The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien) is a public art school in Vienna, Austria.

History

The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna was founded in 1692 as a private academy modelled on the

Accademia di San Luca The Accademia di San Luca (the "Academy of Saint Luke") is an Italian academy of artists in Rome. The establishment of the Accademia de i Pittori e Scultori di Roma was approved by papal brief in 1577, and in 1593 Federico Zuccari became its fir ...

and the Parisien

Académie de peinture et de sculpture An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

by the court-painter Peter Strudel, who became the ''Praefectus Academiae Nostrae''. In 1701 he was ennobled by Emperor

Joseph I Joseph I or Josef I may refer to: *Joseph I of Constantinople, Ecumenical Patriarch in 1266–1275 and 1282–1283 * Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (1678–1711) *Joseph I (Chaldean Patriarch) (reigned 1681–1696) *Joseph I of Portugal (1750–1777) ...

as ''

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empir ...

'' (Baron) of the

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

. With his death in 1714, the academy temporarily closed. Aktsaal der Wiener Akademie (1787, Martin Ferdinand Quadal)

On 20 January 1725, Emperor Charles VI appointed the Frenchman

Jacob van Schuppen Jacob van Schuppen (26 January 1670 – 29 January 1751) was a French-Austrian Painting, painter who was known for his portraits, history paintings and genre scenes. He was court painter in Vienna. Biography Jacob van Schuppen was born in Fo ...

as Prefect and Director of the Academy, which was refounded as the ''k.k. Hofakademie der Maler, Bildhauer und Baukunst'' (Imperial and Royal Court Academy of painters, sculptors and architecture). Upon Charles's death in 1740, the academy at first declined, however during the rule of his daughter Empress

Maria Theresa Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position '' suo jure'' (in her own right) ...

, a new statute reformed the academy in 1751. The prestige of the academy grew during the deanships of Michelangelo Unterberger and Paul Troger, and in 1767 the archduchesses Maria Anna and Maria Carolina were made the first Honorary Members. In 1772, there were further reforms to the organisational structure. In 1776 the engraver Jakob Matthias Schmutzer founded a school of engraving. This Imperial-Royal Academy of Engraving in the Annagasse soon competed with the Court Academy. Chancellor

Wenzel Anton Kaunitz Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg (german: Wenzel Anton Reichsfürst von Kaunitz-Rietberg, cz, Václav Antonín z Kounic a Rietbergu; 2 February 1711 – 27 June 1794) was an Austrian and Czech diplomat and statesman in the Habsburg monarc ...

integrated all existing art academies into the ''k.k. vereinigten Akademie der bildenden Künste'' (Imperial and Royal Unified Academy of Fine Arts). The word "vereinigten" (unified) was later dropped. In 1822 the art cabinet grew significantly with the bequest of honorary member Anton Franz de Paula Graf Lamberg-Sprinzenstein. His collection still forms the backbone of the art on display. Akademie der bildenden Kuenste DSC 2400w

Akademie der bildenden Kuenste DSC 2400w

In 1872 Emperor

Franz Joseph I of Austria Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until ...

approved a statute making the academy the supreme government authority for the arts. A new building was constructed according to plans designed by the faculty

Theophil Hansen Baron Theophil Edvard von Hansen (; original Danish name: Theophilus Hansen ; 13 July 1813 – 17 February 1891) was a Danish architect who later became an Austrian citizen. He became particularly well known for his buildings and structures in ...

in the course of the layout of the Ringstraße boulevard. On 3 April 1877, the present-day building on Schillerplatz in the

Innere Stadt The Innere Stadt (; Central Bavarian: ''Innare Stod'') is the 1st municipal district of Vienna () located in the center of the Austrian capital. The Innere Stadt is the old town of Vienna. Until the city boundaries were expanded in 1850, the I ...

district was inaugurated, the interior works, including ceiling frescos by

Anselm Feuerbach Anselm Feuerbach (12 September 1829 – 4 January 1880) was a German painter. He was the leading classicist painter of the German 19th-century school. Biography Early life Feuerbach was born at Speyer, the son of the archaeologist Joseph ...

, continued until 1892. In 1907 and 1908, young

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...

, who had come from

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...

, was twice denied admission to the drawing class. He stayed in Vienna, subsisting on his orphan allowance, and tried unsuccessfully to continue his profession as an artist. Soon he had withdrawn into poverty and started selling amateur paintings, mostly

watercolours 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 ...

