Description
The Vienna School of Fantastic Realism (German: Wiener Schule des Phantastischen Realismus) is a group of artists founded in Vienna in 1946. The group's name was coined in the 1950s by Johann Muskik, and the first exhibition was in 1959 at the Belvedere, Vienna. This Austrian movement has similarities to Surrealism in its use of religious and esoteric symbolism and also the choice of a naturalistic style, countering the prevalence of abstract art movements at the time.
Artists include Ernst Fuchs, Maître Leherb (Helmut Leherb), Arik Brauer, Wolfgang Hutter, Anton Lehmden, Fritz Janschka, and Israeli artist Zeev Kun, all students of Professor Albert Paris Gütersloh at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. Gütersloh's emphasis on the techniques of the Old Masters gave the "fantastic realist" painters a grounding in realism, similar to early Flemish artists such as Jan van Eyck. Read more ↗
Key Artists
Ernst Fuchs
Co-founder and central visionary of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism whose intricate, jewel-like paintings and etchings combined Flemish Old Master techniques with apocalyptic religious mysticism.
Arik Brauer
Co-founder and 'universal artist' whose glowing, jewel-toned compositions depicted fairytale landscapes and Old Testament allegories with precise glaze techniques.
Rudolf Hausner
Veteran co-founder known as the 'psychoanalytic painter' who spent years refining his signature Adam figure across surreal, jewel-like psychological self-portraits.
Wolfgang Hutter
Co-founding painter (son of Albert Paris Gütersloh) who created highly detailed, theatrical artificial gardens populated by exotic flora, butterflies, and erotic fantasy figures.
Anton Lehmden
Co-founder of the 'Big Five' who specialized in vast, apocalyptic landscapes depicting erupting volcanoes, cosmic battles, and geological catastrophes with Dürer-like precision.
Albert Paris Gütersloh
Venerated professor at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and spiritual father of the movement who instructed the founders in the tempera-and-oil glazing techniques of the Old Masters.
Famous Artworks
Ruth von Mayenburg
Rudolf Hausner · 1951
Belvedere Museum, Vienna - Oil and resin glaze on hardboard
Psalm 69
Ernst Fuchs · 1953
Ernst Fuchs Museum, Vienna - Oil and egg tempera on wood panel
The Ark of Odysseus
Rudolf Hausner · 1956
Belvedere Museum, Vienna - Oil and resin glaze on wood
Fun Facts
To achieve their luminous, enamel-like brilliance without modern shortcuts, the painters of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism revived the secret 'Mischtechnik' (mixed technique) used by 15th-century Flemish masters like Jan van Eyck, layering quick-drying egg tempera emulsion under transparent oil glazes.
↗ Source: en.wikipedia.org
Although they began painting together at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts in 1946, the group was not officially named the 'Vienna School of Fantastic Realism' until 1959, when Austrian art critic Johann Muschik coined the term for their landmark exhibition at the Belvedere Museum.
↗ Source: en.wikipedia.org
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