Walter Prinzl

Self-Portrait, Oil (1932)

Walter Prinzl (born September 29, 1891 in Vienna , † December 12, 1937 in Vienna) was an Austrian artist. He lived and worked in Melk an der Donau and mainly created etchings , but also oil paintings and frescoes .

Life

Childhood and youth

Walter Prinzl came from a patrician family in Melk. On the father's side the roots go to Kaaden in Northern Bohemia, on the mother's side to South Tyrol. Walter Prinzl's parents, Anton Prinzl (d. J.) and Maria, geb. Werner, were firmly connected to Melk's social life. In addition to the first-born Walter, the couple also had daughters Maria ("Mitzi") and Hildegunde ("Hilde").

The atmosphere in the Prinzl house was artistically oriented and thus had a lasting impact on Walter Prinzl's attitude to life. Prinzl attended secondary school in the Danube town of Krems. The Lower Austrian painter Ernst Stöhr was a welcome guest of the Prinzl family. He was not only a member of the Hagenbund , but also a co-founder of the Vienna Secession . Walter Prinzl also owes important directions to Richard C. Kromar von Hohenwolf; From 1910 he worked as a drawing professor at the Melker Stiftsgymnasium . Both artists ensured that Walter Prinzl devoted himself to graphics.

Architecture studies

The advice of his father following enrolled Walter Prinzl at the Technical University in Vienna and studied six semesters here architecture . During his studies in 1911 he became a member of the Vienna academic fraternity Teutonia . In addition to attending school and the university, however, from 1908 to 1912, he expanded and deepened his knowledge of the handling of engravings and the etching needle through training at the graphic teaching and research institute in Vienna. The fruits of this training were Prinzl's first etchings; next to some woodcuts.

First World War

The First World War , which Prinzl experienced largely as a machine gun officer at the front, put an end to his artistic activity. He moved in as an officer candidate and, after a short period of training, was deployed to the 24th Landwehr Infantry Regiment Vienna on the Balkan front, and later on the front in Carinthia. After the war, many of his ideals were broken about the outcome of the war. Both the country of origin on the father's side, Bohemia, and that on the mother's side, South Tyrol, were now political foreign countries. Walter Prinzl reached the end of the war in South Tyrol. Here, too, he was exposed to many injustices because of his army of officers, which is why he sought refuge with his South Tyrolean relatives, where he could gather new strength after the war and who provided him with civilian clothes so that he could finally return to Melk.

Art studies

The material situation required an early career start. Walter Prinzl therefore decided against continuing his architecture studies and opting for an artistic career. He had already completed his training at the Graphic Education and Research Institute in Vienna; Although it did not have a university level like the Academy of Fine Arts , it trained its artists just as fully. In those years, well-known artist personalities later visited the institution. Arnold Clementschitsch, Carry Hauser and Ivo Saliger are among them. From the winter semester of 1921 to the summer semester of 1923 he attended the general painting school under the class leader Hans Tichy.

Artist in Melk

Prinzl's studio, the house on the stone

After completing his training, Walter Prinzl finally settled in Melk, where he had been an artist for several years. That was probably not only related to material necessities, but also to the planned wedding. Because soon after his final return to Melk, he married Nina Guzmann in 1922.

In Melk, on his return after the World War, studying and getting married, he acquired an old, dilapidated city tower - the house on the stone - on Felsensteig No. 4, which the people of Melk called the Schusterburg at the time. He participated intensively in the extensive structural adaptation measures between 1923 and 1929; his interest in architecture remained. He attached particular importance to the design of his studio, which allows a view of the south side of the opposite monastery through a large window. His own press was also located here, because like Luigi Kasimir he had come to the conviction "that the eraser must make the prints from his plates himself."

Walter Prinzl soon acquired a good reputation as an artist, which for him was combined with a certain material security and enabled him to lead a corresponding life. In the late 1920s and finally in the 1930s, Walter Prinzl was one of the most successful Austrian artists.

