Robert Lettner

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Robert Lettner, 2011

Robert Lettner (born May 23, 1943 in Elne , France , † September 6, 2012 in Vienna ) was an Austrian painter . His main artistic themes, some of which he researched in cooperation with scientists, dealt with utopia , resistance, landscape as well as issues of digital art and ornamentation .

life and work

Robert Lettner was born on May 23, 1943 in Elne in the south of France and grew up in the internment and deportation camp Camp de Gurs . After the liberation he spent his childhood first in Paris, then in Salzburg. In 1953 he came to Vienna and completed an apprenticeship as a lithographer from 1958 to 1962 . From 1964 to 1969 he studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna under Franz Elsner . The artist friendship with Adam Jankowski dates from this time , which led to numerous joint exhibitions. By the late 1960s he took part in several exhibitions and in 1970 became a member of the Vienna Secession . In 1973 he went to the Slade School of Fine Art in London on a British Council scholarship . In 1974 stays in Sudan followed. In 1975 he received the Vienna City Promotion Prize. In the 1970s, Lettner showed a series of exhibitions of political content in the Viennese gallery next St. Stephan. For him, art has always been a form of resistance, as Peter Menasse shows. Lettner's concept of resistance called for autonomous critical thinking and aimed at a continuous renewal of the worldview.

Oswald Oberhuber brought Lettner in 1976 with a teaching position for the graphic master class at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. There Lettner headed the graphic reproduction technology department from 1985 to 2008. With Willi Kopf and Walter Worlitschek , he developed a concept under the motto Contributions to the ongoing art discussion to place posters as an artistic form of communication in everyday university life . In over one hundred courses - the posters of which are fully archived in the collection of the University of Applied Arts - Lettner familiarized the students with interdisciplinary and pictorial approaches. From 1998, Lettner developed digital art techniques with Walter Worlitschek, and then from 2004 with Philipp Stadler , which dealt with digitally created ornamental image forms. By discussing this experimental further development of his image concepts in digital space with mathematicians such as Herbert Fleischner and Christoph Überhuber , philosophers such as Burghart Schmidt and Konrad Liessmann, and with art scholars such as Mara Reissberger and Harald Kraemer , Lettner is considered one of the pioneers of artistic research .

Lettner's work spanned the period from 1965 to 2012 and, in addition to watercolors and ink drawings, consists of classic analogue as well as digitally created paintings. According to his main artistic themes, his work can be classified as follows: 1. Works such as the bar paintings (1968–2008), which deal with the concept of utopia. 2. Series such as Anarchy , Still Life and Portrait - a documentation of the 1970s (1970–1978) that thematize the concept of resistance. 3. Lettner used his landscape motifs such as the series Landscape Pictures Therapy , Water Pictures Lobau and The Last Alpine Pictures (1982–2000) to fundamentally question the tasks, function and purpose of painting. 4. In the work groups of color scores and The Game of Coming and Going (1976–1982), the cycle of diskette images (1985–1994) as well as in the works of digital painting with images of magical geometry , knot images , reflections and synchronized worlds (1995–1994) 2012) Lettner dealt with ornamentally structured systems of order. Robert Lettner died on September 6, 2012 in Vienna. He was buried at the Vienna Central Cemetery . In the years 2013 to 2017 the estate was inventoried using a picture database and archived on the website and work monograph. The Vienna-based association RoLett - Association for Documenting the Artistic and Scientific Work of Robert Lettner is responsible for this. For the 75th birthday in 2018, the artist's first comprehensive monograph will be published.

