With more than 60 works, the Franz Zadrazil retrospective in the Essl Museum will cast a fresh light on the work of the Austrian painter who died in 2005. Alongside painting from 1977 to 2004, a large stack of black-and- white photography and an experimental film by Zadrazil from the 1970s will be presented. The exhibition is being organised in cooperation with Zadrazil’s wife, the artist Andrea Kasamas, who is the principal donor.

The fame of Zadrazil’s work is usually reduced to his realistic painting of old Viennese house facades, and is now to be extended by new perspectives. In the retrospective in the Essl Museum, for the first time works from the last years can be seen, in which the artist’s motifs deal with the decay of riveted metal advertising signs.

Pintchik Country, 1984 Oil on Novopan 130 x 130 cm © Estate of the artist Photo: Archive of the artist

Alongside his position at the Austrian post office, at the end of the 1960s Franz Zadrazil studied painting under Rudolf Hausner at the Vienna Academy of Fine Art. Even during his course he became interested in house facades as motifs for his painting; this would become an underlying theme for his whole work. He became a realistic painter with great craftsmanship and painting ability. In his first years, Zadrazil found his motifs primarily in his home city of Vienna, later, however, also in Paris and above all in New York, which he frequently visited. As an explorer of cities, Zadrazil went in search of the disappearing, emblems of decay, houses with a history – history in the sense of the experienced that reveals itself in wear and tear. That is, the artist’s eye does not seek the “front” of the city, the buildings that are important historically and for tourism, but searches out quarters that are lived in, where investors have not yet renovated houses and taken away the look of their facades. These motifs, which Zadrazil photographs, tell us a lot about the city and its residents, but also about the artist, who has an eye for the unconventionally strange, sometimes bizarre and curious sites of urban living.

Catalogue

A 160-page catalogue with a preface by Prof. Agnes Essl and articles by Andreas Hoffer, Peter Huemer and Angela Stief will be published for the exhibition. The articles will be supplemented by a wealth of image material with pictures of works, artist portraits, photos of Zadrazil’s studio and black-and-white photographs by Zadrazil from Vienna, New York and Paris. BOOKSHOP >>

Art Education

The art education team offers guided tours and workshops during the exhibition. Please access the current calendar of events at ART EDUCATION >>

Free bus shuttle

Visitors can reach the Essl Museum conveniently by free bus shuttle from Vienna city centre, Albertinaplatz 1 (Tues – Sun, 10 a.m., 12 a.m., 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and return)

Press photos

Press photos are available upon request at the Press Office or via download from PRESS >>

PRESS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE

Erwin Uhrmann (head), uhrmann@essl.museum, +43 (0) 2243/370 50 60
Regina Holler-Strobl, holler-strobl@essl.museum, +43 (0) 2243/370 50 62