From p168, "Nineteenth Century Australian Furniture" by K Fahy, C Simpson and A Simpson

By 1923 Prenzel had moved to the corner of Toorak Road and Punt Road, South Yarra, where he remained until about 1930 when he moved his business to a studio at his house in Black Rock [25 Potter Street, Black Rock], where he lived until his death in 1941. Much of Prenzel's work went abroad, its destination including England and California.

From an article "The Artist: Some Words with Prenzel" in the Triad, 10 May 1923, quoted on p167 of "Nineteenth Century Australian Furniture" by K Fahy, C Simpson and A Simpson

"I came to Australia to continue work along the classical lines upon which I had gone entirely. The Gothic, and the wide sweeps and delicate outlines of the Renaissance design. But I did not go far with that type of work. Mr Paton, my friend and counsellor of those early years, advised me to carve things which would be more readily understood...the flora and fauna of Australia. That is why you find me at work on native bears, kookaburras, gum-leaves, and the studies of Aboriginal heads"

An example of Prenzel's carving can be found in St. Agnes Anglican Church, Black Rock.