(Zaleszczyki, Ukraine 1853 - 1940 Klagenfurt at Wörthersee)
A set comprising 78 drawings: Designs for illustrations for stories, poems and cards, including 9 sheets signed Myrbach and 30 sheets signed Myr, pen and black ink, over pencil, various formats, 30,5 x 25 cm, 30,5 x 20,5 cm, 35,5 x 23 cm, 31 x 21 cm and smaller, unframed, (78), (Sch)

Provenance:
Private collection, Belgium

Myrbach attended the military academy from 1868 to 1871 and was an Austrian officer until 1881. He also worked as a draughtsman at the Military Geographical Institute and then studied under Eisenmenger, Huber and Lichtenfels at the Vienna Academy. The present drawings were probably created during the artist's first period in Paris, where Myrbach worked as a book illustrator between 1881 and 1897, illustrating the works of Alphonse Daudet and Victor Hugo, among others. After his return to Vienna in 1897, Myrbach worked as a teacher of illustration at the Vienna School of Applied Arts, where he served as director from 1899 to 1905. During this time, Myrbach opened the "Institute of Viennese Modernism", where artists such as Josef Hoffmann, Alfred Roller and Kolo Moser worked as teachers. In 1903, Myrbach was president of the Vienna Secession and after leaving the Klimt group in 1905 returned to Paris until 1914. During the First World War, the artist spent time in Spain until he returned to Austria in 1936.