ROBERT HAMMERSTIEL - HOLZSCHNITTE

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1 Gallery Lehner Vienna Getreidemarkt 1/8 Mezzanin, A-1060 Vienna t: /23 / f: /30 e: wien@galerielehner.at Opening Hours: Tuesday - Friday 14:00-18:00, Saturday: 10:00-13:00 ROBERT HAMMERSTIEL - HOLZSCHNITTE Born on February 18th, 1933 in Vrsac, in the former Yugoslavia Displacement and detention in various internment and concentration camps 1958 Awarded Prize for Painting by the Austrian Trade Union Federation Studied at the Vienna School of the Arts (Wien Kunstschule) 1968 First single exhibition in Vienna 1988 Trip to New York Robert Hammerstiel?s early childhood was strongly impacted by the events of World War 2. In 1944 his ethnic German family was displaced from the Banat region. Detentions in various internment and concentration camps followed, until in 1947 they succeeded in fleeing to Austria and settled near Ternitz in Lower Austria. Hammerstiel found initial employment as a steel worker in Ternitz. In 1950, he turned his attention to art and painting under the direction of his father. In 1958, he was awarded a Prize for Painting by the Austrian Trade Union Federation, which made it possible for him to complete an art degree at the Vienna School of the Arts (Wien Kunstschule). It is above all the traumatic events of his childhood, which flowed through the work of the young artist and inspired his work into his later years. Dark and dreary color palettes with sporadic color accents were characteristic of these war inspired pictures. In the presentation of the figures, Hammerstiel was limited to basic human forms, lacking individual traits of any kind, whereby the images conveyed an ominous latent tension. His intention was to disorient the observer, to shake and reprove. A stay in New York in 1988 caused a drastic change in his work. The impact of the diverse American art scene caused Hammerstiel to develop a new style: his previously already simple forms were once more radically reduced, and the dreary color palette gave way to strong, bright, flashy colors in red, orange, pink, green, yellow, and blue. A new simplicity emerged. A later trip to New York in the 1990s inspired the artist to a comprehensive series of more than 100 pictures. He created an additional 77 part series entitled?homage,? which he dedicated to significant artists of the 19th and 20th centuries from Renoir to de Staal. He skillfully positioned these artists? works alongside his own typical Hammerstiel figures. In addition to the general emphasis on the dignity of every man, which is pulled like a red thread through his work, there are topics from the world of work and religion, inspired by his own personal experiences, which give his images an unusual timelessness. His work joins his own life experiences and his life?s conviction with the artistic creation in an inseparable unity. Robert Hammerstiel still lives and works in Ternitz in Lower Austria.

2 Exodus / xylography 1/5 / 50 x 65,5 cm / 1979 Landschaft mit Mond / xylography, trial proof / 50 x 65,5 cm / 1981

3 Mutter, Knabe und Lampe / xylography, trial proof / 50 x 65,5 cm / 1981 Knaben und zwei Frauen / xylography 1/5 / 50 x 65,5 cm / 1981

4 Die Erwartung / xylography, trial proof / 50 x 65,5 cm / 1981 Zwei Figuren / xyography, trial proof / 50 x 65,5 cm / 1980

5 Die Wanderung / xylography, trial proof / 50 x 65,5 cm / 1980 Vor dem Abtransport / xylography, trial proof / 50 x 65,5 cm / 1981

6 Der Knabenbesuch / xylography, trial proof / 50 x 65,5 cm / 1981 Irische Impression / xylography, trial proof / 50 x 65,5 cm / 1990

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