Walter Prinzl's tomb in the Melk cemetery, which he designed for his sister

Right from the start, Walter Prinzl combined his artistic activity with extensive travels - a biographer of his time even called it “travel madness”. "On average every other year he visited different parts of Germany, Czechoslovakia and Italy in addition to the most diverse areas of Austria, in order to capture everything that lifted his heart and captivated his eyes in drawings or watercolors."

death

During a short stay in Vienna in the autumn of 1937, Prinzl had to be admitted to the hospital, where a gastric perforation was found; possibly an aftermath of health problems during the World War. Despite an immediate operation and two follow-up operations, a rescue was no longer possible. On December 12, 1937, he died in Vienna at the age of 47 of “ruptured stomach ulcers” .

The corpse of Walter Prinzl was transferred to Melk, where it was laid out in the studio in the Haus auf dem Stein "in the midst of countless wreath donations and surrounded by the artist's wonderful paintings"; “A self-portrait of Walter Prinzl stood on an easel next to the dead person.” The cross on his grave comes from the artist himself and was designed by him only a few months earlier on the occasion of the death of his sister Mitzi. Prinzl's death was noticed nationwide. In a short obituary in the Neue Freie Presse , which can even be found in the archive of the Academy of Fine Arts , the following is summed up: Walter Prinzl's “versatile talent still gave rise to high hopes” .

The “Old Bread Shop” on Melker Rathausplatz, which was given corner turrets again in 1929 according to plans by Walter Prinzl

plant

General

The best known are Walter Prinzl's Wachau sheets, mostly executed as colored etchings. An overview of his works quickly shows, however, that this was only one facet of his work. He began as a graphic artist, then turned to etching in particular, but also dealt with oil painting - here especially with portraits -, worked on woodcuts and frescoes.

If one compares his works with the contemporary Austrian art scene, it is noticeable that Walter Prinzl never created anything socially critical, but was committed to romanticizing and idealizing depictions throughout his life; he "was [...] always a herald of beauty and joy of life." In the neo-romanticism of the first half of the 20th century, a reaction to the reality that was not experienced positively in many areas - just think of politics - can be seen . The focus was on feeling, the longing for a better, ideal time.

Walter Prinzl captured romantic views from past eras, but these were not backward-looking, but served to enrich the present. The dreamed world is the wealth of what is, as it were, anticipated, of the fore Art became an expression of the hope that was partially fulfilled in it.

The hope for the positive power of one's own culture and one's own people is very often part of such hopeful thought structures. This also results in the lack of immune strength against National Socialism, which was misunderstood as a political possibility of realizing these ideas.

This changed understanding of romanticism expresses itself. a. from the fact that Walter Prinzl's pictures use bright, happy colors and, to a certain extent, illuminate the viewer, while the romanticism of the early 19th century preferred dark, hidden colors, often introducing a mystical moment that Walter Prinzl lacks completely; even in those depictions that have mystical motifs as their theme.

Walter Prinzl was less interested in nature itself, but was very interested in the built, in the technical, in the artificial. In addition to his artistic work, Walter Prinzl was therefore also active as a consultant in the area of ​​monument protection - at that time people spoke of homeland protection - with advice and action on the preservation of stylish local and landscape images in the Wachau; he was - as a contemporary contribution put it - "an always helpful and experienced lawyer in all artistic questions [...] that have been raised in Melk itself and in the wider area over time" .

An example of his work in the context of the maintenance of the townscape is the redesign of the corner turrets of the so-called old bread shop on the west side of the Melk town hall square. It goes back to Walter Prinzl's initiative that the round corner turrets, only preserved in the lower part, were raised again in 1929 and given a pointed roof, giving the building a romantic look.

Milking in the snow (etching)

Another project for which Prinzl and Leopold Blauensteiner, in his function as conservator of the Monument Office ( Central Office for Monument Protection ) for the Melk district, were responsible for secular art monuments, was the restoration of the Kolomani fountain on Rathausplatz, one of Melk's most important monuments. After the original baroque statue fell from its base in a storm in the 1920s and was damaged in the process, whereupon the figure was left to the state government for a Danube museum, it was replaced by a true-to-original copy. In view of the wide range of creativity and the integrative artistic approach of Walter Prinzl, a contemporary contribution speaks of a "universality of Prinzl's views of art" .

