Agnes Muthspiel (born Agnes Gahbauer: 8 February 1914 - 3 May 1966) was a

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

, representative of the "Salzburg Group" of artists that came to prominence during the 1950s.Rosina König-Hollerwöger: Agnes Muthspiel. Sonderwege der österreichischen Nachkriegsmalerei. Eine Bestandsaufnahme. Magisterarbeit an der Kultur- und Gesellschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Salzburg, 2007.

Life

Agnes Gahbauer was born in

, the eldest daughter of Heinrich and Agnes Gahbauer. She attended junior school and then the so-called "Akademisches Gymnasium" (secondary school) in the city. In 1938, she married Dr. Hans Muthspiel, a junior judge. He was killed just three years while serving as a

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

on the Russian front. During the war years she received instruction at the cathedral presbytery, possibly in anticipation of entering a

religious order A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practi ...

. Later she was forced to relocate to

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

. After the war she spent two terms studying Ethics and Logic as a

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

student at the

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

Theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

faculty, back in

. There is no indication that she ever became a nun or completed her degree course, however. In social terms, during the post-war years the young widow associated with a number of artists, such as

Max Peiffer Watenphul Max Peiffer Watenphul (1896 – 13 July 1976) was a German artist. Described as a "lyric poet of painting", he belongs to a "tradition of German painters for whom the Italian landscape represented Arcadia." In addition to Mediterranean scenes, he ...

Caspar Neher Caspar Neher (born Rudolf Ludwig Caspar Neher; 11 April 1897 – 30 June 1962) was an Austrian-German scenographer and librettist, known principally for his career-long working relationship with Bertolt Brecht. Neher was born in Augsburg. He ...

and Herbert Breiter. Agnes Muthspiel herself became a self-taught artist and, starting in 1950, enjoyed growing success internationally. Her early work respected the newly rediscovered tradition of late expressionism, but she increasingly freed herself from fashionable preconceptions and became, in the best sense, a "naive artist". After 1974 she came to be seen as a precursor of the short-lived "Salzburger naiven" artistic movement. Agnes Muthspiel painted principally with

oil paints Oil paint is a type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, commonly linseed oil. The viscosity of the paint may be modified by the addition of a solvent such as turpentine or white spirit, and varnis ...

, but there were also watercolours, sketches and prints. She loved to produce paintings of her home city, favouring in particular its various towers and semi-formal gardens. There were paintings of her own garden. There were also paintings of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, a city for which as a committed

catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

she felt a special affinity, and of the island of

Ponza Ponza (Italian: ''isola di Ponza'' ) is the largest island of the Italian Pontine Islands archipelago, located south of Cape Circeo in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is also the name of the commune of the island, a part of the province of Latina in the ...

which she visited frequently. Agnes Muthspiel became ever more well connected socially among Salzburg's artistic-intellectual elite. Her circle of friends included the sculptor Toni Schneider-Manzell, the composers

Gottfried von Einem Gottfried von Einem (24 January 1918 – 12 July 1996) was an Austrian composer. He is known chiefly for his operas influenced by the music of Stravinsky and Prokofiev, as well as by jazz. He also composed pieces for piano, violin and organ. Biog ...

and

Carl Orff Carl Orff (; 10 July 1895 – 29 March 1982) was a German composer and music educator, best known for his cantata ''Carmina Burana'' (1937). The concepts of his Schulwerk were influential for children's music education. Life Early life Car ...

, the poets

Werner Bergengruen Werner Bergengruen (September 16, 1892 – September 4, 1964) was a Baltic German novelist and poet. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Life and career Bergengruen was born in Riga, Governorate of Livonia, which at that ti ...

and Gerhard Amanshauser, along with fellow artists Eduard Bäumer and

Paul Flora Paul Flora (6 June 1922 – 15 May 2009) was an Austrian caricaturist, graphic artist, and illustrator, known for his black ink line drawings. "Flora was one of Europe's most profiled illustrators since the 1960s. He worked for British newspapers ...

and, indeed, the iconic polymath-dramatist

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

. In 1966 Agnes Muthspiel was a recipient of the

Theodor Körner Prize The Theodor Körner Prize ( German: ''Theodor-Körner-Preis'') is a set of annual Austrian awards bestowed by the Theodor Körner Fund in recognition of cultural and/or scientific advances. The prize is awarded at the University of Vienna. The pri ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muthspiel, Agnes 20th-century Austrian painters Austrian women painters Austrian Expressionist painters Theodor Körner Prize recipients People from Salzburg 1914 births 1966 deaths