MARGRET BILGER* (Graz 1904 - 1971 Schaerding)
Customs house, Schaerding at Inn
woodcut/paper, 29,2 x 34,5 cm
signed von Margret Bilger, inscribed Zollhaus in Schaerding am Inn Handdruck J. R. B.

ESTIMATE °€ 200 - 400
STARTING PRICE °€ 200

Margret Bilger attended the arts and crafts school in Graz from 1920. In 1922 she wanted to become a deaconess, but her parents, who recognized her artistic talent, were able to dissuade her and convince her to study graphics at the arts and crafts school in Stuttgart. In 1924 she returned from Stuttgart to Graz and applied to the arts and crafts school in Vienna, where she studied graphics and stained glass from 1925 to 1929. In 1928 Bilger received the First Austrian State Prize for the best overall performance at the arts and crafts school. She returned to Graz in 1933 to care for her sick mother. In 1934 she experienced a serious crisis when her daughter was stillborn. In the same year, the Albertina bought the first wooden cracks and the city of Graz awarded it the silver medal. In 1936 the artist traveled to Denmark and Germany with a former colleague from the arts and crafts school, where they were particularly impressed by works by Modersohn-Becker and Marees. After her failed marriage in Graz, the artist moved to Taufkirchen in Upper Austria, where she met Alfred Kubin in 1938, who recognized the quality of her wood cracks and published them in a first exhibition catalog. In 1949 she achieved her breakthrough with an exhibition about her graphic oeuvre at the Albertina. The art dealer Wolfgang Gurlitt took her under contract. In 1952, Bilger represented Austria at the Venice Biennale, and exhibitions in New York and Tokyo followed. From 1950 onwards, another focus of her work was commissioned works in the area of ??stained glass, which she carried out in the glass workshops of Schlierbach Abbey. Works by Bilger can be found, among others, in the Landesgalerie in Linz, in the Rupertinum in Salzburg and in the Albertina in Vienna.

PLEASE NOTE:
The purchase price consists of the highest bid plus the buyer's premium, sales tax and, if applicable, the fee of artists resale rights. In the case of normal taxation (marked °), a premium of 24% is added to the highest bid. The mandatory sales tax of 13%, for photographs 20%, is added to the sum of the highest bid and the buyer's premium. The buyer's premium amounts to 28% in case of differential taxation. The sales tax is included in the differential taxation.