Etchings

On the notes of the Melk community emergency money, which the city of Melk had to spend immediately after the First World War and commissioned Walter Prinzl to do so, he already referred to himself as an "eraser". This designation undoubtedly characterizes not only his education, but also his self-image, especially up to the end of the 1920s; It is possible that the art of etching, with its diverse technical possibilities and finesse, was particularly close to the technical Walter Prinzl. If one looks at his entire life's work - which, however, ended abruptly due to his early death - one can see that Walter Prinzl's artistic focus was on the art of etching; here he could develop his oeuvre.

Rome-Severus Arch

Mostly Prinzl - v. a. in the time after the war - for the color etchings the two- and three-plate printing, whereby Prinzl preferred the complicated aquatint technique. Usually, the essence of graphic creation consists in “that the artist reproduces the forms to be represented primarily with the means of the 'line', that is, by drawing” .

As an eraser, Walter Prinzl was also able to position himself in relation to painting. Pars pro toto, the XIV. Exhibition of the Klosterneuburg Artists' Union in 1930 should be singled out. Primarily oil paintings were exhibited, and only a total of four etchings, two of which were by Prinzl, the other two by members of the Klosterneuburger Künstlerbund. The motifs of his two colored etchings were Melk and Dürnstein Abbey.

Especially in the first two decades of his artistic work, Walter Prinzl dealt intensively with well-known Wachau motifs; probably also to earn a living with it. The motifs that form the focus of Walter Prinzl's artistic work can be found in the early days. The affection for this landscape can be felt in the Wachau leaves. “ His special feeling for perspective also allowed him to produce exceptionally successful views of the Melk Abbey.” This motif - although often and often worked on in art history - established the reputation of Walter Prinzl. Other motifs include a. Weißenkirchen, Dürnstein and Krems. But already with the depiction of Melk Abbey in the Snow from 1922, Walter Prinzl abandons the usual depiction patterns of the Wachau Romanticism for the first time.

Less in the focus of the local public - even if they are no less important for Walter Prinzl's artistic work - were the depictions that he created following his extensive travels. Shortly after the First World War, Walter Prinzl z. E.g. Thuringia.

In this way, “mostly multicolored sheets from Lindau, Friedrichshafen, Nuremberg and the Wartburg were created alongside those from Prague and all over Italy from Trento to Venice down to Florence, Rome and Pompeii to Palermo and Taormina […]. In addition, of course, there are always [...] from Vienna and the western Austrian countries: Upper Austria, Salzburg and Tyrol; finally also from those cities that Prinzl had already got to know in part during the war [...]: Bozen and Meran. "

Purgstall (watercolor)

Watercolors, drawings and small sculptures

Purgstall (fresco)

Walter Prinzl's way of working meant that many a watercolor has been preserved. Because on his numerous excursions, on his tours in the near and far and on his long journeys, he created numerous sketches in watercolor, as pencil or colored pencil drawings. "At home, quietly reminiscing about the marvelous things he saw, he reworked these sketches into the compositions of his etchings."

A fine example of the use of various techniques is provided by Purgstall's illustration. The watercolor is dated 1934; the fresco in the Wieselburger Brauhaus was created after a fire in 1932 destroyed large parts of the brewery. The representations are almost identical, right down to the clouds. Purgstall is presented as a picturesque market on the Erlauf. In 1934 he also designed a certificate of award of the cooperative of building, masonry, stone-cutting and fountain masters of the political districts Melk and Scheibbs for the builder Anton Traunfellner on the occasion of his election to the honorary board with a watercolor by Scheibbs (south view of the city with church and castle ).

Now and then he also created sculptures - more for himself or as a study model. Such a small sculpture shows a photograph from the time of the First World War. The figure that is just emerging represents a seated young woman who radiates mental and physical activity and movement even in the resting position.

Seated woman (small sculpture)

Book illustrations

Prinzl was soon discovered as a book illustrator, with book decorations in a certain sense on the same line of development with the design of emergency money, both in terms of art and in its character as commercial graphics. The book Sagen der Wachau by the well-known local historian Hans Plöckinger (1926), which brings 106 different legends, and Josef Huber's Wachau leader (1st edition 1926; 2nd edition 1927) have become famous; also the travel guide Wachau - Kremstal (1st edition 1926; 2nd edition 1927).

