Fritz Wotruba

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Fritz Wotruba (born April 23, 1907 in Vienna ; † August 28, 1975 there ) is one of the most important Austrian sculptors of the 20th century. In his work he increasingly dissolves the figurative components in favor of geometric abstraction .

Life

Early years

Fritz Wotruba was born in 1907 as the son of Adolf Wotruba, a native Czech and tailor's assistant, and his wife Maria, a Hungarian maid, in Vienna as the youngest of eight children. The young Wotruba grew up in a social democratic environment.

In 1920 Wotruba took part in a social democratic child recovery campaign in Capodistria , where he made friends with a Franciscan and spent a lot of time in the local monastery. The imposing sculptures impressed him, according to his own statements, especially a representation of Judith and Holofernes . Here he developed his interest in drawing and painting.

education

From 1921 to 1925 Wotruba learned the profession of stamping engraver in a Viennese engraving and stamping workshop. At that time he belonged to a social democratic workers' youth group in Josefstadt and joined the union. As an artist, he was mainly involved in copying drawings by famous sculptors, above all Michelangelo .

In 1926 he attended the evening nude course at the Kunstgewerbeschule of the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry in Vienna, which prompted him to train there as a sculptor. In autumn 1926 he was accepted as a student in Anton Hanak 's sculpture class . There he met his future wife, Marian Fleck, daughter of a Jewish merchant. She gave up her own artistic activity to devote herself to promoting her husband's work.

From 1928 to 1929 Wotruba attended Eugen Steinhof's class . During this time he continued to work as a die engraver to finance his training.

From 1927 Wotruba had its own workshop, where the limestone torso was made in 1928/1929 . The figure, in which the proximity to the original stone can still be felt, was shown publicly in the Secession exhibition in the spring of 1930 . Already in this sculpture there was a hint of the block-like and strictness, which in the 1950s continuously increased in Wotruba's works. The artist did not attach great importance to the detail, rather the overall appearance was decisive for him. His human representations were significantly stretched, which Egon Schiele and Anton Hanak had as models.

In May 1929 Wotruba had to leave the training facility as a result of disciplinary proceedings against him, but received a leaving certificate with a very good rating. He set up a workshop under a light rail arch in Vienna and from this point on tried to find his artistic path as a freelance sculptor.

Wotruba's work can be seen in the context of the historical and socio-cultural characteristics of Vienna around 1900, which were omnipresent even after 1920. Gustav Klimt , Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka can still be felt in the graphic oeuvre and in the early torsos . The strong bond with his homeland and the thoroughly critical examination of its built and painted history meant for him not only inspiration, but also a point of friction. Baroque Vienna made him strive for an aesthetic counterpoint to formal reduction - simplicity and harmony were in the foreground in his art. In this elementary opposition to the opulence that surrounded him in Vienna, Wotruba found his own formal language.

Working with Schiele, Wotruba got to know Georg Minnes' works better. In 1928, Minne showed his marble sculpture group Fraternité in the “International Nude Exhibition” of the Secession in Vienna , some of which were featured in Wotruba's early depictions of young people. However, these were still clearly influenced by Anton Hanak and Wilhelm Lehmbruck . The initially elongated, mannerist and gigantic bodies from the early period slowly lost their human stature, only to mutate into architectural landscapes in later work.

Man damn the war, Pestalozzi-Park, Leoben (here on loan at the Belvedere Vienna)

His growing interest in international sculptors led Wotruba to a discussion with Wilhelm Lehmbruck towards the end of the 1920s, whose sculptures he was able to study directly for the first time in Essen and Düsseldorf in 1930. Besides Lehmbruck, Auguste Rodin and Aristide Maillol also provided aesthetic impulses . His studies in sculptures by international artists helped Wotruba to overcome the expressive figure type of his teacher Anton Hanak. Stylizations based on the secessionist model and impressionist stylistic devices also increasingly faded into the background.

From 1930 to 1933 Wotruba's first successes showed through participation in numerous exhibitions at home and abroad. Among other things, he was able to take part in three exhibitions of the Association of Visual Artists Vienna Secession, of which he was appointed a member in 1932, as well as in the Werkbund exhibition in 1930. In 1932 the Würthle Gallery dedicated an exhibition to him. Particularly noteworthy are some of his international appearances, such as a solo exhibition in the Folkwang Museum in Essen in 1931 , participation in the International Plastic Exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zürich and the Venice Biennale in 1932.

In 1930 Wotruba was appointed the youngest member of the Kunstschau , the representative artists' association in Austria. The following year, the sculptor completed the “Great Squatting” and the “Great Reclining”.

The municipality of Vienna had around 350 municipal buildings built between 1923 and 1934 , which were often furnished with architectural sculptures or adorned with outdoor sculptures. Through the mediation of Eduard Leisching , the director of the Vienna Museum of Applied Art , the Vienna community acquired Wotruba's lead cast figure, a young giant , in 1930 , which was erected in the courtyard of the community building on Friedrich Engels-Platz in 1932. It was removed from there in 1938 and melted down in 1940. The couple traveled to Germany and Holland from the proceeds from the sale of the young giant . Wotruba saw works by Lehmbruck and Maillol for the first time in Düsseldorf and Essen, and they made a lasting impression on him.

Another monumentally representative work of Wotruba in public space was installed in 1932 in the Donawitz cemetery in Styria to commemorate the victims of the First World War . The work was entitled Man condemn the war . The artist took over the artistic organization free of charge and erected the memorial in collaboration with war casualties and unemployed people from the ironworks in Donawitz. This work of art was also removed during National Socialism and could not be put up again until 1988 in Pestalozzi Park in Leoben .

Time of Austrofascism

The political situation in Austria changed fundamentally: The February riots in 1934 were followed by a ban on the Social Democratic Party. Wotruba's studio was searched as early as 1933; the artist felt increasingly threatened that he left Austria with his wife. In Zurich he found work with a stonemason . The following seven months were a particularly productive time, with an abundance of stone work, including such important works as the Great Reclining Youth and the Great Dark Figure .

