Fritz Wotruba - Buy or sell works
(Vienna 23 April 1907 – 28 August 1975 Vienna)
He is considered to be one of the most important Austrian sculptors of the 20th century. His monumental, powerful sculptures and statues (he was primarily interested in depicting people) are highly valued both nationally and internationally at auctions. While stone was his preferred material at the beginning, this was supplemented by his interest in bronze in the 1950s. In his autonomous language of form, influenced by Cubism, he strove for reduction, simplicity and harmony.
Fritz Wotruba grew up in an impecunious family in Vienna. In 1921, he began to learn the profession of being a die engraver. In 1926, after attending an evening course in nudes at the Kunstgewerbeschule of the Österreichisches Museum für Kunst und Industrie (today known as MAK, the Museum of Applied Arts), he decided to train as a sculptor. In the same year, he was accepted into Anton Hanak’s sculpture class.
His first artistic successes came in the 1930s, during which Fritz Wotruba took part in numerous international exhibitions, such as the Venice Biennale in 1932. In the same year, the Würthle Gallery dedicated a separate exhibition to the artist, and later, from 1953 to 1965, he was to become the artistic director of the gallery itself.
During the National Socialist era, the Social Democrat Fritz Wotruba emigrated to Switzerland with his Jewish wife. The small town of Zug was to be the centre of their life for about seven years, and Fritz Wotruba’s work was also successful at numerous exhibitions in Switzerland.
Thanks to Herbst Boeckl’s initiative, Fritz Wotruba took over the masterclass for sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna after the end of the Second World War. And in Vienna, his native city, his studio became a meeting place for artists, musicians, writers and students, as it had been in Switzerland before.
The Church of the Most Holy Trinity, the Wotruba Church in Vienna’s Mauer district, made from concrete blocks and completed in 1976, was much discussed. Fritz Wotruba wanted: ‘to create something that shows that poverty does not have to be ugly, that renunciation can be in an environment that is beautiful despite its simplicity, and that also makes you happy’.
Fritz Wotruba is one of the most important representatives of classical modernism, an internationally renowned sculptor. His sculptures can be seen in national and international museums and are held in the largest Austrian and international private collections.