Wander Bertoni

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Metal sculpture Movement II, 1960–1961, Stuttgart
Double Prora, 1975–1978, Melk Danube Bridge

Wander Bertoni (born October 11, 1925 in Codisotto , Reggio Emilia province , Italy ; † December 23, 2019 in Vienna ) was an Austrian sculptor .

Life

Because his father was so annoyed about the close relationship between the Catholic Church and the Italian fascist party, he did not want to give any of his children a Christian first name. So he named his son Wander, a name derived from the Etruscan tradition in northern Italy. Bertoni came to Austria as a slave laborer in 1943 .

After the Second World War he studied from 1946 to 1952 at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with Fritz Wotruba . Together with Anton Lehmden and Josef Mikl, he was one of the founding fathers of the Art Club in 1947 .

Bertoni died in December 2019 at the age of 94 and was buried in early January 2020 on the area of ​​his open-air museum in Winden am See.

Restoration of bomb-damaged monuments after World War II

Vienna plague column, detailed view
Burgtheater, festival stairs

The Federal Monuments Office paid a number of later important painters and sculptors fees for restorations, which not only ensured their survival, but also offered the opportunity to continue on their artistic path and not to neglect their creative activity. Wander Bertoni also belonged to this group. Otto Demus , the head of the Federal Monuments Office at the time , entrusted the young academy student with a series of restoration jobs on war-damaged monuments - initially through the mediation of his friends Heinz Leinfellner and Maria Biljan-Bilger and later, when they were satisfied with his work.

His first job was a prominent object: the damaged plague column on Wiener Graben . On this important monument, completed by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach in 1694 as a Trinity Column , the artist was to initiate the restoration and restoration of the group of figures " Fides the allegory of the plague into the abyss" by Paul Strudel . Lost details had to be reshaped, cast in artificial stone and finally installed in the designated places.

Another order related to the marriage fountain on the Hoher Markt, built in 1729/32 as a memorial and market fountain by Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach . Here was the head of St. Maria damaged and had to be restored. The front of the Corinthian columns standing figures of angels from Carrara marble by Antonio Corradini had lost their wings entirely during the fighting. They have been re-cast in artificial stone and they are more beautiful than the original ones ever were .

The high baroque stone statue of Maria Immaculata on the facade of the former Hochholzerhof ( BAWAG , Tuchlauben 5) was restored by Bertoni in 1949, here chipped parts such as the angel heads that were completely lost had been renewed. The most extensive and most difficult task that the artist undertook for the Federal Monuments Office concerned a sculpture inside the Burgtheater that was totally destroyed by a bomb . It was the so-called “ Bacchus Train” by the sculptor Edmund Hofmann von Aspernburg, located above the festive stairs on the Volksgarten side . The staircase to the auditorium leads to triumphal arch-like passages, which are framed by coupled Corinthian full columns and crowned in a tympanum-like manner by this Bacchus train . Twelve sculptures, with the exception of one completely destroyed by the bombing, had to be re-cast, as did their surroundings. Since there were hardly any precise templates that Bertoni could use for orientation, the heads of the figures took on a life of their own. His work flourished to the full satisfaction of the Federal Monuments Office. In addition the following incident: Josef Zykan , Viennese state curator , expressed himself critically .. very good, Bertoni, except for the one figure on the far left, they didn't succeed, it seems so lifeless . It was the only surviving original.

An independent, unmistakable style

Bertoni's sculptures on Theodor-Herzl-Platz in Vienna (between Parkring and Coburgbastei )

Wander Bertoni, probably the most important sculptor to emerge from the Wotruba school, was looking for new ways of expression. .. we were free, free to do anything, and the point was to find out what best suited our facilities and capabilities. The urge to abstraction stuck intuitive to me, but I did not know how I could come to this. It was also the problem for my then teacher Wotruba. Contacts with foreign artists and their work, for example those by Giacometti or Arp , become points of contact for him.

One of his first attempts to make a non-representational statement was a polychrome plaster relief created for the Milan Triennale in 1947 on behalf of the architect Oswald Haerdtl . He wanted to convey the dynamic that determined Austria and its life at the time .

Master class in sculpture

From 1965 to 1994, the year of his retirement , Bertoni held a professorship and was head of a master class for sculpture at the University of Applied Arts Vienna . With his sculptures in the 1950s, Bertoni made the step from figurative to abstraction and later to symbolic .

In 1965 Bertoni bought the Gritschmühle, a watermill in Winden am See at the foot of the Leithagebirge , which has been extensively restored. There are numerous large sculptures by the artist in the open area. Furthermore, a separate exhibition pavilion was built between 1999 and 2000, designed by the architect Johannes Spalt , where his work can be seen in chronological order in a tour.

Weeping Bridge 1999 Vienna Floridsdorf Station Siemenstrasse
In the Wander Bertoni open-air museum
Exhibition pavilion Wander Bertoni by Johannes Spalt (1999–2000)

He owned one of the most extensive egg collections in the world, from grave goods to kitsch , around 3000 pieces.

Bertoni was married to the Viennese actress Inge Konradi , who died in 2002 . From 1992 he was married to the ophthalmologist Waltraud Bertoni, nee Stanek.

In 2005 the artist was invited to open the 8th European Symposium Kaisersteinbruch with a speech. Participants were sculptors from France, Switzerland and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Participation in international biennials and awards

exhibition

Works in public space (selection)

  • 1960–1961: Movement II, Stuttgart
  • 1973: Six columns from the cycle Metamorphosis of the Column, commissioned by Johannes Spalt , Vienna
  • 1975–1978: Double Prora, Melk Danube Bridge
  • 1999: Weeping Bridge as a memorial to the Italian forced labor during the construction of the Floridsdorfer Hochbahn

literature

Web links

Commons : Wander Bertoni  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sculptor Wander Bertoni died at the age of 94 in the courier on December 23, 2019, retrieved on December 23, 2019
  2. ^ Heart failure Wander Bertoni dies. In: nön.at, December 23, 2019. Accessed December 23, 2019.
  3. ↑ Biography-Freilichtmuseum In: bildhauer-wanderbertoni.com, accessed on March 7, 2020.
  4. ↑ Verena Keil-Budischowsky: Restoration of bomb-damaged monuments and the emergence of a new art movement after the Second World War - Wander Bertoni for his 80th birthday . In: Austrian Journal for Art and Monument Preservation LVIII, 2004, Issue 3/4. Risen from the rubble. Preservation of monuments from 1945 to 1955 . Pp. 541-556.
  5. ^ Architekturzentrum Wien (ed.): Johannes Spalt. Elective affinities. Residence, Vienna Salzburg 2010, p. 98ff.
  6. ↑ Beatrix Neiss: fertility and salvation symbol. The sculptor Wander Bertoni owns 3,000 different eggs (Wiener Zeitung, March 29, 2002).
  7. ↑ Wander Bertoni: My orders 1945–1995. , Pp. 90-93.
  8. ↑ Wander Bertoni: My orders 1945–1995. , Pp. 77-87.
  9. ↑ Wander Bertoni: My orders 1945–1995. , P. 116f.
  10. ↑ Vienna's forgotten World War II relic . In: orf.at , June 5, 2016, accessed on November 21, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Bertoni, Wander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian-Austrian sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH October 11, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Codisotto , Reggio Emilia Province, Italy
DATE OF DEATH 23 December 2019
Place of death Vienna