Johann Weidinger
Johann Weidinger (born October 11, 1919 in Hödnitz , † February 24, 1985 in Vienna ) was an Austrian artisan .
Life
After the early death of his mother he came to live with his aunt in Vienna , Währing . He attended elementary and secondary school in the Cottagegasse and then the three-year college for Ledergalanteristen , where he became leather craftsman was formed and in 1936 the journeyman took off. In 1941 he married Notburga Harnisch. They have four children together. As a soldier in a pioneer unit , he fought on almost all European fronts from 1938 to 1945 . In 1942 he was seriously wounded in the Battle of Stalingrad and was flown out of the pocket in the last plane. While retreating from Hungary in 1945, he fell into Soviet captivity and was to Siberia deported.
In addition to some employment in the private sector, he took over from 1953 to 1957 in the hunting association Pernitz - Feichtenbach the hunting supervision . In 1958 Johann Weidinger became a freelance artist and was given the working title " Leather Sculptor " by Federal President Adolf Schärf .
plant
In a relatively long period of development and experimentation, he rediscovered leather processing techniques that had been lost in some cases and supplemented these methods with his own developments. Over the years, he improved and refined the old ways of working and thereby achieved completely new and unique effects. Using a special technique, he made the leather used much more supple and therefore easier to shape. In experiments he developed a compound for backfilling the advanced forms. He worked the details of his works out of the material with hot tools and used the splittability of the leather to achieve a particularly plastic effect. In his workshop he mixed special leather colors that gave the color obtained by heat treatment of the leather a special charm. He kept his treatment and hardening agents secret. The ancient techniques of leather embossed work , the leather section and the pyrography made it possible for him to create his unusual objects.
The noxious vapors and the acids in the leather dyes produced during processing of the leather led to prolonged illness and his early death.
In the 1950s, Johann Weidinger was the only artisan in Austria who worked exclusively with leather. He created functional and art objects for hunting and fishing as well as sacred objects.
Weidinger's “unique leather items” became popular gifts from the Austrian government on state visits or important occasions. Among the recipients were Queen Elizabeth II , Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud , Pope John XXIII. , Pope Paul VI. , the Shah of Persia Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , President John F. Kennedy , President Markarius of Cyprus , President Ben Bella of Algeria , the French Presidents Georges Pompidou and François Mitterrand , Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands , Aristotle Onassis , the German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard , the Bavarian Prime Minister Franz Josef Strauss , the Federal Chancellor of Austria Leopold Figl , Julius Raab , Alfons Gorbach and Josef Klaus , the Austrian Federal Presidents Adolf Schärf , Franz Jonas and Rudolf Kirchschläger , the Archbishop of Vienna Franz Cardinal König and the Mayor of Vienna Bruno Marek .
Honors
- Silver medal for hunting handicrafts at the international hunting exhibition in Düsseldorf
- 1959 gold medal and certificate of honor from the CIC at the international hunting congress in Vienna
- 1960 silver medal on the occasion of the international hunting exhibition in Florence
- 1964 Gold Medal of Honor and Certificate of Honor for exquisite arts and crafts on the occasion of the hunting exhibition at the Vienna International Garden Show
- 1971 Gold Medal for Hunting Crafts at the 1971 World Hunting Exhibition in Budapest
- 1974 Gold pin of honor for services to arts and crafts in Vienna
- 1981 Gold Medal for Hunting Crafts and Honorary Award of the Bulgarian Hunters' Association on the occasion of the World Hunting Exhibition in Plovdiv
- Golden break of honor of the Lower Austrian State Hunting Association
- On November 25, 1980, Johann Weidinger was given the professional title of Professor by Federal President Rudolf Kirchschläger .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Weidinger, Johann |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian artisan |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 11, 1919 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hödnitz |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 24, 1985 |
| Place of death | Vienna |