Fritz Wotruba
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Fritz Wotruba (born April 23, 1907 in Vienna, died August 28, 1975 in Vienna) was an Austrian sculptor of Czecho-Hungarian descent. He was considered one of the most notable Austrian 20th century sculptors. In his work, he increasingly dissolves figurative components in favor of geometrical abstraction with the shape of the cube as the basic form.
Life
Fritz Wotruba was born in 1907 as the youngest of eight children of Adolf Wotruba (who came from Bohemia to work as a taylor's assistant) and Maria Wotruba (from Hungary, working as a maid), née Kocsi, in Vienna.
From 1921 to 1925, he was trained as an engraver, as an apprentice in the engraving and die cutting workshop of Josef Schantin in Vienna. From February to summer 1926, he attended the arts and trades school of the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry and open evening courses on nude drawing. In fall 1926, he enrolled in studies in sculpting at the arts and trades school. Through the end of his studies, he was a student of Anton Hanak, and received a stipend by the Vienna Society of Modern Art, the Austrian Chamber of Labor and the municipality of Vienna.
Work
His probably greatest work, on which he worked until his death, was the planning of the Church "of the Holy Trinity" in Mauer, Vienna, better known as Wotruba Church. He did not live to see the completion of the church in 1976.
Many of his statues can be seen in public parks in Vienna. The Lying Adolescent is located in an exhibition in the Albertina.
Wotruba is buried on the Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) in Vienna, Austria.