Since book illustrations are intended for a wide audience, working out the characteristic, recognizable features of what is depicted is of crucial importance. Walter Prinzl's lines make the motifs of the book illustrations appear clear, without affecting the romantic harmony in the presentation. The focus is on perspective.

At this point there are also the numerous postcards with works by Walter Prinzl; primarily the Melk Abbey, but also Dürnstein, Schwallenbach or Spitz - further examples could be named - each in different views. Some of the postcards - such as a view of Melk Abbey - are reprints of oil paintings, some of etchings, such as a representation of the Spitzer Church. Some are, however, similar to the book illustrations, sketches similar to ink drawings, but based on etchings.

Numerous bookplates or posters - such as For example, linocuts for solstice celebrations in Melk - round off the artist's illustrative work. On the ex-libris there are again typical motifs for the artist: a depiction of an Austrian pre-alpine lake (1923) or a group of mountains framed by a wreath of alpine flowers (1930). Walter Prinzl designed an ex-libris for his sister Mitzi; this with esoteric-mythological motifs.

Woodcuts

Götterdämmerung (woodcut)

In 1933, the well-known Thieme-Becker's lexicon of artists called Prinzl a “wood cutter and eraser” . In 1931 "quite a few 20 woodcuts" are mentioned.

The themes of his woodcuts in the 1920s are mainly Wachau motifs, but also from South Tyrol. There is also a memorable self-portrait. Some of Walter Prinzl's illustrations are also woodcut-like. Most important is Prinzl's Edda cycle. A much-noticed motif is Loki and Sigune. Prinzl shows the help that Sigune gives Loki after the Edda and implements the literary form artistically very directly.

Oil painting

Portrait of Relly Renda (oil painting, 1928)

The emergence of the woodcuts already indicates a step in the development of Walter Prinzl: Since the late 1920s, and especially since the early 1930s, he has not only been concerned with woodcuts, but an "increasingly pronounced tendency towards painting" is noticeable. His oil paintings are mostly of a larger format and show him as a versatile portraitist, u. a. also a self-portrait (1932), and nude painter. Now and then he still takes up the traditional Wachau themes, e.g. B. in a representation of Dürnstein in oil. But religious themes can also be found in the oil paintings: a depiction of Christ and the altarpiece of St. Anthony in the chapel in Prinzersdorf (1932). In addition, there are still lifes - like a flower still life from 1929 - or idyllic landscapes.

Many of the oil paintings that depict people or figures give them a certain heroic character trait which, however, is nowhere dominant, but rather v. a. Human allows and even underlines.

Frescoes

Siegfried (fresco)

"As in the field of etching, Prinzl is also at home as a painter in the most varied of techniques, because in addition to oil painting, his special love is also fresco." At about the same time as oil painting, Prinzl turned to frescoes, the type of representation the frescoes essentially correspond to that of his oil paintings.

Fresco painting had become fashionable again in the first years after the World War; not least through the initiatives of Ferdinand Andris, who became known as a Wachau actor. He even set up his own department at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts in the former palm house of the Augarten. With this technology, Walter Prinzl corresponded to the modern trends of his time.

In Melk itself, a view of Alt-Melk was taken in an inn, in another a view of the Wachau, and a boatman's picture (1928) at the ship's master's house (Fischergasse 3). It showed a ferryman driving a barge with a pole. In addition, in the gable of the cemetery chapel there is a still preserved fresco Lamentation of the dead Christ by his mother Mary .

