Herwig Zens

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Herwig Zens in June 2019

Herwig Zens (born June 5, 1943 in Himberg near Vienna ; † September 24, 2019 in Vienna) was an Austrian painter and art teacher .

life and work

Herwig Zens began his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 1961 . In 1962, he attended the School of Vision of Oskar Kokoschka in Salzburg . In 1965 Zens was awarded the Füger Prize, which was to be followed by many other prizes in the decades that followed. In the same year he traveled to Spain and began work on his thesis on the “ Pinturas Negras ” by Francisco de Goya , who had a deep fascination for him. In 1966 Zens passed the teaching examination for art education, history and craft education, a year later he completed his training with a diploma in painting from Elsner.

After completing his studies, Zens joined the school, where he worked as a passionate teacher at several Viennese high schools. During this time, among other things, the film project “Beethoven in a backpack” was created, in which the later cabaret artist Thomas Maurer also participated as a student. This film marks the beginning of the collaboration with filmmaker Herbert Link , who has made numerous films about Herwig Zens and his work.

In addition to his educational work, Zens also devoted himself intensively to his artistic work. In 1984 he began his Goya projections, variations on the “Pinturas Negras”, which were completed in 1993. On November 9, 1977, Zens noted something for the first time in his "etched diary". Since then, he has been using different etching techniques to record what moves him on copper plates measuring 5 × 40 cm. In 1995 the diary was printed in one piece for the first time and shown at Art multiple in Düsseldorf - as the longest etching in the world at the time. In 2006 the diary was put on paper again - over a length of approx. 40 meters.

In his work, Zens deals intensively with death, including in the major projects “ Basler Totentanz ”, the stations of the cross in the Austrian hospice in Jerusalem and the design of the funeral hall in Brunn am Gebirge . In addition, Zens repeatedly devoted himself to Greek mythology, the work of Francisco de Goya and Spain .

In 1987 Herwig Zens was appointed professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, where he had been teaching since 1975. Until 2006 he was the director of the institute for artistic teaching.

Zens created over a thousand drawings, etchings, oil paintings and prints, which he presented in over 100 solo exhibitions in Europe and the USA. In 2011 he was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art, 1st Class. Herwig Zens lived and worked in Vienna.

He left his body to the Anatomical Institute of the University of Vienna for scientific purposes. Memorials in Vienna's Central Cemetery are dedicated to the dead who dedicated their bodies in this way (here: New Anatomy Graves, Group 26).

Works (selection)

  • GOYA PROJECTION action. (1984 to 1993, graduated from the Museum of Modern Art Bilbao)
  • Project Basler Totentanz (1990, Historical Museum Basel)
  • 14 stations of the cross for the Austrian hospice in Jerusalem (graduation 1993)
  • Presentation of the etched diary begun in 1977 as the "longest etching in the world" (Art multiple, Düsseldorf) (1995), further presentations, among others, at the Estampa in Madrid (2001) and in Betanzos (2005)
  • Füssen Dance of Death (1998)
  • Theseus cycle (2000)
  • Art action and video film "step by step" with students (Los Angeles 2000)
  • Design of the funeral hall in Brunn am Gebirge near Vienna with Helmut Sautner (2000)
  • Wall design of the Vivaldi Hall in the University of Music, Vienna (2000)
  • Picture cycle for Hugo Distler's Dance of Death op.12 (2001)
  • Schwoaze Weiber ( Ambras Palace Park 2002)
  • New Lübeck Dance of Death ( Marienkirche , Lübeck 2003)
  • Project "Song of the spirits over the waters" with the Arnold Schoenberg Choir (2004)
  • Goya paraphrases in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna on the occasion of the Goya retrospective (2005)
  • Cycle of images for the ballroom of the Austrian embassy in Washington (2006)

Awards (selection)

Books / book illustrations (selection)

Films by and about Herwig Zens

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Herwig Zens grave site , Vienna, Central Cemetery, Group 26.
  2. ^ Goldener Rathausmann on the occasion of Herwig Zens' 75th birthday . OTS notification dated June 6, 2018, accessed June 6, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Zens, Herwig
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian painter and art teacher
DATE OF BIRTH June 5, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Himberg near Vienna
DATE OF DEATH September 24, 2019
Place of death Vienna