Alfred Hrdlicka

(1928 – 2009)

Austria – Art after 1945 – Expressionism, Realism – Alfred Hrdlicka

Vita:

Alfred Hrdlicka was very interested in art from an early age. After successfully completing his apprenticeship in dental technology, at the age of 18 he began studying painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna with Albert Paris Gütersloh and Josef Dobrowsky. Immediately after successfully completing his studies, he started another at the same academy in the field of sculpture with Fritz Wotruba. His first sculpture exhibition took place in 1960 and others followed on a national and international level. Only two years later he joined the Vienna Secession and another two years later he was pleased to have the honor of representing Austria at the Venice Biennale together with Herbert Boeckl. In his later work he dealt more and more with mentally ill people. The central theme of his work at the time concentrated again and again with the need of these people, later with suffering, fear and pain and the threat to people.

Work:

The work of Alfred Hrdlicka is shaped by his engagement with war and fascism during the prevailing National Socialism. The art that emerged at this point in time was characterized by an intensive interplay of empathy and compassion in the face of his convinced refusal to accept the world situation as it prevails. The main theme of his pictures and also his sculptures is the human being, who does not always radiate positively and because of this is usually shown as a split personality in Hrdlicka’s art. His representations are characterized by his sometimes drastic exaggerations with which he wants to make it clear that unfortunately violence and resentment are not alien to human beings. Alfred Hrdlicka is definitely one of the most important contemporary art artists and his work is internationally known. His monumental memorials in Vienna, Wuppertal and Hamburg, among others, represent his intention to work on topics that affect each and every one of us. The Austrian Minister of Education and Art, Claudia Schmied, summed this up with the following words: “Alfred Hrdlicka is a titan of international art. His work was and is always more than a reminder and a warning against historical injustice. Alfred Hrdlicka understood his work not only as art but also as a political mission that he himself always lived ”.