, for meagre sustenance until he left Vienna for

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

in May 1913 (see also, Paintings by Adolf Hitler). Academy of Fine Arts - Vienna

During the Austrian ''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germa ...

'' to

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

from 1938–1945, the academy, like other Austrian universities, was forced to purge its staff and student body of Jews and others that fell under the purview of the Nuremberg Racial Laws. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the academy was reconstituted in 1955 and its autonomy reconfirmed. Eduard von Josch, the secretary of the Academy, was dismissed for being a member of the NSDAP. The academy has had

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 Stat ...

status since 1998, but retained its original name. It is currently the only Austrian university without the word "university" in its name.

Structure

The academy is divided into the following institutes: * ''Institute for Fine Arts'', which houses thirteen departments: Abstract Painting; Art and Digital Media; Art and Photography; Arts and Research; Conceptual Art; Contextual Painting; Expanded Pictorial Space; Figurative Painting; Graphic Arts and Printmaking Techniques; Object Sculpture; Performative Art - Sculpture; Video and Video-installation; Textual Sculpture
* ''Institute for Art Theory and Cultural Studies'' (art theory, philosophy, history); * ''Institute for Conservation and Restoration''; * ''Institute for Natural Sciences and Technologies in Art''; * ''Institute for Secondary School Teaching Degrees'' (craft, design, textile arts); * ''Institute for Art and Architecture''. The Academy currently has about 900 students, almost a quarter of which are foreign students. Its faculty includes "stars" such as Peter Sloterdijk. Its library houses about 110,000 volumes and its "etching cabinet" (''Kupferstichkabinett'') has about 150,000 drawings and prints. The collection is one of the biggest in Austria, and is used for academic purposes, although portions are also open to the general public.

Notable alumni

* Maria Anwander * Alois Arnegger *

Joannis Avramidis Joannis Avramidis ( el, Iωάννης Aβραμίδης; born 23 September 1922 – 16 January 2016) was a contemporary Greek-Austrian sculptor. He was born in Batumi, Soviet Union to a family of Pontic Greeks. He began studying painting at t ...

* William Berczy * Amoako Boafo *

Bernhard Cella Bernhard Cella (born 1969 in Salzburg) is an Austrian artist and curator. Academic career Cella studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with Erich Wonder, the University of Arts and Industrial Design Linz with Herbert Lachmayer and the Hoc ...

Georg Decker Georg Decker (7 December 1818 – 13 February 1894) was an Austro-Hungarian portrait artist. Decker was born in Hungary to a German-speaking family, and grew up and made his career in Vienna, where he taught painting as well as working as a ...

* Ludwig Deutsch * Helmut Ditsch *

Karl Duldig Karl (Karol) Duldig (29 December 1902 – 11 August 1986) was a Jewish modernist sculptor.

Slawa Duldig Slawa Duldig née Horowitz (28 November 1901– 16 August 1975) was an inventor, artist, interior designer, and teacher. In 1928, as Slawa Horowitz, she created a design for an improved compact folding umbrella, which she patented in 1929. Slawa w ...

George Dury Friedrich Julius Georg Dury (1817–1894) was a well-regarded Bavarian-American portrait artist who worked in both oil and pastel. He was born and educated in Würzburg, Bavaria, and Munich, where he began his career as an artist. In 1849, afte ...

* Antonín Engel * Joseph Fleck *

Richard Gach Richard Gach (31 October 1930 - 25 December 1991), born in Itzling (then the municipality Gnigl-Itzling, today district of Salzburg), died in Horn, was an Austrian architect, sketch artist, and watercolorist. He mainly designed schools for the cit ...

* Victor Gruen * Sigurður Guðjónsson *

Helmuth Gräff Helmuth Gräff (born 12 April 1958 in Gars am Kamp) is an Austrian painter, poet and drawer. Gräffs painterly style is rooted on the one hand in the artistic heritage of Vincent van Gogh, and on the other hand he can also be regarded as a pre ...

Alice Berger Hammerschlag Alice Berger Hammerschlag née Berger (18 February 1917 – 14 July 1969) was an Austrian artist. She settled in Belfast and while creating abstract paintings also had a number of creative and administrative roles in Northern Ireland. Biography ...

