FRITZ WOTRUBA* (Vienna 1907 - 1975 Vienna)
Studies, 1973
lithography/paper, 48,2 x 64,2 cm
Signature stamp Fritz Wotruba, monogrammed and dated in plate F.W. 1973

ESTIMATE °€ 60 - 100
STARTING PRICE °€ 60

The sculptor Fritz Wotruba is considered one of the most important Austrian sculptors of the 20th century. In his work he increasingly dissolves figuration in favor of geometric abstraction. In 1926, the trained die engraver attended an evening nude course at the School of Applied Arts at the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry in Vienna and was accepted into Anton Hanak's sculpture class. There he met his future wife Marian Fleck, who was to give up her own artistic career in favor of her husband. Wotruba later attended Eugen Steinhof's class. Your “torso” was shown at the Secession in 1930. Wotruba did not attach great importance to the details; for him, the overall appearance was more important. His human depictions were significantly stretched, taking Egon Schiele and Anton Hanak as role models. Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka can still be felt in his graphic oeuvre and in his early torsos. In opposition to Viennese opulence, Wotruba found his own formal language. In addition to Wilhelm Lehmbruck and Anton Hanak, Georg Minne and his group of figures “Fraternite” were an important influence. Auguste Rodon and Aristide Maillol provided further aesthetic inspiration. He took part in the Biennale di Venezia and had solo exhibitions at the Wuerthle Gallery and the Folkwang Museum in Essen. In 1930 Wotruba became the youngest member of the “Kunstschau”. During Austrofascism, Wotruba went to Zurich, but was brought back by Carl Moll to work on Hanak's monument to Gustav Mahler, which was never completed. Josef Hoffmann was another supporter of Wotruba. In the 1930s, Wotruba got to know a number of intellectuals, visual artists and writers: Elias Canetti, Hermann Broch, Franz Theodor Csokor, Hans Erich apostle, Herbert Boeckl, Josef Dobrowsky, Georg Merkel, Carry Hauser, Alban Berg, Robert Musik and Franz Ullmann. Alma Mahler's daughter Anna took private lessons with Wotruba. In exile in Switzerland from 1939 to 1945, Wotruba was able to remain artistically active thanks to the protection of Hermann Haller, Philipp Etter, Manuel Gasser and Robert Lejeune. The collector Georg Reinhardt supported him financially and with orders. After the war, on Herbert Boeckl's initiative, Wotruba took over the master class for sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts. Wotruba's students include Alfred Hrdlacek, Alois Heidel and Eduard Robitschko.

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