He was probably moved to return to Vienna by the painter Carl Moll , who had arranged for him the contract originally awarded to Hanak for a Gustav Mahler monument. Wotruba worked on twelve models for the memorial from 1934 to 1936. Despite the positive response to the preliminary work, the project was rejected.

Tomb for Selma Halban-Kurz in the Vienna Central Cemetery

Moll supported Wotruba financially over the following years and procured commissions for him, for example for the design of the tomb of the opera singer Selma von Halban-Kurz in the Vienna Central Cemetery . For this purpose, the artist created a naked female figure, which aroused great indignation, was already veiled in 1934 and subsequently hidden behind thick bushes until 1945.

In the autumn of 1934 Fritz Wotruba took part in a competition organized by the municipality of Vienna for a work monument on Schmerlingplatz. Wotruba worked on a design with the architect Arnold Nechansky. Although they were sponsored by the architect Josef Hoffmann , who was part of the jury, they only reached 3rd prize out of 115 entries. Wotruba met Josef Hoffmann in 1930 at the Werkbund exhibition. The famous architect promoted the sculptor several times, including when he took part in the Secession exhibitions and the XIX. Venice Biennale 1934.

In the 1930s, Wotruba met many intellectuals, visual artists and writers. These included Elias Canetti , Hermann Broch , Franz Theodor Csokor , Hans Erich Apostel , Herbert Boeckl , Josef Dobrowsky and Georg Merkel , Carry Hauser , Alban Berg , Robert Musil and Franz Ullmann . Alma Mahler had her daughter Anna take private lessons from Wotruba. Wotruba was held in high regard among Viennese artists. In April 1934 Wotruba took part in the exhibition "Austria in London", which was directed by the architect and State Councilor for Art Clemens Holzmeister . In 1934 Wotruba participated again in the Venice Biennale. In 1936 Wotruba resigned from the "Association of Viennese Artists Secession" because he accused them of being close to the National Socialists.

Wotruba was also represented with works in the largest exhibition project of the corporate state abroad, L'Art Autrichien , shown in 1937 in the Jeu de Paume in the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris . With this exhibition, which also showed Klimt, Schiele, Oppenheimer , Faistauer , Kokoschka, Wiegele , Boeckl and Hanak, Austria wanted to present itself as the home of a specific art tradition at a high level and above all as a country with a liberal and open-minded art policy. The exhibits from the 20th century, including the works of Wotruba, were taken over by the Kunsthalle Bern in the same year and exhibited under the title “Austrian Painting and Sculpture in the 20th Century”. Wotruba traveled with his wife to the opening of the exhibition in Paris, where they met the sculptor Aristide Maillol, whose works were an important point of reference for Wotruba's work in the following 30s and early 40s. Another important acquaintance that Wotruba made in Switzerland was Federal Councilor Philipp Etter , who was later to help the Wotruba couple in obtaining their Swiss residence permit. Another important acquaintance was with the pastor Robert Lejeune , who also supported him materially; he later introduced the pastor to Robert Musil , so that he too was supported by the pastor during the period of emigration.

The Falling One , Israel Museum, Jerusalem

time of the nationalsocialism

The year 1938 was marked by turbulent changes of location. After stays in Switzerland, Germany and Austria, Fritz and Marian Wotruba finally emigrated to Switzerland in 1939, to Zug, where they stayed until 1945. Thanks to the support of well-known sponsors such as Hermann Haller , Federal Councilor Philipp Etter , Manuel Gasser and Pastor Robert Lejeune , in contrast to some other emigrants, he was able to be artistically active to a limited extent, participate in exhibitions and sell works, including Emil Georg Bührle and Georg Reinhart and Fritz Kamm. In May 1939, Woruba took part in a group exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Winterthur . There he made the acquaintance of the merchant and art collector Georg Reinhart , who supported Wotruba financially during the war and gave him important contacts.

He soon got to know the patron couple Edith and Fritz Kamm in Zug , with whom he had a lifelong friendship. In 1940 Fritz and Marian Wotruba stayed in Geneva for a few months, where they had intensive contact with their close friends Robert Musil and Martha Musil, who were also living in exile in Switzerland. In Geneva, the artist made the tall standing figure , also known as the Geneva Venus . Back in Zug, he created an abundance of works of art, including 1943 Reclining Youth made of Muschelkalk and 1944 the Falling Woman . His studio became a meeting place for numerous emigrated artists and intellectuals.

During his stay in exile, Wotruba was able to take part in several exhibitions in Swiss museums. The artist's works subsequently found their way into public and private collections. In 1945, Emil Oprecht's publishing house in Zurich published an essay by Wotruba under the title Considerations. Thoughts on art , in which he expressed himself on the art and cultural policy of his time. In April and May of the same year Wotruba worked for the Preparatory Committee of Austrian Artists in Switzerland and for the Free Austrian Movement in Switzerland.

First post-war years

Relief at the Otto Glöckel School in Linz
Frieze on Reinprechtsdorfer Strasse

After the end of the war, thanks to Herbert Boeckl's initiative, Wotruba was called back to Austria to take over the master class for sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts, where he advocated an enlightened cultural policy.

In the first months after his return, Wotruba was busy teaching at the sculpture school. The following years he devoted himself with great commitment to the cultural reconstruction of Vienna. At the academy he campaigned for the mediation of the forgotten Viennese art of the turn of the century. The first sculpture after returning home was the Female Cathedral , also known as the Great Standing Woman, which marked a turning point in Wotruba's oeuvre. The sculptor merely indicated the basic structure of the human body. This design, detached from anatomy, structurally and tectonically determined, became characteristic of Wotruba's art from this time on. As in Switzerland, Wotruba's studio became a meeting place for artists, musicians, writers and students.