* Cecil van Haanen * Gottfried Helnwein *

Wolfgang Hollegha Wolfgang Hollegha (born 4 March 1929) is an Austrian painter. Biography Hollegha was born in Klagenfurt, Kärnten/Carinthia. From 1947 to 1954 he studied at the Akademie der bildenden Künste in Vienna with Josef Dobrovský and Herbert Boec ...

* Hans Hollein * Alfred Hrdlička * Cornelia James *

Paja Jovanović Pavle "Paja" Jovanović ( sr-cyr, Павле "Паја" Јовановић; ; 16 June 1859 – 30 November 1957) was a Serbian painter who painted more than 1,100 works including: '' The Wounded Montenegrin'' (1882), '' Decorating of the Bride'' ...

* Eszter Katalin *

Gottfried Lindauer Gottfried Lindauer (5 January 1839 – 13 June 1926) was a Bohemian and New Zealand artist famous for his portraits, including many of Māori people. Czech life and Austrian school He was born Bohumír Lindauer in Plzeň (Pilsen), Western Bo ...

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (February 6, 1736 – August 19, 1783) was a German-Austrian sculptor most famous for his "character heads", a collection of busts with faces contorted in extreme facial expressions. Early years Born February 6, 17 ...

Vera Nedkova Vera Nedkova ( bg, Вера Недкова) (16 November 1906 – 7 July 1996) was a Bulgarian modernist painter. A graduate of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, she is known as "the grande dame of Bulgarian painting." Born in Skopje to ...

* Uroš Predić * Heinrich Rauchinger * Constantin Daniel Rosenthal *

Egon Schiele Egon Leo Adolf Ludwig Schiele (; 12 June 1890 – 31 October 1918) was an Austrian Expressionist painter. His work is noted for its intensity and its raw sexuality, and for the many self-portraits the artist produced, including nude self-portrai ...

* Rudolph Michael Schindler *

Othmar Schimkowitz Othmar Schimkowitz (2 October 1864 in Tárts, Komárom County – 24 April 1947 in Graz) was a Hungarian-born architectural sculptor who worked on the greatest landmarks of the Vienna Secession. Life Schimkowitz studied at the Academy of Fin ...

Frigyes Schulek Frigyes Schulek (19 November 1841 – 5 September 1919) was a Hungarian architect,

* Theodor Sockl *

Willi Soukop Willi Soukop (5 January 1907 – 8 February 1995) was a sculptor, member of the Royal Academy and early teacher of Elisabeth Frink. Soukop's work is prominently on display at Hull University in front of the Brynmor Jones Library The Bry ...

* Hito Steyerl * Katrin Lea Tag * Otto Wagner * Jacob Weidenmann * Erwin Wurm * Bruno Zach

Other students and professors

* Karl Aigen (1684–1762), student, director and professor * Oz Almog, (born 1956) * Alois Arnegger (1879–1963) *

(1922–2016) *

Peter Behrens Peter Behrens (14 April 1868 – 27 February 1940) was a leading Germany, German architect, graphic and Industrial design, industrial designer, best known for his early pioneering AEG turbine factory, AEG Turbine Hall in Berlin in 1909. He had a ...

(1868–1940) * Sabeth Buchmann (born 1962) *

Menci Clement Crnčić Menci Clement Crnčić (Bruck an der Mur, Austria, 3 April 1865 – Zagreb, 9 November 1930) was a Croatian painter, printmaker, teacher and museum director. He studied painting and drawing in Vienna and Munich, and trained in graphic arts in Vien ...

(1865–1930) * Konstantin Danil (1802–1873) * Saeed Danosian (1979–1985) *

Diedrich Diederichsen Diedrich Diederichsen (born August 15, 1957) is a German author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is an intellectual writer at the crossroads of the arts, politics, and pop culture. Diedrich Diederichsen was born and grew up in Hamburg ...

(born 1957) * Andrea Maria Dusl (born 1961) *

Thomas Ender Thomas Ender (3 November 1793, Vienna - 28 September 1875, Vienna) was an Austrian landscape painter and watercolorist. Life and work He was born to Johann Ender, a junk dealer, and was the twin brother of Johann Nepomuk Ender, a history pain ...

(1793–1875) *

Harun Farocki Harun Farocki (9 January 1944 – 30 July 2014) was a German filmmaker, author, and lecturer in film. Early life and education Farocki was born as Harun El Usman FaroqhiMargalit Fox (3 August 2014)''New York Times''. in Neutitschein, which is n ...

