Who knows if they come back"
Oscar Wilde
A TRIBUTE TO HERBERT BRANDL!
One of the most important contemporary Austrian painters died on July 27 of this year. Herbert Brandl was 66 years old. As a representative of Neo-Expressionism, he belonged to the “Junge Wilde” group. Born in Graz in 1959, the artist grew up in Bad Schwanberg in western Styria. The surroundings of this place influenced the artist’s work throughout his life. It was an inexhaustible source of motifs for him. Brandl’s works include expressive landscape paintings as well as Zen-inspired, abstract compositions, which he preferred to create in large formats, including diptychs and triptychs. In his color-explosive and gestural painting (action painting), which moves between expressionism and abstraction, Herbert Brandl has developed his own unmistakable style.
At the age of 19, he began his studies at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. As early as 1980, he was awarded the Styrian Promotion Prize for Fine Arts as an unknown on the regional art scene. Shortly afterwards, in 1984, the Neue Galerie at the Landesmuseum Joanneum in Graz presented the young talent’s first solo exhibition.
He received international recognition as early as 1982 with his participation in DUCUMENTA IX in Kassel. This was followed by participation in the Biennale de Paris in 1985 and the Biennale in Sao Paolo in 1989, exhibitions at the Kunsthalle Basel, Museum für Gegenwartskunst in 2002, a highly acclaimed show at the Deichtorhallen, Hamburg in 2009, at the Albertina, Vienna in 2009/10 and at the Kunstforum der Bank Austria in 2012. Another highlight in Herbert Brandl’s life was certainly the presentation of his works in the Austrian pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2007, to name just a few highlights.
Even as a young, internationally renowned artist, he also took on the task of teaching. He was a visiting professor at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna from 1985 to 1991, at the Academy of Fine Arts there from 1998 and a professor at the Düsseldorf Art Academy from 2002 to 2019.
In Herbert Brandl, Austria has lost one of its greatest contemporary artists. His magnificent work will remain unforgotten in numerous national and international museums and major collections.
Belvedere Director Stella Rollik
“If you knew his pictures, you were immediately captivated. If you knew him personally, you wanted him to stay forever. His painting was radically romantic, his attitude uncompromisingly honest, his friendship a gift. We are losing a great artist and a person who will be sorely missed.”
Karola Kraus, Director of the Mumok, Vienna
“He saw his art as a liberating blow against the strict corset of conceptual art and helped gestural painting to gain new momentum. Herbert Brandl was not only an important artist, he was also an incredibly kind person. We will miss him very much.”
HERBERT BRANDL IS POSTHUMOUSLY AWARDED THE GRAND AUSTRIAN STATE PRIZE.
Publications
LEONTINE VON LITTROW
Trieste 1856 - 1925 Abbazia
Comprehensive overview of the complete works of a “master of light” who has fallen into oblivion. The complete work is now available for purchase through our gallery.
JOSEF STOITZNER
Vienna 1884 - 1951 Bramberg im Pinzgau
Wou, dear lovers and collectors of Josef Stoitzner, the catalog raisonné of Josef Stoitzner is now available for purchase through our gallery. It contains 600 pages with over 1400 illustrations.
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SHOWROOM HIETZING
Neue-Welt-Gasse 21- 23
1130 Vienna/Austria
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and by telephone appointment:
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