The representation of Siegfried on the - then so called - Sparkassenturm, today's Nibelungenturm, a remnant of the city fortifications from 1585, became particularly well-known. In 1928 it was decided to restore the tower, which had since been rebuilt several times, to its original state. Walter Prinzl designed a fresco Siegfried falls under the spear of Hagen , with the spear shaft serving as a clock hand. The renowned art journal Österreichische Kunst assesses the “sundial executed as a luminous fresco” as “probably [...] 'most modern' and most original of its kind, in which the idea of ​​Siegfried's death and the world fire is probably related to the connection between Melk and the Nibelungenlied Godfather confessed. "

A contemporary contribution dealing with the emerging fresco painting outlines the possible uses of the newly discovered technique: “There are many answers to the question of where the fresco can be used. The house with its outside comes first, it can be adorned with a house sign in memory of old custom. If it is a public building, it can be marked with a city coat of arms, with the state and local coat of arms. "

Numerous other frescoes can be named in this sense: In Winden near Melk, where the Prinzl family owned a farm and had a major role in the construction and furnishing of the local chapel there, a picture of Christophorus (1932) was created, also in Spitz (around 1935). In Traismauer, Prinzl designed a city coat of arms (around 1935) and a Wotan on the town hall, and a Kriemhild depiction (1933) and also a coat of arms on the inside of the 16th century city gate (Wiener or Römertor). The large Kriemhild fresco in heroic-romantic fashion shows Kriemhild's rest in Traismauer on the way to Tulln, where she was to meet her future husband, the Hun king Etzel; The two corresponding stanzas of the Nibelungenlied are also on the fresco.

Further frescoes can be found in Neumarkt and on the hospital building in Steyr. In Wieselburg, Walter Prinzl designed the Haydnstube in the Brauhof in 1933/34. The ceiling frescos in Wieselburg form a cycle of four town views (Purgstall, Scheibbs, Weinzierl, Wieselburg). The frescoes present a problem today, however, because the colors used were not resistant to sunlight; maybe this is also due to the painting surface. Therefore, many of the works no longer exist. The sundial on the town tower in Melk was destroyed, as was the depiction on the shipmaster's house, the Christophorus on the Spitzer church was removed in the course of the church renovation in the mid-1980s, and the frescoes on the Roman gate in Traismauer were "restored" beyond recognition. The Siegfried fresco on the Melker Sparkassenturm (Nibelung Tower) was redesigned in 1968 into a sgraffito while retaining the line drawing of the original in the restoration style. However, some of the few well-preserved frescoes are the interior vedute in the Altes Brauhaus inn in Wieselburg.

literature

• Bertsch, Christoph and Markus Neuwirth (eds.): The uncertain hope. Austrian painting and graphics between 1918 and 1938 , Salzburg-Vienna 1993.
• Hockauf, Heinz: Walter Prinzl (1891–1937) (= series of publications by the Melk Culture and Museums Association, no volume), Melk no year 1988.
• Oberwalder, Oskar: The painter-etcher Walter Prinzl ; in: Austrian Art, 2nd year (1931), issue 11/12, pp. 15-19.
• Plöckinger, Hans: The Schusterburg in Melk. Walter Prinzl's artists' home ; in: Donauland born 1930, issue 7, pp. 2–8.
• City Book of Melk ; written by the “Melker Stadtbuch” working group of the Melk Culture and Museum Association, 2 volumes, Melk 1999.
• Thieme, Ulrich and Felix Becker: General Lexicon of Fine Artists from Antiquity to the Present , 37 vols., Leipzig 1907–1950.
• Trauner, Karl-Reinhart: Walter Prinzl, the painter-etcher of the Wachau. On the 75th anniversary of his death, Szentendre 2011.
• Walter Prinzl Memorial Exhibition : June 30–29 . July 1962, Melk Abbey [catalog], Melk no year 1962.

Web links

Commons : Walter Prinzl  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• The history of the Wieselburg brewery
• Altstadt Melk, Melk Lower Austria - Museums & Buildings
• His attitudes - Austria-Forum: Wissenssammlung Bibliothek
• Publications

