Leopold Birstinger

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Leopold Birstinger around 1975

Leopold Birstinger (born October 30, 1903 in Vienna ; † August 15, 1983 there ) was an Austrian painter and graphic artist .

Life and career

Early years

Leopold Birstinger was born as the eldest son of Ludwig Birstinger and his wife Franziska, geb. Bruckbauer, born in Vienna . His father, Fassbinder by profession, who ran an inn in Ottakring , died in 1917, the family lived in poor conditions. Leopold Birstinger works as a farmhand for farmers in Lower Austria , is an apprentice miller in Pulkau and works in various professions while attending drawing courses at the adult education center and , from 1924, at the graphic teaching and research institute in Vienna. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna from 1926 to 1930 with Karl Sterrer , and from 1930 to 1933 in Rudolf Bacher's master class . During this time he became friends with the painters Rudolf Szyszkowitz and Albin Stranig and made contact with the Catholic Association Neuland . He received several prizes and grants, including the Austrian Rome Prize (1934).

Woman with propped up arm (Annemarie Brendlin), around 1937

1934-1945

In 1934 he married Annemarie Flora Brendlin, a fellow student from Basel. The marriage has two sons: Martin (born September 30, 1936) and Leopold (born August 4, 1940). Three murals are created for a chapel in Bad Fischau : Works of Love . He travels with his wife, a.o. a. to Italy, where he met his painter colleagues Toni Stadler , Gerhard Marcks and Hans Purrmann , and in 1936 to Güstrow to Ernst Barlach , from whom he bought a sculpture and woodcuts. In the same year Birstinger restored six pictures of Prince Schwarzenberg and painted a portrait of Countess Revertera on his behalf . In 1937 he visited the Degenerate Art exhibition in Munich and noted that it was "one of the most beautiful exhibitions that I have seen in my life."

From 1941 until the end of the war in 1945, Birstinger was a member of the German water police . In 1942 his brother Josef was killed at the front near Nowola Wodologa. His wife died on August 9, 1943, only 31 years old. Both strokes of fate hit him hard.

1945-1983

After the end of the war, Birstinger tried in vain for a professorship at the Academy of Fine Arts. He received an exit permit to Switzerland from the Ministry of Education, but no entry permit from the Swiss side. In 1947 he stayed illegally in Arlesheim , where the family of his deceased wife lived. In the same year, his mother died at the age of 81. Her death and the loss of his wife and brother cause a serious emotional crisis.

Mosaic mother and child (1955–57) on the community building at Dreyhausenstrasse 46, Vienna-Penzing

In 1948 the Werdenberg district court sentenced him to fourteen days in prison and imposed an entry ban into Switzerland until 1955. He joined the professional association of Austrian artists , but remained a member for only three years. In July the Welz gallery in Vienna shows its first personal exhibition .

In 1953 he took part in the 2nd Austrian graphics competition. In 1954 he became a member of the Vienna Secession , but left it again after four years. During this time he also met Wilma Trebitsch (1910–1993), who was his partner until his death. In 1956 he traveled with her to Rome. He received the sponsorship award from the “Theodor-Körner-Stiftungsfonds” and carried out numerous commissions for mosaics in municipal housing in Vienna. In 1957 he received the Vienna Art Fund Prize.

Kafka, The Trial, 1960–69

In 1962 he designed the stained glass windows for the parish church Laßnitzhöhe near Graz (architect Robert Kramreiter ). In 1963 and 1964 he made 28 stained glass windows for the St. Anton Church in Vienna's 21st district (architect Leo Splett ). In 1967 Birstinger became a member of the Steiermärkischer Werkbund, but left it again after two years.

In 1972 seven mosaics were created based on Birstinger's designs at Schluckergasse 1–13 in Vienna. In 1979 he was presented with the silver medal of honor of the federal capital Vienna, and on February 25, 1982 he was awarded the title of professor. In 1983 he received an award from the Province of Lower Austria, and Leopold Birstinger died on August 15 of the same year in the Lainzer Hospital in Vienna.

Style and artistic development

Leopold Birstinger was a withdrawn loner who kept looking for connections in artist associations, but usually soon turned away from them disappointed.

The emotive need for expression, which is linked to the representational representation, appears to be a constant in his work.

In the 1950s, Birstinger's sponsors included Monsignore Otto Mauer , who repeatedly exhibited him in the St. Stephan Gallery . When Mauer turned more towards newer currents, especially the Informel , Birstinger reacted very hurt and in his late main work Kafka the trial, along with other texts in the picture at the top left, added the note under: "Disgusting Pfaffenface (OM)".

It was not until the major retrospective for the 100th birthday in Vienna's Leopold Museum (October 31, 2003 - February 1, 2004) that Birstinger was brought back into the limelight. The collector Leopold has continuously acquired works from him; the Leopold Museum currently (2015) has probably the largest collection of Birstinger's oil paintings.

  • Picture gallery (chronological selection)

  • The lovers, 1933

  • The artist's house in winter, around 1935

  • Double portrait, 1938

  • Trees, around 1940

  • Mother, 1940–45

  • Jakob wrestles, 1950–52

  • Autumn colors, 1950–54

  • Winter landscape, 1950–54

  • The guest, around 1955

  • Small house in the sunlight, around 1955

  • Hilly landscape with an elevated position, 1955–60

  • Sunset, around 1960

  • Ravens on a snow-covered tree, around 1960

  • In memoriam Felix von Susani, around 1960

  • Lower Austrian farm, 1968–71

  • Lower Austrian village with a blue hill, 1970–74

  • House between two purple trees, 1975

Works

Own list of works

The list of the works shown in 1948 in the Galerie Welz in Vienna (23 oil paintings, 69 graphics) contains the only original titles of his works by the artist himself.

Oil paintings

  • 1 mother, oil, 1940
  • 2 Farewell, Oil, 1946
  • 3 mother, oil, 1940
  • 4 Early Spring, Oil, 1939
  • 5 Childhood and Old Age, oil, 1942
  • 6 Autumn garden, oil, 1938
  • 7 Meditation, oil, 1937
  • 8 Spring, oil, 1942
  • 9 Man and Woman, Oil, 1948
  • 10 Winter, Oil, 1941
  • 11 Knowledge, Oil, 1941
  • 12 trees by the road, oil, 1937
  • 13 Landscape in Early Spring, oil, 1937
  • 14 Mother and Child, oil, 1940
  • 15 Dead Goat, oil, 1945
  • 16 Thoughts, Oil, 1937
  • 17 Flutes Playing, Oil, 1938
  • 18 Autumn landscape, oil, 1946
  • 19 age, oil, 1937
  • 20 House in Winter, Oil, 1947
  • 21 In Memoriam Josef Birstinger, oil, 1942
  • 22 Late summer, oil, 1945
  • 23 Double portrait, oil, 1938

Watercolors and prints

  • 24 eighty-year-olds, watercolor
  • 25 In front of the window
  • 26 early spring
  • 27 Inside view
  • 28 chestnuts in autumn
  • 29 concern
  • 30 Dorfstrasse
  • 31 reminder
  • 32 avenue
  • 33 Portrait of a girl
  • 34 Arno Bridge
  • 35 winter of life
  • 36 Apprentice boy
  • 37 In front of my window
  • 38 Ponte Ferro
  • 39 Fading year
  • 40 Italian trip
  • 41 My garden
  • 42 Florentine roofs
  • 43 South Harbor
  • 44 autumn
  • 45 old woman
  • 46 Early Spring
  • 47 watercolor
  • 48 midsummer
  • 49 Gilbes foliage
  • 50 Martin
  • 51 Surrender
  • 52 Flaming autumn
  • 53 Thoughtful
  • 54 My son
  • 55 roofs in the south
  • 56 The reading
  • 57 Annemaria
  • 58 Young woman
  • 58a Port of Civitavechia (sic!)
  • 59 freighters on the Danube
  • 60 prayers
  • 61 Life
  • 62 melancholy
  • 63 Martin, 5 years
  • 64 comrades
  • 65 peace
  • 66 contemplation
  • 67 double portrait
  • 68 "For the last time"
  • 69 Portrait AB
  • 70 sick beds
  • 71 For the old anniversary
  • 72 siblings
  • 73 refuge
  • 74 wisdom
  • 75 family
  • 76 Poldi
  • 77 On the bench
  • 78 Martin
  • 79 asleep
  • 80 marriage
  • 81 supplicants
  • 82 evening
  • 83 immersion
  • 84 Two people
  • 85 Male image
  • 86 My wife
  • 87 The tired
  • 88 Young woman
  • 89 Supported head
  • 90 The very old one
  • 91 Review
  • 92 grief

Selection of works

Exhibitions

  • 1932 “Work and Life from the Young Catholic Spirit”, Landesmuseum Joanneum , Graz
  • 1933 School exhibition of the art academics, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
  • 1937 Rome, unknown place of exhibition
  • 1948 Welz Gallery, Vienna
  • 1950 “Modern Religious Art”, Landesmuseum Linz
  • 1952 “New Acquisitions 1947 - 1951”, Austrian Gallery Vienna
  • 1953 Betty Thommen Gallery, Basel
  • 1955 “On many ways”, Library of Fine Arts, Kupferstichkabinett, Vienna
  • 1955 “Ten Years of Painting and Sculpture in Austria”, Künstlerhaus Vienna
  • 1956 "Expoziţia de Pictură şi Grafică austriacă", Sala de Expoziţii a IRRCS, Bucharest
  • 1956 and 1957 annual exhibition of the Grazer Werkbund
  • 1957 State art exhibition of the Lower Austrian Art Associations, Baden
  • 1960 "The Landscape", Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
  • 1961 “The good picture for everyone”, Vienna Secession
  • 1962 Bejvl Gallery, Linz
  • 1962 "Alexander Wahl, Leopold Birstinger, Hans Adametz", Werkbund, Künstlerhaus Graz
  • 1967 Large Werkbund exhibition, Künstlerhaus Graz
  • 1978 Würthle Gallery, Vienna
  • 1981 “Leopold Birstinger, Painting and Graphics”, Galerie Austria, Vienna
  • 1982 "Head - Portrait", Rothmühle Castle, Schwechat
  • 1984 “Otto Mauer Collection”, New Gallery of the City of Linz
  • 1984 "Leopold Birstinger 1903 - 1983", Galerie Austria, Vienna
  • 1984 and 1986 "Leopold Birstinger 1903 - 1983", gallery of the Mühlviertler Künstlergilde, Linz
  • 1987 "Leopold Birstinger 1903 - 1983", Galerie Austria, Vienna
  • 1991 “Moved into the light. A museum on demand ”, Volkshalle of the Vienna City Hall
  • 1992 "Put on paper", Volkshalle of the Vienna City Hall
  • 1992 "Leopold Birstinger 1903 - 1983", Galerie Austria, Vienna
  • 1993 "KAIROS - The Otto Mauer Collection in the Vienna Cathedral Museum", Archbishop's Cathedral and Diocesan Museum, Vienna
  • 1994 "KAIROS - The Otto Mauer Collection in the Vienna Cathedral Museum", Museum of Modern Art - Wörlen Foundation, Passau
  • 2002 “garden art”, Hermesvilla, Historical Museum of the City of Vienna, Vienna
  • 2003 "Leopold Birstinger 1903-1983 - Melancholy and Paradise", Leopold Museum, Vienna, October 31, 2003 - April 28, 2004
  • 2003 “Metanoia” - on the 30th anniversary of Monsignor Otto Mauer's death, Archbishop's Cathedral and Diocesan Museum, Vienna, October 3rd - December 20th
  • 2003 Leopold Birstinger, Galerie Austria, Vienna, December 4, 2003 - January 24, 2004
  • 2004 “Hermit Cosmopolitans”, Werner Berg Gallery of the City of Bleiburg, Bleiburg, May 16 - October 17
  • 2006 anniversary exhibition, Galerie Austria, Vienna, May 11th - June 30th
  • 2007 “Between the Wars”, Leopold Museum, Vienna, September 21, 2003 - March 3, 2004
  • 2007 "Albin Stranig & Neuland", Werner Berg Gallery of the City of Bleiburg, Bleiburg, May 1st - October 28th
  • 2007 “Austria in Transition - Painting from the Interwar Period”, Ernst-Barlach-Haus, Hamburg
  • 2008 "Albin Stranig & Neuland", Kapfenberg Cultural Center, Kapfenberg
  • 2008 "Albin Stranig & Neuland", Rabalderhaus, Schwaz in Tirol
  • 2008 "Albin Stranig & Neuland", Museum of Modern Art - Wörlen Foundation, Passau, June 21 - August 10
  • 2009 “The 1950s - Art and the Understanding of Art in Vienna”, MUSA Museum on Demand, Vienna
  • 2009 Leopold Birstinger, Galerie Austria, March 10th - April 4th
  • 2009 “Power of the Image - Visions of the Divine”, European Exhibition 2009, Werner Berg Museum, Bleiburg, April 26th - November 8th
  • 2011 “Birstinger-Hessing-Stark-Stransky”, collection presentation, Leopold Museum, Vienna, March 24th - August 29th
  • 2011 “The 1960s: Fantastic Modernism”, MUSA Museum on Demand, Vienna, March 29th - October 15th
  • 2011 Galerie Ingeborg Zweymüller, Baden May 20th - July 2nd
  • 2011 “The Excitement Continues”, Leopold Museum, October 14, 2011 - January 30, 2012
  • 2013 Spring Exhibition, Galerie Austria, Vienna, March 5th - 30th, 2013
  • 2014 Christmas exhibition, Galerie Austria, November 20, 2014 - January 30, 2015

Awards

  • Füger Prize of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna 1929
  • Academic Prize of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna 1929
  • Academic Prize of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna 1931
  • Academic study award of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna 1932
  • Master School Award 1933
  • Rome Prize of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna 1934
  • Award of the Theodor Körner-Stiftungsfonds for the promotion of science and art 1954
  • Prize of the Vienna Art Fund 1957
  • Silver Medal of Honor of the Federal Capital Vienna, 1979
  • Professor title 1982

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Berthold Ecker (ed. And author) and Rudolf Leopold (ed.): Leopold Birstinger 1903-1983. Melancholy and paradise. DuMont Literature and Art Publishing House, Cologne; Leopold Museum Privatstiftung 2003. P. 82 ff.
  2. ↑ a b c Not in Salzburg. The Salzburg gallery owner Friedrich Welz took over ("Aryanized") the Wiener Galerie Würthle in 1938 and ran it to the former owner Lea Bondi-Jaray as the "Galerie Welz" until its restitution in 1949.
  3. ↑ Hans Haider: On the run from the horror , in the features section of the Vienna press , November 3, 2003
  4. ↑ … catalog

literature

  • Author: Birstinger, Leopold . 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. 310 – page bis .
  • Georg Wacha : Birstinger, Leopold . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 11, Saur, Munich a. a. 1995, ISBN 3-598-22751-5 , p. 180 f.
  • Berthold Ecker: Leopold Birstinger, 1903–1983 , dissertation University of Vienna 1996, library network ID AC01750425.
  • Berthold Ecker (and Rudolf Leopold, eds.): Leopold Birstinger 1903-1983. Melancholy and Paradise , catalog for the exhibition “Against the Current”, retrospective on the 100th birthday of Leopold Birstinger. Dumont Literature and Art Verlag, Cologne 2003. (In the editions of the Leopold Museum)
  • Kristian Sotriffer: Not just the year as a reference point; Leopold Birstinger and Hans Fronius in galleries in Vienna , in Die Presse , March 11, 1987.
personal data
SURNAME Birstinger, Leopold
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian painter and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH October 30, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH August 15, 1983
Place of death Vienna