(1944–2014) *

(1829–1880), professor (1873) * Emil Fuchs (1866–1929) * Ernst Fuchs (1930–2015) * Peter Johann Nepomuk Geiger (1805–1880), professor * Richard Gerstl (1883–1908) * Edwin Grienauer (1893–1964) * Gottfried Helnwein (born 1948) * F. Scott Hess (born 1955) * Clemens Holzmeister (1886–1983) *

Friedensreich Hundertwasser Friedrich Stowasser (15 December 1928 – 19 February 2000), better known by his pseudonym Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser (), was an Austrian visual artist and architect who also worked in the field of environmental protection ...

(1928–2000) * Li Hua (born 1980) *

Greta Kempton Martha Greta Kempton (March 22, 1901 – December 9, 1991) was the White House artist during the Truman administration. Biography Kempton was born in Vienna and came to the United States in the 1920s. She studied at the Vienna Academy of ...

, (1901–1991) *

Anton Lehmden Anton Lehmden (2 January 1929 – 7 August 2018) was an Austrian painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Lehmden was a co-founder, together with Ernst Fuchs, Maître Leherb (Helmut Leherb), Rudolf Hausner, Arik Brauer, Fritz Janschka and Wo ...

(1929–2018) * Maximilian Liebenwein (1869–1926) *

Leopold Matzal Leopold Charles Matzal (August 13, 1890 – November 22, 1956) was a 20th-century Austrian-American visual artist. He was a realistic painter, known in New York City and northern New Jersey for his society portraiture and also, later in his ca ...

(1890–1956) *

Franz Anton Maulbertsch Franz Anton Maulbertsch (7 June 1724 – 8 August 1796) was an Austrian painter and engraver, one of the most renowned exponents of Rococo painting in the German and Hungarian regions. Maulbertsch was born in Langenargen and studied in the Acad ...

(1724–1796) * Ludwig Merwart (1913–1979) *

Joseph Mössmer Joseph Mössmer (20 May 1780 – 22 June 1845) was an Austrian painter and instructor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien) is a public art school in Vienna, ...

(1780–1845) *

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 a ...

(1897–1962) * Gustav Peichl (1928–2019) *

Johann Georg Platzer Johann Georg Platzer (1704–1761) was a prolific Austrian Rococo painter and draughtsman. Life and career Platzer was born in Eppan in the County of Tyrol, and came from a family of painters. He painted primarily historical and mythical scene ...

(1704–1761) *

Roland Rainer Roland Rainer (1 May 1910 – 10 April 2004) was an Austrian architect. Born in Klagenfurt, Roland Rainer decided to become an architect when he was 18, so he studied at the Vienna University of Technology. His thesis was about the Karlsplatz in ...

(1910–2004) * Daniel Richter (born 1962) * Rudolph Schwarz (1840–1912) * Robert Sedlacek (1881–1957) * Nasrine Seraji (born 1957) * Tamuna Sirbiladze (1971–2016) * Hito Steyerl (born 1966) * Paul Troger (1698–1762) * Norbert Troller (1900–1984)) * Rudolf von Alt (1812–1905) * Friedrich von Schmidt (1825–1891) * Henrik Weber (1818–1866) * Kurt Weiss (1895–1966) * Albert Zimmermann (1808–1888)

Notable rejects

In fiction

The Academy of Fine Arts in 1908 is the scene of the early chapters of the 2001 Alternative History novel ''The Alternative Hypothesis'' (" La part de l'autre") by

Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt (born 28 March 1960) is a Franco– Belgian playwright, short story writer and novelist, as well as a film director. His plays have been staged in over fifty countries all over the world. Life Early years Eric-Emmanuel ...

. It is based on the assumption that had the young

been accepted he might have become a recognized painter and never entered politics, and never become the dictator of

. The dramatic tension in the book's plot develops from the Academy staff, deliberating whether or not to admit Hitler, thinking of it as an unimportant matter concerning a single unknown student - while the readers are aware that in fact they are deciding the future of the entire world.

References

External links

*
Exhibition catalogues of Academy of Fine Arts in the Belvedere Digital Library

website of the Media Server
(archived 8 September 2005)

(archived 17 January 2005) {{authority control Universities and colleges in Austria Art schools in Austria Culture in Vienna 1692 establishments in Austria Educational institutions established in the 1690s Buildings and structures in Vienna Art museums and galleries in Vienna 1692 in art Theophil Hansen buildings