In 1946 Wotruba traveled to Zug to take part in the organization of the exhibition “Masterpieces from Austria” at the Kunsthaus Zurich as a member of the Society for the Promotion of Cultural Relations between Austria and Switzerland . In the same year he joined the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions. In 1947 Wotruba took part in several international exhibitions and during his travels was able to make contact with important artists, such as Alberto Giacometti , Alberto Magnelli , Henri Laurens and Ossip Zadkine . In Vienna he began to occupy himself with stage design and theater costumes, for example for The Story of Igor Stravinsky's Soldier (performed in the Vienna Konzerthaus on April 14, 1948).

In the spring of 1948 Wotruba was awarded the City of Vienna Prize, in the summer of 1948 a special exhibition by Schiele and Wotruba took place at the XXIV Venice Biennale, and in autumn Wotruba's large solo exhibition opened at the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris .

In 1949 Marian was diagnosed with cancer. In the same year he created a large seated figure , also known as the human cathedral . The seated one consists of roughly hewn, angular squares and cubes, which now hardly follow any anatomical body shapes, but completely correspond to his new principle of order: the human being as architecture. The tectonization of the human figure, which began with the large standing figure from 1946 and which was continued in the seated figure from 1948, finds its first climax in the strictly architecturally conceived figure.

In the 1950s Wotruba took part in many international exhibitions. He and his wife traveled to some of the openings, including the 1950 Venice Biennale. Further trips took the two to the USA , Belgium , England and France . Marian Wotruba died on August 31, 1951, her suffering from the disease was incorporated into the work on the Große Liegend . In this figure, the tectonization of the human figure goes one step further: the human figure is broken down into its basic structures in blocks and then combined from these elements in now free and relaxed rhythms to form a new whole.

In 1953 Fritz Kamm acquired the Würthle Gallery in Vienna and appointed Wotruba as its artistic director. In his exhibition programs he conveyed contemporary art movements. Heimo Kuchling played a key role in the selection of the acquisitions and the exhibitions on behalf of Wotruba. In the same year Wotruba completed his figure Large Reclining Nude , a relief for the Otto Glöckel School in Linz and a relief for the urban residential complex on Reinprechtsdorfer Strasse in Vienna.

Another important work from that period is the torso , which is composed of cylindrical shapes. Made up of three mutually associated, slender, ascending shafts that took the place of the previously heavy weight blocks and cubes, this sculpture introduced a further tectonic formation of the human figure: the columnar figure that occupied the artist in the following years. In 1953 Wotruba was appointed a member of the Austrian Werkbund.

Late years

Wotrubas Dreifaltigkeitskirche in Vienna Wall - interior view

In 1955 Wotruba was commissioned to create a crucifix for the parish church in Parsch in Salzburg, which was completed in 1956 and attached to the gable wall of the church. A major traveling exhibition of works by Wotruba began in April and toured several museums in the United States and Canada from the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston into the next year . In autumn, Wotruba married Lucy Vorel, the former carer of his late wife Marian, in Vienna. Shortly afterwards he was awarded the Gustav Klimt Prize of the Secession. In 1956 the different versions of the standing figure were created . In May of the same year the City of Vienna commissioned him to create a stone sculpture for the Wiener Stadthalle; the large standing figure was completed in 1958 and erected in 1959.

In 1957, Wotruba received an order for the Austrian pavilion at the 1958 World Exhibition in Brussels; the large figure relief was created . In the same spring, an exhibition with works by Kokoschka, Kubin and Wotruba was shown in Baden-Baden and Pforzheim . A little later another touring exhibition opened in Stockholm with works by Wotruba, Romako and Kubin. The artist was also represented with a special exhibition at the 4th São Paulo Biennale .

In 1958, Wotruba signed an art trade agreement with Otto M. Gerson's gallery Fine Arts Associates in New York . This gave the gallery the sole right to sell his work. In 1960 the gallery presented its first large solo exhibition in Wotruba. In May 1960, Wotruba and his wife went on a trip to Greece with the Kamm couple . For Wotruba it meant a deepening of the ancient theater and also served as preparation for the stage work on Antigone . In 1960 the great reclining figure was created , in which Wotruba's three-dimensional ideas of sculpture become apparent: In a fusion of art and natural form, the large reclining figure shows itself as a human-physical landscape structured according to architectural principles.

In 1961 Wotruba received the order to produce a relief for the new lecture hall building of the Philipps University in Marburg , which was built between 1963 and 1964 and inaugurated in 1965. In the same year he was appointed a member of the Austrian Art Senate . The Museum of the 20th Century was opened in Vienna on September 21, 1962 and Werner Hofmann was appointed director. The establishment of such a museum was important to Wotruba, so that he enthusiastically participated in the local exhibition “Art from 1900 to today”.

The so-called Wotruba Church in Wall Vienna

In 1964, numerous exhibitions followed one another, including the documenta III in Kassel and "The 1964 Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture" at the Carnegie Institute of the Museum of Fine Arts in Pittsburgh .

At the beginning of 1965, Wotruba resigned as artistic director of the Würthle Gallery. In the same year, a board of trustees founded by Margarethe Ottilinger , consisting of representatives of the church, the regional authorities and the Austrian economy, commissioned the design of a monastery and church for the Carmelite order in Steinbach near Vienna. The project failed, however, and in 1971 the same sponsorship group placed an order with Wotruba to design a church in Wall Vienna . The Holy Trinity Church was consecrated in 1976 and is now commonly known as the Wotruba Church . The apparent chaos created by the arrangement of asymmetrical blocks should ultimately result in a harmonious unit. In autumn 1965, Wotruba exhibited drawings, prints and oil paintings in the Albertina Graphic Collection in Vienna.

Vienna Central Cemetery - honor grave of Fritz Wotruba

The following years were marked by major international exhibition participations and two severe losses: his friends Herbert Boeckl and Fritz Kamm died. When the gold medal of the federal capital Vienna was to be awarded to him in 1967 , the artist turned it down. From August to October 1969, the Hakone Open Air Museum in Tokyo showed "The First International Exhibition of Modern Sculpture", in which Wotruba was also represented. In the last years of his life, Wotruba had a state studio in the Pratercottage .

