Fritz Wotruba
(1907–)
(–1975)
Fritz Wotruba
1907–1975
Fritz Wotruba (1907–1975) was an Austrian Sculptor of Czech-Hungarian descent born in Vienna to a working-class family. His sculptural practice is focused on the human body, dissolving its figural elements into geometric abstractions rooted in cubes and other simple geometric forms.
Wotruba trained as an engraver in Josef Schantin’s workshop from 1921 to 1925. In 1926, following his apprenticeship, he took evening courses at the arts and trades school at the Austrian Museum of Art in nude drawing and later in sculpture, where he briefly studied under Anton Hanak. In 1938, Wotruba escaped to Switzerland after the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany. After returning to Vienna at the end of the Second World War in 1945, Wotruba was appointed as the head of sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, and his first retrospective took place in the city in 1963.
His early sculptures were representational and became increasingly abstract as Wotruba began to develop his own style. In 1945, his figures became more angular until in 1950, his figures were constructed of rough blocks of stone. Wotruba preferred to carve into hard stone with a coarse texture, often leaving the surfaces of his work in a rough unfinished state. Near the end of his life, Wotruba incorporated bronze into his work and collaborated with Fritz G. Mayr, translating his sculptural ideas into the architectural forms of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Mauer, Vienna, also known as Wotruba Church. During the 1960s and 70s, Wotruba also turned to stage design, working for the Salzburg Festival in Athens, Berlin, and Vienna.
Wotruba was interested in the social and political questions of the time in Vienna, often using his work to engage with these ideas. He believed in art as a vehicle for enlightenment and saw his work as having the potential to renew culture and society. These beliefs led Wotruba to participate in a number of high-profile public art projects, many of which were dedicated to the labour movement, victims of political violence, and monuments for artists.
He won a number of prizes including the City of Vienna Prize for Visual Arts in 1947, the Grand Austrian State Prize for Visual Arts in 1958, and the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art in 1971. His work was consistently exhibited in Europe and the United States beginning in the 1950s, resulting in his widespread international recognition. Today his work is held in significant collections at the Tate Gallery, London, UK, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Vatican Museum, among others. The Fritz Wotruba Private Foundation, which documents and showcases his work, is located in the Belvedere 21 Gallery in Vienna.