Exhibitions

Collections

Catalogs / publications

  • Robert Lettner: Painting , exhibition catalog Galerie next St. Stephan, Vienna, 1971.
  • Robert Lettner: portrait. Documentation from the 1970s , exhibition catalog Galerie next St. Stephan, Vienna, 1978.
  • Robert Lettner: Landscape - Pictures - Therapy , exhibition catalog Minoritenkirche Krems / Stein, Niederösterreichisches Landesmuseum, No. 218, Vienna, 1988.
  • Robert Lettner: Synthetic Image Worlds , exhibition catalog Galerie Vorsetzen, Hamburg, 1989.
  • Adam Jankowski, Robert Lettner: Cold radiation. Pictures to the Present , exhibition catalog Museum Moderner Kunst Wien (ed.), No. 32, Vienna, 1990.
  • Robert Lettner: Sun over Berlin - Moon over Beirut , exhibition catalog Galerie Gras, Vienna, 1991.
  • Robert Lettner: Bildwelten 1968-93 , exhibition catalog Galerie Vorsetzen, ed. by Gesine Petersen, Hamburg: Gallery Vorsetzen, 1993.
  • Robert Lettner: Dublin Theses on Informal Geometry , exhibition catalog Galerie Heiligenkreuzerhof, Vienna, 1994.
  • Robert Lettner: Pictures on Magical Geometry , Vienna Secession (ed.), Exhibition catalog November 20, 1998 - January 17, 1999, Vienna: Vienna Secession, 1998.
  • Robert Lettner, Harald Krämer: “Art has been redeemed, the riddle is over. Dialogue between Robert Lettner and Harald Krämer ”; "Art is Reedeemed, Mystery is Gone. Conversations with Robert Lettner and Harald Krämer ”, in: Robert Lettner: Pictures for magical geometry , exhibition catalog Wiener Secession, Vienna: 1998, pp. 6-14; 15-23.
  • Robert Lettner, Mara Reissberger, Burghart Schmidt: "Conversation about ornament", in: Robert Lettner: Ornament. Magical Geometry Images. Contributions to the ongoing art discussion , Vienna, 1998.
  • Robert Lettner, Peter Menasse: Der Eisbärfelllöwe , Vienna, 2004.
  • Harald Krämer, Robert Lettner, Mara Reissberger, Burghart Schmidt: Talking about pictures in pictures. On the dialectic of the threadbare in ornament , Vienna: Verlag der Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, 2006.
  • Low Frequency Orchestra and Robert Lettner: The game of coming and going , Klosterneuburg / Vienna, 2006.
  • Adam Jankowski, Robert Lettner, Burghart Schmidt: Philosophy of Landscape , Berlin: Jovis Verlag, 2010.
  • Florian Knothe, Harald Kraemer: Robert Lettner. In Dialogue with the Chinese Landscape , Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Museum and Art Gallery, 2017.
  • Harald Kraemer: Robert Lettner. The game of coming and going. Resistance Utopia Landscape Ornament , Margit Lettner, Markus Lettner, Peter Menasse (Eds.), Klagenfurt: Ritter Verlag, 2018.