In 1971 he dealt again with the torso motif: the result was the Great Torso , which was placed on his honorary grave in the Central Cemetery in Vienna after his death. On April 28th he was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art from the Austrian Federal President . In 1974 he created his last monumental work, The Great Standing One . In mid-June he received the pontificate medal from Pope Paul VI. Wotruba died on August 28, 1975 in Vienna; he was buried in a grave of honor in the Vienna Central Cemetery . In 1993 the Fritz-Wotruba-Promenade in Vienna was named after him.

Artistic appreciation

Wotruba's early work was influenced by the forerunners of modern sculpture, such as Rodin , Bourdelle , Lehmbruck and classical antiquity. In his artistic beginnings, the influence of his teacher Hanak can still be clearly felt, who in the further course of his early work gave way to a connection to the works of Klimt , Schiele and Kokoschka and to some extent international modernism. In terms of style, theory and ideology, he was shaped by the art of his time and its tradition. Throughout his entire career as a sculptor, Wotruba sought reduction in forms, clarity and monumentality. Essential motifs in his early work were the expressionist suffering figures and the classicist ideal figures.

In the interwar period, art in Austria had little contact with international modernism and was thus caught up in a certain regionalism. It is all the more remarkable to see Wotruba's preoccupation with foreign artists, which was made possible by his stays abroad. When the then still young Wotruba traveled to Paris for an exhibition opening, he got to know the artist Aristide Maillol and his work. It was to occupy him throughout the 30s and 40s and clearly shaped his work from this time.

Large standing figure , bronze, 1962, Bad Homburg

The work of Fritz Wotruba reflects Austrian themes of the 20th century, but the Austro-Hungarian monarchy also had an impact in his work. He created his early work in the First Republic, the recently small state that was determined by economic crises and an increasingly radical political mood. His youthful figures, which emerged into the 1930s, can be seen as almost proletarian ideal figures. Despite this clear political stance, he occasionally allowed himself to represent the Austro-fascist state and made compromises, also for the sake of commissions and sponsors.

In his entire oeuvre, Wotruba concentrated primarily on the representation of people. His figures appear monumental, static, powerful and archaic, as well as withdrawn, calm and reserved. The stone remains raw, the traces of the work and the process remain visible. With a reduction of the formal language and an objectification of the content and form, Wotruba creates a valid human image for him, which is composed of cubic forms. This decomposition of the elements shows the influence of late cubism.

The portrayal of Judith and Holofernes, which he said made a lasting impression, and the fact that he was surrounded by particularly strong women - first his mother and later his wives - shaped his image of women. A formal reflection can be found in the emphatically feminine forms, which in the early years of creativity still reveal Lehmbruck's influence. After returning to Vienna from exile in Switzerland, however, he came up with an autonomous and modernist formal language in his depictions of women.

In contrast to the very expansive female forms, Wotruba presents his youngsters like a boy. For some individual figures, the corresponding partner seems to be missing. In the case of clear depictions of couples, on the other hand, Wotruba reduced the gender-specific peculiarities - the composition of the couple as a unit is in the foreground in these sculptures and they should be perceived as an ensemble.

The difference in the representation of man and woman in Wotruba's sculptures is expressed in the treatment of the body, whereas the faces in drawings and sculptures are mask-like and stylized. Wotruba did not make portraits, but tried to capture the expression of a certain type. The figures are anonymized. In his later oeuvre the recognizability of gender increasingly disappears, the human body appears more structured and ultimately only as a block or tube-like figure. Wotruba's interest in a balanced architectural representation came more and more to the fore.

While in exile in Switzerland, Wotruba continued his work in Vienna in the 1930s. Only after he returned to his hometown did an intensive examination of international modernism take place, so that after 1945 his art followed a very personal concept of abstraction, contrary to the trend towards the non-representational at the time.

The expressions of his works of art were partly adopted by his students. Such dynamic configurations can also be found in Andreas Judgment and Erwin Reiter. In the 1950s, Wotruba made a conscious decision against contemporary art, especially against the Informel, which was just emerging in Austria at the time .

In the 1960s, Wotruba devoted himself intensively to stage sets that are important in the history of theater, but have not found any artistic successors. One can rank him with his concepts in the succession of Adolphe Appia and Edward Gordon Craig .

As a teacher at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, Wotruba shaped three generations of young artists. He brought the art theorist Heimo Kuchling to his school, who had developed the subject of morphology in the fine arts . Without this school and without Wotruba's teaching activities, there would be no significant Austrian sculpture after 1945.

Wotruba developed into a representative of classical modernism and was recognized as an internationally recognized sculptor and important Austrian sculptor of the 20th century.

Fritz Wotruba Privatstiftung and Fritz Wotruba Werknutzungsgesellschaft

After Fritz Wotruba's death, his widow Lucy Wotruba set up the Fritz Wotruba House in Vienna in 1980, which contains the sculptor's artistic estate. She died in 1985, a year later was club friends to the preservation and care of the artistic estate of Fritz Wotruba founded. The association was Fritz Wotruba's legal successor and administered the artist's posthumous work. In 2007, the Fritz Wotruba Private Foundation took over the sculptor's estate as the legal successor of the association: around 500 works made of stone, bronze and plaster, 2500 drawings, 1500 prints and 14 oil paintings by Wotruba as well as an archive and library. In 2008 the Fritz Wotruba Werknutzungsgesellschaft was founded.

Wotruba and the 21er house

In 2011, a Wotruba Museum was set up in the 21er Haus under the direction of the Belvedere in Vienna. From 1962 to 2001 the building served as the first museum for modern art in Vienna.