Individual evidence

1. ^ [Messages from former Melk students], memorial sheets 1910–1932 (1st part), p. 3.
2. ^ Ernst Elsheimer (ed.): Directory of the old fraternity members according to the status of the winter semester 1927/28. Frankfurt am Main 1928, p. 396.
3. ^ Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume II: Artists. Winter, Heidelberg 2018, ISBN 978-3-8253-6813-5 , pp. 550–551.
4. ↑ Oberwalder, p. 15.
5. ↑ Oberwalder, p. 16.
6. ↑ See Walter Prinzl - study file; in: Academy of Fine Arts: University Archives, Study File No. 394 - Walter Prinzl.
7. ↑ "Today the house on the stone is sometimes called the Prinzlturm; cf. Melk in old views, n.p. In the past, the Prinzlturm was understood to mean the brewery tower, i.e. the old city tower opposite the brewery in Prinzlstrasse."
8. ↑ Cf. u. a. City book Melk, Vol. I, p. 454.
9. ↑ Luigi Kasimir; in: Schüttler, p. 27.
10. ↑ Oberwalder, p. 16.
11. ↑ So the corresponding entry in the death register of the Roman Catholic. Parish of Melk.
12. ↑ Walter Prinzl's last way; in: St. Pöltner Nachrichten of December 23, 1937; see. also the shortened, but almost word-for-word reporting: Walter Prinzl's last path; in: St. Pöltner Zeitung of December 23, 1937.
13. ↑ See Academy of Fine Arts: University Archives, Administrative File [VA] Zl. 1467-1937.
14. ^ Under the heading Deaths in: Neue Freie Presse from December 14, 1937.
15. ↑ Hockauf, p. 5.
16. ↑ Cf. Stadtbuch Melk, Vol. I, p. 454.
17. ↑ Oberwalder, p. 17.
18. ↑ See Stadtbuch Melk, Vol. I, pp. 797f.
19. ↑ Oberwalder, p. 17.
20. ↑ With the aquatint technique, a mixture of asphalt and collophonium dust, which was whirled up in a dust box, is applied to the entire plate and melted at around 220 ° C. After the etching, fine stalagmites form under the melted dust grains, which hold the color when wiped off and thus enable uniform halftone surfaces.
21. ^ Reichel, Anton: The modern Austrian graphics; in: Der Getreue Eckart, 8th year (1930/31), pp. 585–596; here: p. 587.
22. ↑ Cf. XIV. Exhibition of the Association of Local Artists Klosterneuburg, September 6th – 19th. October 1930 [catalog], Klosterneuburg 1930, p. 11.
23. ↑ Hockauf, p. 5.
24. ↑ See. Walter letter Prinzl to Artaria & Co. v. Melk, August 22, 1919; in: Vienna Library, Sign .: HIN 117.954.
25. ↑ Oberwalder, p. 16.
26. ↑ Oberwalder, p. 16.
27. ↑ See The History of the Wieselburg Brewery; online: http://www.funkymugl1.at/wiesel/wieselbier.htm [Abfr. v. XI / 2011].
28. ↑ "On the appreciation of Prinzels as an ex-libris artist see Rath, Peter: Walter Prinzl (1891–1937), a Wachau artist; in: Austrian Yearbook for Exlibris and Commercial Graphics Volume 66 (2009–2010), pp. 93–99; also it is represented in the Lexikon der Exlibriskünstler, p. 355. Interestingly, several of Prinzl's bookplates have been preserved in the library of the Historical Alpine Archive of the German Alpine Club: Walter Prinzl, ex-libris by Liese Gutscher, signed: DAV Kunst / Sachgut / 12957/0 ; the other, ex-libris by Gitta Guzmann, signed: DAV Kunst / Sachgut / 12969/0. "
29. ↑ Thieme-Becker, Vol. 27 (1933), p. 407.
30. ↑ Oberwalder, p. 15.
31. ↑ See Oberwalder, p. 19.
32. ↑ Oberwalder, p. 17.
33. ↑ Oberwalder, p. 17.
34. ↑ Cf. Rochowanksi, LW: A new school of frescoes; in: Der Getreue Eckart, 15th year (1937/38), pp. 381–388.
35. ↑ Oberwalder, p. 19.
36. ↑ See Rochowanksi, p. 387.
37. ↑ Cf. Stadtbuch Melk, vol. I, p. 326 u. 688.
38. ↑ Cf. u. a. Schaber, Susanne: literary journeys. The Danube from Passau to Vienna, Stuttgart-Dresden 1993, p. 239.
39. ↑ See Rochowanksi, p. 381.