(Seeboden am Millstätter See 1924–1982 Vienna)
Stehendes Mädchen-Die Kärntnerin, 1949/51, monogrammed E, sculpture in wood, height 169 cm

Elisabeth Rath, Otto Eder, Figur und Formel, Galerie Altnöder, Salzburg 1996, p. 211, cat. rais. no. 28 (with ill.)

Provenance:
Private Collection, Carinthia-directly from the artist

Intense is the right word
H.C. Artmann in conversation with Elisabeth Rath

Mr Artmann, can you remember how Otto Eder approached his work? I’d like to use a mighty expression for this: not carefully, not fanatically either, but with fervour. This isn’t a great word, but with body and soul, I’m just looking for a logical word, irritating, yes, very intense: intense is the right word.
What was Eder like when talking about his work?
Hmm, when people made a joke of it he got very cross. He was very sensitive. We often made fun of it, like saying “Hey, what’s the crocodile doing anyway?” Yes, good-natured mockery, yes, we took the mickey. Then he immediately retreated into himself when anyone said anything. He might have been insecure, that’s also possible.
Especially as the crocodile was just a commission.
That bothered him – that it wasn’t his own work, but rather the commissions, that came out on top... After all, everyone had heard of the crocodile. Children climbed up on it. I really like the wood pieces. Yes, and then it was just the crocodile that they put somewhere. That really annoyed him. I know that. I’ve never forgotten it...

I’m familiar with various kinds of people among my friends. Some you can stab in the back, you can offend them out of stupidity, and berate them, and then there are others where you’re watching every single word – they’re the pansies. Yes, like pansies. But pansies are such strong plants! Are you familiar with pansies? In the midst of the Spanish winter they’re covered in flowers. Nothing falls off them. They’re such hardy plants, and people say pansy, possibly because when they’re in a vase they wilt quickly. But whatever people understand by “pansy”, that’s what he was, he was a pansy…
From the aforementioned literature