The Fritz Wotruba Private Foundation and the Fritz Wotruba Werknutzungsgesellschaft have made Fritz Wotruba's artistic estate available to the Belvedere as a loan for a period of twelve years. The museum presents Wotruba's works as part of permanent and temporary exhibitions in the 21er Haus and provides storage, archive and office space to the foundation and the Werknutzungsgesellschaft.

The house was originally built by Karl Schwanzer as the Austria pavilion for the World Exhibition in Brussels in 1958. Fritz Wotruba had received the order for a monumental figure relief that had been set up in front of the pavilion and won the Grand Prix for sculpture at the world exhibition. The continued use of the building as a museum of the 20th century from 1962 fulfilled Wotruba's demand for a museum for modern art in Vienna. Architectural design, adaptation and expansion of the 21er Haus were the responsibility of Adolf Krischanitz.

The “Wotruba im 21er Haus” project is intended to serve as a Wotruba research center and platform for modern sculpture and be a place for artistic production, reception and reflection for Austrian art of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Wotruba and the Albertina

The Albertina , like the Belvedere in Vienna cultivated a special relationship with Fritz Wotruba. The "Great Reclining Youth", the sandstone figure from 1933, forms a special accent on the stairs of the bastion. The banker and art collector Fritz Kamm donated this sculpture to the Albertina.

Exhibitions of his graphic and graphic works have underscored the appreciation of the sculptor by the various directors of the Albertina. The artist's widow and the Fritz Wotruba Association left the graphic estate to the Albertina. It was responsible for recording the entire graphic work, the various status prints and the editions, and in 2003 a catalog of works was published that is now considered a standard work.

Works

Sculptures (selection)

The reclining figure - Mozarteum University , Salzburg
  • 1928/1929: Torso , Mannersdorfer Kalkstein, 141 × 41.5 × 44 cm, bronze cast, Belvedere, Vienna
  • 1929/1930: crouching , conglomerate stone, 111 × 63 × 61.5 cm, Historical Museum of the City of Vienna, Vienna
  • 1930: head , red porphyry, 56 × 27, 5 × 41 cm, Fritz Wotruba Verein, Vienna
  • 1932: memorial , Styrian marble, 460 × 88 × 197 cm, Pestalozzipark, Leoben
  • 1933: Large reclining youth , red hard sandstone, 166.5 × 74 × 45 cm, Albertina, Vienna
  • 1934: Large reclining figure (tomb for Selma von Halban-Kurz), marble, 307 × 74 × 104 cm, Central Cemetery Vienna
  • around 1939: Large seated women , limestone, 120.5 × 77.5 × 171 cm, private property, Switzerland
  • 1937: Seated male figure , painted plaster, 18 × 26 × 9 cm, Belvedere, Vienna
  • 1939: Woman's torso , bronze, 29 cm, Belvedere, Vienna
  • 1940: Large standing woman ( Venus from Geneva ), soap stone, mass unknown, location unknown.
  • 1943: Reclining youth ( Pan ), shell limestone, 208 × 96 × 75 cm, Fritz-Wotruba-Verein, Vienna
  • 1946: Standing ( female cathedral ), sandstone, 185.5 × 67 × 63 cm, Kunsthaus Zug , deposit of the Kamm Collection , Zug
  • 1944: Large seated women , Jurassic lime, 141 × 87 × 134 cm, Wilhelm Furtwängler-Park, Salzburg
  • 1944: Falling , Jurassic Limestone, 180 × 73 × 67 cm, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
  • 1947/1948: Female figure leaning back ( female rock ), 159 × 124 × 88 cm, Middelheim Open Air Museum, Antwerp
  • 1948: Figure relief ( dramatic composition ), clay, 34.5 × 49.5 × 2.5 cm, Fritz Wotruba-Verein, Vienna
  • 1949: Large seated figure ( Human Cathedral ), limestone, 153 cm, Belvedere Vienna
  • 1950: Crouching , conglomerate stone, 66 × 57 × 66 cm, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
  • 1951: Small reclining figure , bronze, 23 × 55 × 20 cm, Belvedere, Vienna
  • 1952: Large walker , bronze, 157 × 46 × 67.5 cm, Fritz Wotruba-Verein, Vienna
  • 1953: Large standing figure (with right leg in front), conglomerate stone, 178 × 58 × 59 cm, Center National d'Art et de Culture Georges-Pompidou, Paris
  • 1959/1960 gravestone design for Josef Hoffmann and Oswald Haerdtl
  • 1960: Large reclining figure , limestone, 197 × 55 × 57 cm, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart
  • 1961/1962: Large standing figure ( Young King ), limestone, 178 × 33 × 45.5 cm, private collection, USA
  • 1962: Reclining woman , bronze, 10.5 × 25 × 10 cm, Belvedere, Vienna
  • 1962/1963: Large reclining figure , karst marble, 161 × 77 × 53 cm, Wilhelm Lehmbruch Museum der Stadt Duisburg, Duisburg
  • 1965: Head , Carrara marble, 41 × 14, 5 × 25 cm, Fritz Wotruba-Verein, Vienna
  • 1971/1972: Head ( attempt at self-portrayal ), Lasa marble , 41 × 27.5 × 32 cm, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
  • 1973: Large reclining figure , Ruskitza marble, 193 × 94.5 × 99 cm, private collection
  • 1974: Large standing man , bronze, 212 × 86 × 74 cm, Fritz Wotruba-Verein, Vienna

Theater works

  • 1948: The story of the soldier by Igor Stravinsky and Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz , Großer Konzerthaussaal, Vienna, stage design and costumes
  • 1960: King Oedipus von Sophocles , Burgtheater, Vienna, stage design, curtains, costumes and masks
  • 1961: Antigone von Sophokles, Burgtheater, Vienna, stage design, curtains, costumes and masks
  • 1963: Elektra von Sophokles, Burgtheater, Vienna, stage design, curtains, costumes and masks
  • 1965: King Oedipus and Oedipus on Colonus by Sophocles, Salzburg Festival, Felsenreitschule, Salzburg, stage design, costumes and masks
  • 1966: King Oedipus of Sophocles, Theater of Herodes Atticus, Athens, stage design, costumes and masks
  • 1967: The Ring of the Nibelung by Richard Wagner , Berliner Festwochen, Deutsche Oper, Berlin, stage design and costumes

