Artist 29: Ernst Fuchs

This man should be considered a renaissance man! He's most well known as a painter, but he's also a draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, architect, stage designer, singer, composer, and poet. He's also a founder of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism. Many consider his to be just as influential as Dali, just less recognized.

Fuchs was born in Austria in 1930. He studied sculpture with Emmy Steinbock in 1943, attended theSt. Anna Painting School in 1944, and enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 1945. He met his friends at the Academy whom he founded the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism with. His work during this period was heavily influenced by Gustav Klimt, Schiele, Pechstein, and Henry Moore. This period saw vivid colors and a mixed technique of painting. This technique involved building up a surface using egg tempera, painting with oils, and then glazing in a resin. This gave his pieces a jewel-like feel.

From 1950-61 he lived in Paris, France, but frequently traveled to the USA and Israel. He was also very interested in alchemy at this time. In 1956 he converted to Roman Catholicism. The interested part here was that his mother had him baptized during WWII in order to save him from the concentration camps. His work became more religious and a smaller scale during this time. Unlike the imagery found in most religious artwork, Fuchs's material was very dark, alien, and (to some) disturbing.

In 61 he returned to Vienna and began working on prints. In 74 he began designing stage sets and costumes for operas by Mozart and Wagner.

"The Angel of History" (1992)



In summary, I want to be as well versed as this man, but in my own individual way.