Franz Ringel - Buy or sell works
1 April 1940, Graz (Austria) – 28 October 2011, Graz (Austria)
Franz Ringel was an Austrian painter and graphic artist. He specialised in painting the human figure as well as grappling with the concepts of body, mind, and Greek classical literature.
His talent was encouraged by his Styrian-French foster parents who sent him to the school of arts and crafts in Graz. After leaving school, Franz Ringel first studied at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, and then under Hans Knesl and Albert Paris Gütersloh at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna until 1965.
Ringel founded the Wirklichkeiten (English: 'realities') group along with Peter Pongratz and Kurt Kocherscheidt in 1968, and their exhibition in the Vienna Secession garnered critical acclaim. In contrast to the Art Informel movement which dominated in Europe during this period, the work of the Wirklichkeiten was political, socially critical and satirical.
From 1980, Ringel altered his signature to M.J.M. Ringel. These three initials stood for the three most important women in his life – his foster mother Margarete, his mother Juliana and his wife Maria.
Ringel’s works are held by private and public collections, including the Graphic Art collection at the Albertina, Österreichische Galerie des 20. Jahrhunderts, Museum moderner Kunst, Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts, Wiener Secession, Rupertinum Salzburg, Landesmuseum Graz and others. The Essl collection in Klosterneuberg marked his 65th birthday in 2005 with a major retrospective exhibition.