Student (selection)

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions (selection)

  • 03.1931: Fritz Wotruba - Museum Folkwang, Essen
  • 12.1932: Fritz Wotruba - Galerie Würthle, Vienna
  • 07.1936: Austrian artists and Fritz Wotruba - Neue Galerie, Vienna
  • 08/01/1950 - 08/31/1950: Stone sculptures - Galerie Welz, Salzburg
  • 10/28/1965 - 12/30/1965: Wotruba. Drawings - Albertina, Vienna
  • 04.1970: Progetti per il Teatro Classico - Austria. Rome Cultural Institute, Rome
  • 07.07.1972 - 30.08.1972: Sculpture in the monastery yard of Ossiach - Landesgalerie, Carinthia, Ossiach
  • 07.03.1974 - Sculptures, drawings, prints - Ulysses Gallery, Vienna
  • March 31, 1976 - May 10, 1976: L`odera di Fritz Wotruba - Belvedere, Florence
  • 03.09.1978 - 15.10.1978: Stage models and drawings / Church in Vienna Wall - Kunsthaus Zug, Zug
  • April 6, 1979 - May 5, 1979: Fritz Wotruba - Kulturhaus, Graz
  • 03/27/1985 - 09/30/1985: Large sculptures and pictures - Rupertinum, Salzburg
  • 03/27/1985 - 05/05/1985: Early watercolors and drawings - Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck
  • March 28, 1985 - April 28, 1985: Sculptures and drawings - Galerie Welz, Salzburg
  • 07/31/1985 - 09/29/1985: Works for the theater and early watercolors and drawings - Rupertinum, Salzburg
  • November 14, 1985 - December 14, 1985: Fritz Wotruba on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of his death - Galerie Würthle, Vienna
  • November 15, 1985 - December 15, 1985: Hommage a Wotruba - Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
  • May 11, 1989 - July 9, 1989: Prints 1950-1975 - Albertina, Vienna
  • 06/22/1990 - 12/21/1990: Work after 1945 - Museum Moderner Kunst Passau, Passau
  • June 21, 1992 - September 13, 1992: Retrospective - Kunsthaus Zug, Zug
  • 23.06.1993 - 18.07.1993: Etchings and lithographs - Galerie Welz, Salzburg
  • 06/08/1995 - 10/02/1995: Timeless. The image of man in Fritz Wotruba's sculpture and drawing. A retrospective - Palais Harrach, Vienna
  • November 29, 2004 - January 19, 2005: Fritz Wotruba - Galerie Ulysses, Vienna
  • 07/26/2005: New installation of the sculpture terrace - Museum der Moderne, Rupertinum, Salzburg
  • 05/06/2007 - 08/19/2007: Sculpture without properties. Homage to Fritz Wotruba - Kunsthaus Zug, Zug
  • 09/27/2007 - 11/25/2007: Drawings and stones - Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
  • September 12, 2008 - December 7, 2008: Wotruba. A retrospective of the sculptor (1907-1975) - Museum Beelden aan Zee, The Hague
  • 12/11/2012 - 04/07/2013: Wotruba. Life, work and impact - Belvedere , Vienna
  • January 20, 2013 - April 28, 2013: Fritz Wotruba. Standing, sitting, lying down - Museum Lothar Fischer, Neumarkt idOPf.
  • May 15, 2013 - June 23, 2013: Fritz Wotruba - Figure in block and tube - House of Photography, Burghausen

Group exhibitions (selection)

  • 1931: International Plastic Exhibition - Kunsthaus Zurich
  • 1932: XVIII. Biennale - Venice Biennale
  • 1934: XIX. Biennale - Venice Biennale
  • 1936: Modern Masters - Galerie Welz, Salzburg
  • 1936: XX. Biennale - Venice Biennale
  • 05.1937 - 06.1937 - Austrian Art - Musée du Jeu de Paume des Tuileries, Paris
  • 1948: XXIV.Biennale di Venezia - Biennale, Venice
  • 09.10.1970 - 21.11.1970: Fifty Years of Galerie Würthle - Fifty Years of Modern Art in Vienna - Galerie Würthle, Vienna
  • 08.06.1984 - 13.11.1984: Anton Hanak and his students - Langenzersdorf Museum
  • 23.09.1986 - 26.10.1986: Learned at Wotruba - Schloss, Altmannsdorf, Vienna
  • September 8, 1994 - October 20, 1994: Wotruba and the consequences - BAWAG Foundation, Vienna
  • May 17, 1998 - September 6, 1998: Dialogue with modernity. Fritz Wotruba and the Kamm Collection - Kunsthaus Zug , Zug
  • 11/28/2002 - 12/23/2002: Fritz Wotruba to Bruno Gironcoli. Austrian plastic - Gallery at the Albertina , Vienna
  • October 21, 2005 - December 23, 2005: Austrian art of the 20th century - Galerie Kovacek & Zetter, Vienna
  • 02/17/2006 - 05/21/2006: Austria 1900-2000 - Essl Collection
  • September 6, 2007 - October 20, 2007: Hommage a Wotruba - Galerie Maier, Innsbruck
  • September 20, 2007 - October 13, 2007: Sculpture Gallery at the Albertina, Vienna
  • October 20, 2007 - January 6, 2007: exitus. death everyday - Künstlerhaus, Vienna
  • March 7, 2008 - April 24, 2008: Josef Mikl, Fritz Wotruba - Galerie Wolfrum, Vienna
  • September 18, 2008 - November 16, 2008: Political sculpture. Barlach / Kasper / Thorak / Wotruba - Landesgalerie, Linz
  • 09/24/2008 - 11/18/2008: Men II. Painting, graphics, sculpture - Jünger Gallery, Baden near Vienna
  • October 4th, 2008 - December 14th, 2008: Sculptures - Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner, Berlin
  • May 19, 2010 - October 9, 2010 : space-body use. Positions of the Sculpture - Museum on Demand (MUSA), Vienna
  • October 22, 2010 - January 31, 2011: Autumn painting exhibition. Sculpture. Design. Austrian Art of the 20th Century - Gallery at the Albertina.Zetter, Vienna
  • 03/23/2011 - 04/26/2011: Art of the 20th and 21st centuries - Galerie Welz, Salzburg
  • July 15, 2011 - August 31, 2011: Fritz Wotruba & students / allievi - Bruneck City Museum
  • 09/24/2011 - 10/15/2011: Autumn painting exhibition. Sculpture. Design. Austrian Art of the 20th Century - Gallery at the Albertina.Zetter, Vienna
  • January 20, 2012 - May 20, 2012: UTOPIE GESAMTKUNSTWERK - Belvedere, Vienna
  • 04/22/2012 - 11/16/2012: Idea, form, figure - the highlights of the Sammer Collection - Stift, Klosterneuburg
  • May 25, 2012 - July 28, 2012: Sculptures - Gallery on Lindenplatz, Vaduz
  • June 20, 2012 - October 28, 2012: Roland Goeschl. Fritz Wotruba. EXPLOSIVE 1958-1975 - Belvedere, Vienna
  • September 17, 2012 - October 6, 2012 : New items in autumn 2012 - gallery at the Albertina.Zetter, Vienna
  • May 1, 2013 - October 31, 2013: From space to space - Museum Liaunig, Neuhaus
  • March 10, 2016 - June 19, 2016: Cubism, Constructivism, Form Art - Belvedere, Vienna