literature

  • Ernst Berger: “Strangers at home. A contribution to the psychology of art? ”, In: Adam Jankowski, Robert Lettner: Cold radiation. Pictures to the Present , exhibition catalog Museum Moderner Kunst Wien (ed.), No. 32, Vienna, 1990, 11–13.
  • Anne Marie Freybourg : "Berlin, November 1989", in: Adam Jankowski, Robert Lettner: Cold radiation. Pictures to the present , exhibition catalog Museum Moderner Kunst Wien (ed.), No. 32, Vienna, 1990, p. 31.
  • Anne Marie Freybourg: “Research on Landscape. About the new landscape with Adam Jankowski and Robert Lettner ”, in: Adam Jankowski, Robert Lettner, Burghart Schmidt: Philosophy of Landscape , Berlin: Jovis Verlag, 2010, pp. 221–225.
  • Werner Hofmann : "Cold radiation", in: Adam Jankowski, Robert Lettner: Cold radiation. Pictures to the present , exhibition catalog Museum Moderner Kunst Wien (ed.), No. 32, Vienna, 1990, p. 7.
  • Harald Krämer: Gallery in the Greeks Beisl 1960-1971. Christa Hauer and Johann Fruhmann: Pioneers of the contemporary art scene in Vienna , Vienna: Verlag Christian Brandstätter, 1995.
  • Harald Krämer: “Robert Lettner. Order - Ornament - Chaos ”, in: Secession 4/1998, p. 15.
  • Harald Krämer: "Art is redeemed, mystery is gone: the documentation of contemporary art", in: Sarah Kenderdine, Fiona Cameron (ed.): Theorising Futures for the Past. Cultural Heritage and Digital Media , Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 2007, pp. 193-222.
  • Harald Krämer: "Ornamentation between opulence and virtuality: Worringer's legacy?", In: Norberto Gramaccini, Johannes Rössler (Ed.): Hundred Years of 'Abstraction and Empathy' Constellations around Wilhelm Worringer , Munich: Wilhelm Fink, 2012, p. 259– 276.
  • Harald Kraemer: "Ornament and Transformation - the Digital Painting of Robert Lettner at the Interface of Analogue and Algorithmic Art", in: ArtMachines , Conference Proceedings, 4.1.-7.1.2019, City University of Hong Kong , School of Creative Media , 2019 , Pp. 42-56.
  • Konrad Paul Liessmann : “Reproduction and Identity”, in: Robert Lettner: O Du Udo , exhibition catalog, Galerie Gras, Vienna, 1990.
  • Konrad Paul Liessmann: “On Robert Lettner's Diskette Pictures”, in: Robert Lettner: Dublin Theses on Informal Geometry , exhibition catalog Galerie Heiligenkreuzerhof, Vienna, 1994.
  • Helene Maimann : "smile, baby, smile", in: Robert Lettner: Portrait. Documentation from the 1970s , exhibition catalog Galerie next St. Stephan, Vienna, 1978, pp. 6–15.
  • Peter Menasse: "The painter of resistance - Robert Lettner", in: NU , No. 15, 2003, Nissan 5764, http://www.nunu.at/templates/show_artikel.php?artID=393 .
  • Sigrun Pass: “Attempting to approach”, in: Adam Jankowski, Robert Lettner: Cold radiation. Pictures to the present , exhibition catalog Museum Moderner Kunst Wien (ed.), No. 32, Vienna, 1990, pp. 8–9.
  • Babette Peters: "The Zero Hour", in: Adam Jankowski, Robert Lettner: Cold radiation. Pictures to the present , exhibition catalog Museum Moderner Kunst Wien (ed.), No. 32, Vienna, 1990, p. 101.
  • Dieter Ronte : "Introduction: 1 topic, 2 disciplines, 3 examples", in: Adam Jankowski, Robert Lettner, Burghart Schmidt: Philosophy of Landscape , Berlin: Jovis Verlag, 2010, pp. 13-14.
  • Hazel Rosenstrauch : “Robert Lettner. Sun over Berlin - Moon over Beirut ”, in: Robert Lettner: Sun over Berlin - Moon over Beirut , exhibition catalog Galerie Gras, Vienna, 1991.
  • Burghart Schmidt : "Orwell and the present", in: 1984 , exhibition catalog Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna, 1984.
  • Burghart Schmidt: "Lettner and the Ringelschwanz", in: Robert Lettner: Black Shadows - White Bars. Quotes from myself from the last twenty years , Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (ed.), Exhibition folder, Vienna: Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, 1988.
  • Burghart Schmidt: "Synthetic Image Worlds", in: Robert Lettner: Synthetic Image Worlds , exhibition catalog Galerie Vorsetzen, Hamburg, 1989.
  • Burghart Schmidt: “Wait, just wait a while”, in: Adam Jankowski, Robert Lettner: Cold radiation. Pictures to the present , exhibition catalog Museum Moderner Kunst Wien (ed.), No. 32, Vienna, 1990, pp. 68–71.
  • Burghart Schmidt: "Robert Lettner's flower meadows on water and on land and in abstraction", in: Exhibition catalog Galerie Vorsetzen, Hamburg, 1992, pp. 3–6.
  • Burghart Schmidt: “Robert Lettner. 25 years of painting ”, in: Robert Lettner: 25 years of painting , exhibition folder Servitengarage, Vienna, 1993.
  • Burghart Schmidt: "Robert Lettner wassert und Wüsten", in: Robert Lettner: Wasserklarestruktur , exhibition catalog Galerie im Wasserturm, Vienna, 1995.
  • Burghart Schmidt: “Philosophy of Landscape. Between thinking and image ”, in: Adam Jankowski, Robert Lettner, Burghart Schmidt: Philosophy of Landscape , Berlin: Jovis Verlag, 2010, pp. 85–151.
  • Burghart Schmidt: “Flashback. How did we come together ”, in: Adam Jankowski, Robert Lettner, Burghart Schmidt: Philosophy of Landscape , Berlin: Jovis Verlag, 2010, pp. 227–229.
  • Dieter Schrage : "Jankowski / Lettner: Remarkably lasting complicity", in: Adam Jankowski, Robert Lettner: Cold radiation. Pictures to the present , exhibition catalog Museum Moderner Kunst Wien (ed.), No. 32, Vienna, 1990, pp. 27–29.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The painter of resistance - Robert Lettner . Peter Menasse, in: NU, No. 15, 2003, Nissan 5764. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  2. ↑ Robert Lettner, Mara Reisberger, Burghart Schmidt: "Talking about the ornament", in: Robert Lettner: ornament. Magical Geometry Images. Contributions to the ongoing art discussion , Vienna, 1998.
  3. ↑ Robert Lettner, Harald Krämer: “Art is redeemed, the riddle is over. Dialogue between Robert Lettner and Harald Krämer ”; "Art is Reedeemed, Mystery is Gone. Conversations with Robert Lettner and Harald Kraemer ”, in: Robert Lettner: Pictures for magical geometry , exhibition catalog Wiener Secession, Vienna: 1998, pp. 6-14; 15-23.
  4. ^ Robert Lettner: Portrait. Documentation from the 1970s , exhibition catalog Galerie next St. Stephan, Vienna, 1978.
  5. ^ Robert Lettner: Landscape - Pictures - Therapy , exhibition catalog Minoritenkirche Krems / Stein, Niederösterreichisches Landesmuseum, No. 218, Vienna, 1988.
  6. ↑ Robert Lettner: Pictures for magical geometry , Vienna Secession (ed.), Exhibition catalog November 20, 1998-17. January 1999, Vienna: Vienna Secession, 1998.
  7. ↑ Harald Krämer, Robert Lettner, Mara Reissberger, Burghart Schmidt: Talking about pictures in pictures. On the dialectic of the threadbare in ornament , Vienna: Verlag der Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, 2006.
  8. ↑ Robert Lettner. The game of coming and going. An obituary . Harald Kraemer, in: artmagazine, September 10, 2012. Accessed March 21, 2013.


Web links

  • Robert Lettner [1]
personal data
SURNAME Lettner, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian painter
DATE OF BIRTH May 23, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Elne , France
DATE OF DEATH September 6, 2012
Place of death Vienna