Joseph Sebastian Oberbauer ( bg, Йозеф Себастиан Обербауер or Йосиф Себастиан Обербауер; 3 October 1853,

St. Leonhard Leonard of Noblac (also Leonard of Limoges or Leonard of Noblet; also known as Lienard, Linhart, Leonhard, Léonard, Leonardo, Annard; died 559), is a Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, in Hau ...

– 14 June 1926,

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n and

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

n painter and engineer. Oberbauer was born in Sankt Leonhard in the

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

region of

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

in the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

. He attended a primary school in his hometown and finished high school in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

. Having demonstrated artistic talent in his childhood years, Oberbauer's desire was to enroll at the Academy of Fine Arts in the imperial capital

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. However, his father insisted that he study

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

. Three years into Oberbauer's education at the University of Graz, his father died and he dropped out. Out of financial necessity, Oberbauer offered some of his

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

paintings depicting the old town part of

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

to the local municipality. Oberbauer's work appealed to the municipality, which encouraged him to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. However, he was again forced to drop out after two years due to financial difficulties. He spent some time working as a teacher and unsuccessfully attempted to continue his studies. In 1889, Oberbauer arrived in

, the capital of the newly liberated

Principality of Bulgaria The Principality of Bulgaria ( bg, Княжество България, Knyazhestvo Balgariya) was a vassal state under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. It was established by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878. After the Russo-Turkish War ende ...

, where he joined the Cadastral Office of the municipality. Oberbauer took an active part in the creation of Sofia's first

cadastral map A cadastre or cadaster is a comprehensive recording of the real estate or real property's metes-and-bounds of a country.Jo Henssen, ''Basic Principles of the Main Cadastral Systems in the World,'/ref> Often it is represented graphically in a cad ...

. Afterward he briefly worked at Bulgaria's Construction of State Railways and Harbours Office, though he returned to a municipal job due to layoffs. Oberbauer remained at the Sofia Municipality for the rest of his life. Besides being a municipality official, Oberbauer was actively engaged in art in Bulgaria. Impressed by the ambience of Sofia, he left behind numerous paintings of the newly liberated Bulgarian lands, with their still-

orient The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the c ...

al features, antique architecture and ancient ruins. Oberbauer's works are accurate depictions of Bulgaria's (and particularly Sofia's) appearance in the early post- Ottoman period, capturing the characteristic features of the age and location. Oberbauer's paintings depict the churches, monasteries, mosques, inns, markets and streets of late-19th-century Bulgaria. 70 of Oberbauer's works depicting the urban landscape of Sofia are part of the future Museum of Sofia's collection, to be exhibited in the Sofia Public Mineral Baths building. A small street in

Lozenets, Sofia Lozenets ( bg, Лозенец ), sometimes transliterated as Lozenetz or Lozenec, is a district and residential area located in the southern parts of Sofia, Bulgaria. it has 49,200 inhabitants. Features Lozenets has many modern buildings as wel ...

located in the surroundings of the

Sofia Seminary The Sofia Seminary of St John of Rila ( bg, Софийска духовна семинария „Св. Йоан Рилски“, ''Sofiyska duhovna seminariya „Sv. Yoan Rilski“''), located in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, is the main semi ...

is named Joseph Oberbauer Street in his honour. One of the American College of Sofia's full scholarships also bears his name.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oberbauer, Joseph 1853 births 1926 deaths People from Tyrol (state) Painters from Austria-Hungary Engineers from Austria-Hungary Emigrants from Austria-Hungary Immigrants to Bulgaria Bulgarian painters Bulgarian engineers Artists from Sofia 20th-century Austrian male artists