literature

  • Kerstin Jesse: Form art after 1945? Thoughts on reception using the example of Fritz Wotruba. In: Agnes Husslein-Arco, Alexander Klee (ed.): Cubism, Constructivism, Form Art. Vienna 2016, pp. 87–101.
  • Wilfried Seipel, Fritz Wotruba Private Foundation (ed.): Fritz Wotruba (1907–1975) - Life, Work and Effect. Brandstätter, Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-8503-3630-7 .
  • Agnes Husslein-Arco, Alfred Weidinger / Fritz Wotruba Verein, Vienna (ed.): Fritz Wotruba - Simplicity and Harmony. Sculptures and drawings from the period 1927 - 1949. Verlag Bibliothek der Provinz, Weitra 2007, ISBN 978-3-85252-835-9 .
  • Michael Semff (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Drawings and stones. Stuttgart 2007.
  • Renata Antoniou: Fritz Wotruba. The graphic work. 1950-1975. Vienna 2003.
  • Otto Breicha (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Catalog raisonné. Sculptures, reliefs, stage and architectural models. St. Gallen 2002.
  • Perdita von Kraft: Fritz Wotruba - Studies on life and work: the sculptures of the early and middle years 1928–1947, taking into account the text “Considerations. Thoughts on Art ”from 1945. VDG, publishing house and database for humanities, Weimar 1999, ISBN 3-89739-087-6 ( dissertation Uni Bonn 1999, 366 pages).
  • Matthias Haldemann (ed.): Dialogue with modernity. Fritz Wotruba and the Kamm Collection. Catalog of the Kamm Collection Foundation . Balmer, Zug 1998.
  • Kunsthaus Zug (ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Published on the occasion of the retrospective at the Kunsthaus Zug 1992, Erker, St. Gallen 1992, ISBN 978-88-85186-25-5 .
  • Otto Breicha (Ed.): Wotruba. Figure as resistance. Pictures and writings on life and work. Salzburg 1977.
  • Wotruba, Fritz . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 36 : Wilhelmy-Zyzywi . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1947, p. 259 .
  • Wotruba, Fritz . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists of the XX. Century. tape 5 : V-Z. Supplements: A-G . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1961, p. 170 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Otto Breicha (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Catalog raisonné. Sculptures, reliefs, stage and architectural models. St. Gallen 2002, p. 15.
  2. ↑ Gabriele Stoeger-Spevak: Fritz Wotruba - between times. Wotruba's life and work 1907-1938 In: Agnes Husslein-Arco (Hrsg.): Fritz Wotruba. Simplicity and harmony. Sculptures and drawings from the period 1927 - 1949. Weitra 2007, p. 33.
  3. ↑ Gabriele Stoeger-Spevak: Fritz Wotruba - between times. Wotruba's life and work 1907–1938. In: Agnes Husslein-Arco (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Simplicity and harmony. Sculptures and drawings from the period 1927 - 1949. Weitra 2007, p. 34.
  4. ↑ Otto Breicha (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Catalog raisonné. Sculptures, reliefs, stage and architectural models. St. Gallen 2002, p. 16.
  5. ↑ Gabriele Stoeger-Spevak: Fritz Wotruba - between times. Wotruba's life and work 1907–1938. In: Agnes Husslein-Arco (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Simplicity and harmony. Sculptures and drawings from the period 1927 - 1949. Weitra 2007, p. 34.
  6. ↑ Natalie Hoyos: Metaphors of a stone worldview . In: Agnes Husslein-Arco (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Simplicity and harmony. Sculptures and drawings from the period 1927–1949. Weitra 2007, pp. 17–18.
  7. ↑ Natalie Hoyos: Metaphors of a Stone World View. In: Agnes Husslein-Arco (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Simplicity and harmony. Sculptures and drawings from the period 1927 - 1949. Weitra 2007, p. 17.
  8. ↑ Gabriele Stoeger-Spevak: Fritz Wotruba - between times. Wotruba's life and work 1907–1938. In: Agnes Husslein-Arco (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Simplicity and harmony. Sculptures and drawings from the period 1927 - 1949. Weitra 2007, p. 34.
  9. ↑ Otto Breicha (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Catalog raisonné. Sculptures, reliefs, stage and architectural models. St. Gallen 2002, pp. 16-17.
  10. ↑ Gabriele Stoeger-Spevak: Fritz Wotruba - between times. Wotruba's life and work 1907–1938. In: Agnes Husslein-Arco (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Simplicity and harmony. Sculptures and drawings from the period 1927 - 1949. Weitra 2007, p. 34.
  11. ↑ Otto Breicha (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Catalog raisonné. Sculptures, reliefs, stage and architectural models. St. Gallen 2002, p. 16.
  12. ↑ Gabriele Stoeger-Spevak: Fritz Wotruba - between times. Wotruba's life and work 1907–1938. In: Agnes Husslein-Arco (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Simplicity and harmony. Sculptures and drawings from the period 1927–1949. Weitra 2007, pp. 35–38.
