Elsa Olivia Urbach

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In the middle of her life, Elsa Olivia Urbach paints the picture "Blood Transfusion" in 1980.

Elsa Olivia Urbach (* 1935 in Vienna ) is an Austrian painter , graphic artist and graphic designer . Her art style, the "magical figuration", is located between mannerism and surrealism . In her early years she belonged to the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism .

Life

"Fossil Budda", 1972/1973

Urbach grew up in the turmoil of the Second World War. Because of political and racist hostility, the family fled Austria from the Nazis in 1938. After the war, Urbach began training as a graphic designer at the then graphic teaching and research institute in Vienna at the age of 14, graduating as a graphic designer in 1954. Another four semesters followed at the University of Applied Arts Vienna , during which she worked with numerous Awards in graphic competitions and tenders.

After differences with a professor, Urbach left the art university to switch to the Academy of Fine Arts . Urbach graduated from Albert Paris von Gütersloh's master school in 1962 as an "academic painter" (later: Magister artium) and was honored with all the high honors from her university. In 1979 Urbach was considered "State Artist No. 1" in Austria, since at that time most of the works by an artist in state ownership had been purchased by Urbach. Because of her services, she received the title of professor from the Austrian Federal President in 1985.

Urbach was married to the late gallery owner and art dealer Peter Halatsch . She lives and works in Lilienthal .

style

Urbach's style of "magical figuration" takes up spiritual and dreamlike elements and combines them in artistic form. Her artistic oeuvre consists mainly of works of oil tempera painting in the classical technique of old masters of the Gothic and Renaissance periods. The jump in contrast between non-representational and naturalistic depiction always plays a central role.

It is true that Urbach and twelve other artists, including Ernst Fuchs and Friedensreich Hundertwasser , exhibited their own works in the founding exhibition of the Vienna School. Later, however, the artist distanced herself from the fantastic realism of this trend and founded her own style of "magical figuration".

Prizes and awards

"The Popes", 1963-1966

Functions

  • Honorary member of the Israelite religious communities in Austria, 2002
  • Member of the "Israel Miniature Art Society", Israel 1999
  • First female member of the Künstlerhaus Vienna after 100 years of existence, 1961
  • Co-founder of the "Vienna School of Fantastic Realism", 1959

Awards

  • 1960: Master School Award from the Academy of Fine Arts
  • 1961: Golden Füger Medal of the Academy of Fine Arts
  • 1962: Diploma and State Prize from the Academy of Fine Arts
  • 1963: Promotion Prize of the City of Vienna, Rome Prize of the Academy of Sciences
  • 1963: Graphic Prize Johannesburg / South Africa
  • 1968: Premio UNESCO, Rome

Exhibitions

The artist took part in over 400 exhibitions in Europe and overseas. Her works are part of public collections from the 19th and 20th centuries at home and abroad, for example in the Cube of Hanover , in the Austrian Belvedere Gallery, the Albertina graphic collection , the Neue Pinakothek , the Uffizi and the Museum of Modern Art . Solo exhibitions were held to mark Urbach's creative anniversaries, for example in the Austrian National Gallery or the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

"Felis Coelestis", 1971/1972

Works in public collections

  • Municipal Gallery "Der Kubus" Hanover, Austrian Gallery in Belvedere Vienna, Albertina Graphic Collection Vienna, Kupferstichkabinett of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Federal Ministry for Education and Art Vienna, Cultural Office of the City of Vienna, Documentation Archive of the Austrian Resistance Vienna, Austrian Cultural Institute Rome / Paris /New York.
  • Lower Saxony State Gallery Hanover, City of Hanover Cultural Office, Kestnermuseum Hanover, Wilhelm Busch Museum Hanover, Neue Pinakothek Munich, State Graphic Collection Munich.
  • Uffizi Gallery Florence, Calcografia Nazionale Rome, Museo della Storia dell 'Arte Pisa, Peggy Guggenheim Museum Venice, Museo des Bellas Artes Buenos Aires, Modern Art Museum New York, Salomon Guggenheim Museum New York.

Exhibitions and participation in exhibitions

  • 1959: First personal exhibition "Galerie Fuchs", Vienna
  • 1962: "Surrealism. Fantastic Painting", Künstlerhaus Vienna
  • 1962: "Galeria Zachęta", Warsaw
  • 1963 and 1967: Gallery "il Bilico", Gallery "Calcografia Nazionale", "Galeria la Medusa", all in Rome
  • 1964: "Magical figuration. Elsa Olivia Urbach" in the "Eremitage" gallery, Schwaz / Tyrol and "Am Dom" gallery, Innsbruck / Tyrol
  • 1968–69: Annual traveling exhibition through 13 museums in the USA
  • 1967: Gallery "2 et 3", Paris
  • 1968: "Fantastic Realism" in the Künstlerhaus Vienna
  • 1970: "Elsa Olivia Urbach. Twenty Years of Creation" in the Municipal Museum "der Kubus", Hanover
  • 1969 and 1971: "Galerie am Haus der Kunst", Munich and Westerland / Sylt.
  • 1975: "Elsa Olivia Urbach. 25 years of creativity. Magical figuration", Austrian Gallery Belvedere, Vienna (National Gallery)
  • 1980: "Elsa Olivia Urbach. 31 years of creativity. Magical figuration", organized by the Academy of Fine Arts in the "Theseus Temple" Vienna

literature

  • Jörg Krichbaum / Rein Zondergeld: Artists. From antiquity to the present. Cologne 1979, 307.
  • Hans Hofstätter: Symbolism and the art of the turn of the century. 2nd Edition. Cologne 1973, 86–91 & 181.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jörg Krichbaum / Rein Zondergeld: Artists. From antiquity to the present. Cologne 1979, 307.
  2. ↑ Elsa Olivia Urbach: 20 years of work. 1949-1969. Vienna 1970, 9-11.
  3. ↑ Elsa Olivia Urbach: Magical figuration. 31 years of creation. Vienna 1980, 8.
  4. ↑ Elsa Olivia Urbach: Magical figuration. 31 years of creation. Vienna 1980, 27-30.
  5. ↑ Elsa Olivia Urbach: Magical figuration. 31 years of creation. Vienna 1980, 4.
  6. ↑ Hans Hofstätter: Symbolism and the art of the turn of the century. 2nd Edition. Cologne 1973, 86-91 & 181.
  7. ↑ Elsa Olivia Urbach: Magical figuration. 31 years of creation. Vienna 1980, 2 & 27-30.
  8. ^ Elsa Olivia Urbach in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna
  9. ↑ Elsa Olivia Urbach: Magical figuration. 31 years of creation. Vienna 1980, 8.
  10. ↑ Elsa Olivia Urbach: Magical figuration. 31 years of creation. Vienna 1980, 2.
personal data
SURNAME Urbach, Elsa Olivia
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian painter, graphic artist and graphic designer
DATE OF BIRTH 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna