Otto Zeiller

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Self portrait

Otto Zeiller (born April 19, 1913 in Vienna , † April 16, 1988 in Stockerau ) was an Austrian painter , draftsman and designer of postage stamps.

Life

Otto Zeiller was born on April 19, 1913 in Vienna-Favoriten, the youngest of seven children. At a young age he received his first drawing lessons from his eldest brother Leopold. Since there was initially no opportunity to attend the Academy of Fine Arts for economic reasons , Otto Zeiller worked as a press photographer from 1931 to 1938 after a three-year photography apprenticeship with Conrad Swatosch - Stubenring 6, 1010 Vienna. The Vienna Woods hikes with numerous nature studies provided a welcome balance to everyday professional life in Vienna during the interwar period.

In 1938 Otto Zeiller married his childhood friend Stefanie. The following year he was drafted into military service and also used as a canteenur on the Western campaign in the supply area. Sick of tuberculosis at the end of 1941 , he used the one-year stay in the hospitals in Krumau and Budweis for a variety of portrait studies and etchings. Released from military service, Otto Zeiller was able to begin a six-year course at the Art Academy in Vienna in autumn 1942 after passing the one-week entrance exam and taking the masterclasses of Professors Carl Fahringer , Heinrich Dimmel and Sergius Pauser . In addition, he studied old master technique and conservation under Robert Eigenberger . Son Stefan was born in 1943 and daughter Irmgard in 1946.

In the summer of 1944 Otto Zeiller was the last artist to draw the Gothic wooden roof structure of St. Stephan before it went up in flames towards the end of the war. The resulting six large-format sheets are historical as well as artistic documents and were acquired by the Museum of the City of Vienna in 1951 according to their importance.

During stays in Hallstatt between 1946 and 1948, landscape studies, portraits, as well as drawings of the old mining and representations of archaeological excavation pieces were created on behalf of the director of the Hallstatt Archaeological Museum , Friedrich Morton . Recommended by the rector of the Academy of Fine Arts, Herbert Boeckl , Otto Zeiller carried out commissioned work for both the Russian and American military command until 1955. In this context, u. a. Fresco work in the Vienna Hotel Regina and an oil painting of the construction of the monument in honor of the fallen soldiers of the Red Army , the so-called "Russian monument" on Vienna's Schwarzenbergplatz.

From 1956 to 1968 Otto Zeiller worked as a landscape and architecture painter for the Lower Austria State Museum under curator Rupert Feuchtmüller . During this period 144 oil paintings, watercolors and graphics were created, which can still be seen at exhibitions today.

In 1961, the painter created his largest painting for the Hotel Royal in Singerstrasse, measuring 5.70 mx 3.60 m. It shows "Historic Vienna before the 2nd Turkish siege" after an engraving by Folbert van Alten-Allen and can be seen in the hotel foyer.

In 1962 two copies of historical paintings were made by Josef II, after Jan Popolik, and Maria Theresia, after Meytens - the most famous painting by Maria Theresa in the Vienna Hofburg. They can be admired in Vienna's oldest hotel, the Hotel Stefanie in Vienna's 2nd district.

From 1962 to 1988, in the later period of his work, over 200 postage stamps were created for the Republic of Austria, the Principality of Liechtenstein and the Vatican based on designs and motifs by Otto Zeiller. These include the definitive stamp series Schöne Österreich , Austrian monuments , monasteries and monasteries in Austria, as well as the special stamps “200 Years of the Burgtheater” or the “Reichskleinodien” for the Principality of Liechtenstein.

The commemorative stamp in honor of the orientalist Freiherr Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall was awarded the "Grand Prix de l'Exposition WIPA" - and was thus named the most beautiful postage stamp of 1981 worldwide. Otto Zeiller on his brand a year before the international award: “A complete success - at least for me - the new Hammer-Purgstall special stamp has become. Finally a brand that I have nothing to complain about. The experiment to bring a portrait stamp as a miniature has succeeded. … A praise also from the state printing office. I believe that I have achieved the best brand to date! ”He also praises Maria Laurent for the brand's engraving.

Privately, Otto Zeiller moved to Lower Austria, where he lived in Gablitz from 1968 to 1973 and designed the market town's coat of arms. He then lived in Stockerau , together with his life partner Maria Siegl, who herself worked as a designer of postage stamps for the Austrian Post and the Principality of Liechtenstein after the turn of the millennium.

Otto Zeiller's artistic skills during his time in Austria led to a special teaching activity in his later years: on behalf of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank, he gave drawing lessons for two of its employees for two years once a week, each for a whole afternoon, during which they studied nature were the focus. At the time of the perfection course, the two students were already artistically and professionally successful. On the one hand, Gerhart Schmirl, copperplate engraver at the Oesterreichische Nationalbank's securities printing company, who also played a leading role in the creation of numerous postage stamps for the Austrian state printing company. On the other hand, Robert Kalina , designer of all Austrian Schilling banknotes since 1982. Kalina also achieved great international fame as the designer of the euro banknotes in 1996 after his designs had been selected from among 44 submissions.

Otto Zeiller died on April 16, 1988 in Stockerau, where he also found his final resting place.

On the occasion of his 100th birthday, a personalized stamp was issued in 2013 in honor of Otto Zeiller with his portrait based on a drawing by Robert Kalina.

Works

  • Six drawings of the Gothic roof structure of St. Stephan, Wien Museum
  • Drawing “The building of the Russian monument”, Albertina Vienna
  • Interior and exterior frescoes, Grünbach kindergarten
  • Exterior fresco, Elisabeth Chapel Langenlois
  • Exterior fresco, town hall cellar Traiskirchen
  • Interior fresco, Urania Vienna
  • Interior fresco, Restaurant Csardasfürstin Vienna
  • Interior fresco, buffet Elsa Vienna
  • Interior fresco, Tuchlauben Cinema Vienna
  • Interior fresco, Boschan Vienna office building
  • Interior fresco, Hotel Regina Vienna
  • Interior fresco, 10 meters, Museum Melk an der Donau
  • Oil painting, Heiner confectionery Vienna
  • Tryptochon oil painting, Restaurant Eckel Vienna
  • 144 oil paintings, watercolors and graphics for the state of Lower Austria
    • including z. B. the painting copy, by Rueland Frueauf Klosterneuburg
  • Colossal painting, 5.60 m × 3.70 m, "Vienna before the 2nd Turkish siege", Hotel Royal Vienna
  • Painting copy, "Joseph II.", Hotel Stefanie Vienna
  • Painting copy, "Maria Theresia", Hotel Stefanie Vienna
  • Gouache, "Vienna around 1500", Schmaddebeck Vienna
  • 14 pencil drawings, details from St. Stephan, Archdiocese of Vienna
  • Gouache, design of the Gablitz coat of arms
  • Designs for over 200 postage stamps

Exhibitions

  • 1952: Amtshaus Währing, Vienna
  • 1979: Stockerau District Museum
  • 1979: Congress Hall, Hamburg
  • 1982: Dorotheum, Vienna
  • 1983: Stockerau Town Hall
  • 1987: Geymüller Schlössl, Vienna
  • 1987: Austrian National Bank, Vienna
  • 1987: Gallery "Artwork", Stockerau
  • 1992: Ernstbrunn
  • 1993: Belvedere Schlössl, Stockerau
  • 1995: Postsparkasse, Georg Coch-Platz, Vienna
  • 1996: Archdiocese of Vienna
  • 1998: Belvedere Schlössl, Stockerau
  • 2008: Gallery to the Old Town Hall, Stockerau
  • 2013: Museum Gablitz
  • 2014: Hotel Stefanie, Vienna

Awards

Nibelungen Bridge over the Danube in Linz from the definitive series of Austrian architectural monuments based on a design by Otto Zeiller.

Appreciations

  • Foundation of the Prof. Otto Zeiller Society , Stockerau , which repeatedly organizes memorial exhibitions
  • Naming of the Professor-Otto-Zeiller-Straße in Stockerau
  • Establishment of the Otto Zeiller Park in Gablitz
  • Special post offices on the occasion of the 10th and 20th anniversary of death combined with special exhibitions
  • Personalized 100th birthday postage stamp based on a drawing by Robert Kalina
  • Exhibition for the 100th birthday in the museum of the market town of Gablitz

literature

  • Walther Maria Neuwirth: A short art history of the Austrian postage stamp 1945–1968. Federal Publishing House for Education, Science and Art, Vienna 1968.
  • Renate Grimmlinger: Prof. Otto Zeiller: My years in Gablitz are among the most beautiful of my life. Published by Museum Gablitz - Market Community Gablitz, Gablitz 2014.
  • Walther Maria Neuwirth: Otto Zeiller. Life and work. Austrian Traffic advertising, Vienna 1978.
  • Irmgard and Emil Benesch: Otto Zeiller, old master in the 20th century. Vienna 2014.

Web links

Commons : Otto Zeiller  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Otto Zeiller: Me about myself . In: Prof. Otto Zeiller Society (Ed.): Information sheet for the members of the Prof. Otto Zeiller Society . No. 1 . Stockerau 1998.
  2. ↑ Master of the stamps Otto Zeiller died ten years ago. ots.at, accessed on November 15, 2016 .
  3. ↑ a b c Renate Grimmlinger: Prof. Otto Zeiller: My years in Gablitz are among the most beautiful of my life. (PDF) Museum Gablitz - Marktgemeinde Gablitz, 2014, pp. 36–38 , accessed on November 15, 2016 .
  4. ^ Gallery in Iglau shows works from the collections of the state of Lower Austria. ots.at, accessed on November 15, 2016 .
  5. ^ Hotel Johann Strauss Vienna. In: cantat.com. Retrieved November 15, 2016 .
  6. ↑ exhibition OTTO ZEILLER at Hotel Stefanie. Schick Seitenblicke from Vienna, June 24, 2014, accessed on November 15, 2016 .
  7. ^ Joseph Hammer-Purgstall. Austria Forum, accessed on November 15, 2016 .
  8. ↑ GABLITZ history poems and stories. (No longer available online.) Gablitz.info, archived from the original on June 30, 2017 ; accessed on November 15, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gablitz.info
  9. ^ A b Alfred Kunz: Prof. Otto Zeiller. In: The postage stamp, post and philately in Austria. Association of Austrian Philatelic Associations, April 2013, p. 5 , accessed on November 15, 2016 .
  10. ↑ Banknote designer Robert Kalina. In: geldschein.at. Retrieved November 15, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Zeiller, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian painter and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH April 19, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH April 16, 1988
Place of death Stockerau