Erich Steiner (painter)

Erich Steiner crutch skiing (in the 1960s)

Erich Steiner (born July 23, 1917 in Ehrwald , Austria ; † June 6, 1997 there ) was an Austrian painter and sportsman.

Life

Erich Arthur Steiner (commonly known as "Guggerle") grew up as an only child in Ehrwald / Tyrol, where he was already involved in mountaineering and winter sports at a young age. In 1942 he was wounded by shrapnel in the Donets Basin in Russia and then attended the film school in Berlin and the painting and art courses of Prof. Dzieia and Prof. Fritz Behn in Munich and Berlin. From 1945 to 1949 Erich Steiner worked with the Lithuanian-New Zealand expressionist Rudolf Gopas , with whom he ran a joint studio in Ehrwald.

Artistic creation

Erich Steiner's artistic work is primarily shaped by the mountains of his Tyrolean homeland. The main motif was the landscape of the Ausserfern , which he painted in a rich oeuvre using various techniques, especially in watercolor and oil. In addition, he made sculptures and glass mosaics. He captured his impressions of the landscape in paintings on his numerous trips to the surrounding Alpine countries. Today his paintings can be found in numerous private collections, public buildings and hotels in the basin.

skier

After his war-related injury in which he lost a leg, the ambitious mountaineer and athlete learned to ski on crutches. Between 1949 and 1971 Erich Steiner was 11 times Austrian, 22 times Tyrolean disabled ski champion and multiple German champion in disabled skiing. In 1952, 1954 and 1965 he won the world title in international disabled skiing. He worked as a youth trainer during his active skiing days at the "Ski Club Ehrwald" in 1907. After playing a daring disabled skier in a US film production, he received an offer from there to become a disabled ski trainer. Since he would have had to leave his home to do so, he declined the offer.

Exhibitions

• Innsbruck (1964)
• Ehrwald (1965): Artists from three nations in an Ehrwald exhibition (Lottie Gorn, Henry Dante Alberti, Erich Steiner)
• Ehrwald (1980)
• Ehrwald (1986)
• Ehrwald (1994): Exhibition "Artists in Ehrwald"
• Ehrwald (1997 - posthumous)

literature

• Anonymous (1989): 41st Tyrolean Disabled Ski Championship. - Ausserferner Nachrichten, January 18, 1989: 12; Reutte.
• Eleonore Gigl-Zach (1988): Erich Steiner: Emotional storms of a daring daredevil. - Ausserferner Nachrichten, November 23, 1988: 2; Reutte.
• Haudek, Otto; Richter, Paul (2003): Ehrwald - The Zugspitzdorf, - self-published by the Ehrwald municipality.

Web links

• [1] (selection of paintings)