Edith Mayer-Hammer

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The now listed war memorial in Mariahof ; a joint work of the newlyweds at the time from 1954.
The listed niche shrine at Am Damm in Graz-Lend ; On behalf of the Graz Office for Culture and Sport, she had the artistic redesign of the baroque wayside shrine here in 1974 (niches in frescoes).
The eight-part mosaic on the facade of the Trieste School was a listed building until 2016 before the protection was lifted.

Edith Mayer-Hammer (* 1926 in Graz ; † September 15, 2011 there ) was an Austrian academic painter . Her husband was the academic sculptor Ulf Mayer (1926–2018).

Live and act

Edith Mayer-Hammer was born in Graz in 1926 and attended the Ortweinplatz School of Applied Arts from 1941 to 1945 , where she was taught decorative design by Fritz Silberbauer and Hans Wagula . In 1945 she came to the master school for painting under Professor Rudolf Szyszkowitz , who at the same time also taught her future husband Ulf in life drawing . After completing the master's school, she studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna from 1949 under Sergius Pauser and graduated in 1951 with a diploma as an academic painter. In 1951 she returned to her homeland Graz, which from then on became the center of her life in the family and artistic area. In 1954 she founded a family with Ulf Mayer, an academic sculptor of the same age, whose marriage resulted in three children, all of whom pursued an artistic career. The oldest child, daughter Michaela , who was born in 1955 , became a costume designer and is still represented as such on various stages in the German-speaking area. In 1958 the son Julian , who later became a stage designer and lecturer , was born and in 1967 the son Daniel followed , a later composer. Numerous illustrations for literary works (including pen and ink drawings for Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt ) were created during her school and university days .

From then on, Mayer-Hammer worked as a freelance painter and restaurateur, especially in her hometown of Graz. In the post-war period, she mainly received orders for portraits and the restoration of historic farmhouse furniture. Numerous works were created in public spaces, including mosaics and frescoes in Vienna , Graz or in rural Styria, such as in Leoben or Mautern in Styria . Especially in the period from 1950 to 1960 through the Kunst am Bau campaign , when, among other things, she worked in a team with her husband; such as the now listed war memorial in Mariahof ; a joint work of the newlyweds at the time from 1954, consisting of two reliefs designed by Ulf Mayer and a glass window designed by Edith Mayer-Hammer.

Furthermore, she created graphic works that appeared as book illustrations. She was also involved in the design of programs for the United Bühnen Graz ( Graz Opera ) for a longer period from 1960 and 1961 to 1964 and created, among other things, woven pictures in the form of tapestries or wax batiks . She also dealt with portrait painting , which in the course of time developed into three-dimensional portraits in the form of figurines and marionettes in connection with ceramics and textile techniques. In doing so, she mainly referred to her close but also distant surroundings and created sketches as well as small to large format pictures. Numerous works were created in the process, from colored pencil drawings to watercolor paintings to oil paintings, which thematically included her family, her surroundings or travel impressions. Due to her talent in mosaic technology and fresco painting, she subsequently worked with her former teacher and sponsor Rudolf Szyszkowitz, for whom she implemented large-format designs (such as at the press house and publishing house Styria in Graz). After her husband had found more and more about ceramics, some joint works were also created here. At the end of the 1980s, when Ulf Mayer again devoted more of his time to wood, the number of ceramic works by his wife also collapsed somewhat. With increasing age and the resulting decreased fine motor skills , Edith Mayer-Hammer found her way back to her first important medium, the glass mosaic. Numerous glass paintings in the form of mosaics by Mayer-Hammer were created here; However, this mostly only in small-format works. This work with brittle and fine material was at the center of her artistic work to the end and occupied her until her death in 2011.

Like her husband, she was also a member of the Styrian Kunstverein Werkbund and, as a member, has participated in numerous exhibitions at home and abroad. Like her husband, she was a member of the Styrian Association of Visual Artists from 1978 , of which her husband was from that year president. About half a year before her death she received the Golden Medal of Honor of the State of Styria from Governor Franz Voves . Edith Mayer-Hammer died on September 15, 2011 at the age of 85 in her hometown Graz.

Works (selection)

  • 1954: Weissenbach elementary school on the Enns; Facade design / ceramic mosaic (6.00 m × 3.50 m)
  • 1954: Mariahof war memorial (glass window; with two reliefs by Ulf Mayer)
  • 1956: Housing complex of the municipality of Graz, Flurgasse; Ceramic mosaic (8.00 m × 3.00 m)
  • 1959: Styria Provincial government (housing reconstruction funds), residential building Schönaugürtel 66 and 68, Graz, entrance area; Ceramic mosaic
  • 1959: Magistrate Graz (Office for Culture and Sport), residential building Laudongasse 12, Graz; artistic design of the window facades over six floors (frescoes)
  • 1959: Herrgottwiesgasse elementary school, Graz (Trieste school); eight-part ceramic mosaic in the entrance area
  • 1964: Styria Press House, Schönaugasse Graz; Glass mosaic based on designs by v. Prof. Rudolf Szyszkowitz; (2.00 m × 6.00 m)
  • 1974: Office for Culture and Sport, Graz; Artistic redesign of the baroque wayside shrine at Am Damm (niches in fresco painting)
  • Leoben town hall ; mosaic
  • Seminary Graz ; mosaic
  • Wayside shrine in St. Gallen ; mosaic
  • Women's Clinic LKH Bruck / Mur ; mosaic
  • "Vegetation"; Knot picture
  • "The Conference of Birds"; Ceramic portraits
  • "In the forest"; Knot picture
  • "Embläser"; Peter Uray in Tales of a Horse

Exhibitions (selection)

  • As a member of the Styrian Visual Artists Association, she was again involved in numerous annual and special exhibitions from 1978 until her death.
  • In 1997 the exhibition took place 3xMAYER in house Köstenberger in shelter , where Edith Mayer Hammer exhibited along with her husband Ulf and their daughter Michaela.
  • Ten years later, in 2007, she was also involved in the exhibition KUNST + HAUS = HALT in the Medcenter Nord in Graz-Gösting , together with her husband and the oldest daughter .

Awards

Publications (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Michaela Mayer-Michnay on the official website of the Graz Opera , accessed on September 21, 2017
  2. Julian Mayer on the official website of the Art University Graz , accessed on September 21, 2017
  3. ^ Official website of Daniel Mayer , accessed on September 21, 2017
  4. ^ Decoration of Honor in Gold of the State of Styria - May 2011 , accessed on September 21, 2017