  13. ↑ Gabriele Stoeger-Spevak: Fritz Wotruba - between times. Wotruba's life and work 1907–1938. In: Agnes Husslein-Arco (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Simplicity and harmony. Sculptures and drawings from the period 1927 - 1949. Weitra 2007, p. 38.
  14. ^ Franz Müller / Marco Obrist: Wotruba, Fritz in Switzerland. SIKART Lexicon on Art in Switzerland, accessed on August 16, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Otto Breicha (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Catalog raisonné. Sculptures, reliefs, stage and architectural models. St. Gallen 2002, p. 20.
  16. ↑ Gabriele Stoeger-Spevak: Fritz Wotruba - between times. Wotruba's life and work 1907–1938. In: Agnes Husslein-Arco (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Simplicity and harmony. Sculptures and drawings from the period 1927 - 1949. Weitra 2007, p. 39.
  17. ↑ Otto Breicha (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Catalog raisonné. Sculptures, reliefs, stage and architectural models. St. Gallen 2002, p. 21.
  18. ^ Otto Breicha: Wotruba. Figures as resistance. Pictures and writings on life and work. Salzburg 1977, p. 10.
  19. ↑ Otto Breicha (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Catalog raisonné. Sculptures, reliefs, stage and architectural models. St. Gallen 2002, pp. 21-23.
  20. ^ Otto Breicha: Wotruba. Figures as resistance. Pictures and writings on life and work. Salzburg 1977, pp. 11-12.
  21. ↑ Otto Breicha (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Catalog raisonné. Sculptures, reliefs, stage and architectural models. St. Gallen 2002, p. 23.
  22. ^ Otto Breicha: Wotruba. Figures as resistance. Pictures and writings on life and work. Salzburg 1977, p. 12.
  23. ↑ Otto Breicha (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Catalog raisonné. Sculptures, reliefs, stage and architectural models. St. Gallen 2002, p. 23.
  24. ↑ Otto Breicha (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Catalog raisonné. Sculptures, reliefs, stage and architectural models. St. Gallen 2002, p. 24.
  25. ↑ Otto Breicha (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Catalog raisonné. Sculptures, reliefs, stage and architectural models. St. Gallen 2002, p. 26.
  26. ^ Otto Breicha: Wotruba. Figures as resistance. Pictures and writings on life and work. Salzburg 1977, p. 16.
  27. ↑ Gabriele Stoeger-Spevak: Fritz Wotruba - between times. Wotruba's life and work 1907–1938. In: Agnes Husslein-Arco (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Simplicity and harmony. Sculptures and drawings from the period 1927 - 1949. Weitra 2007, pp. 34–38.
  28. ↑ Otto Breicha (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Catalog raisonné. Sculptures, reliefs, stage and architectural models. St. Gallen 2002, p. 8.
  29. ↑ Gabriele Stoeger-Spevak: Fritz Wotruba - between times. Wotruba's life and work 1907–1938. In: Agnes Husslein-Arco (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Simplicity and harmony. Sculptures and drawings from the period 1927 - 1949. Weitra 2007, p. 39.
  30. ↑ Natalie Hoyos: Metaphors of a Stone World View. In: Agnes Husslein-Arco (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Simplicity and harmony. Sculptures and drawings from the period 1927–1949. Weitra 2007, pp. 18–19.
  31. ↑ Gabriele Stoeger-Spevak: Fritz Wotruba - between times. Wotruba's life and work 1907–1938. In: Agnes Husslein-Arco (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Simplicity and harmony. Sculptures and drawings from the period 1927 - 1949. Weitra 2007, p. 38.
  32. ↑ Otto Breicha (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Catalog raisonné. Sculptures, reliefs, stage and architectural models. St. Gallen 2002, p. 9.
  33. ↑ Otto Breicha (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Catalog raisonné. Sculptures, reliefs, stage and architectural models. St. Gallen 2002, pp. 9-10.
  34. ↑ Otto Breicha (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Catalog raisonné. Sculptures, reliefs, stage and architectural models. St. Gallen 2002, p. 8.
  35. ↑ Gabriele Stoeger-Spevak: Fritz Wotruba - between times. Wotruba's life and work 1907–1938. In: Agnes Husslein-Arco (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Simplicity and harmony. Sculptures and drawings from the period 1927–1949. Weitra 2007, pp. 38–39.
  36. ↑ Otto Breicha (Ed.): Fritz Wotruba. Catalog raisonné. Sculptures, reliefs, stage and architectural models. St. Gallen 2002, pp. 27–31.
  37. ↑ www.wotruba.at
  38. ↑ www.wotruba.at
  39. ↑ Wotruba in the 21er house
  40. ↑ www.wotruba.at .
  41. ^ Renata Antoniou: Fritz Wotruba. The graphic work. 1950-1975 , Vienna 2003, p. 9.
  42. ^ Catalog for the Belvedere exhibition "Cubism - Constructivism - Form Art", Vienna 2016, page 91
  43. ^ Fritz Wotruba: Considerations. Thoughts on art. Oprecht, Zurich 1945, DNB 992950473

Web links

Commons : Fritz Wotruba  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Wotruba, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH April 23, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH August 28, 1975
Place of death Vienna