164 - Otto Erich Wagner* (Klepacov 1895 - 1979 Vienna)

Otto Erich Wagner* (Klepacov 1895 - 1979 Vienna) Plant study, 1924 pencil and charcoal/paper 43,7 x 23,9 cm signed Otto Erich Wagner, dated 1924 SCHÄTZPREIS / ESTIMATE € 1000 - 1400 STARTPREIS / STARTING PRICE € 1000 Otto Erich Wagner was born on September 10, 1895, in Klepáčov near Blansko in Moravia and died on February 5, 1979, in Vienna. Following his military service in World War I, he initially attended the Vienna Teacher Training Institute. From 1922, he studied at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts (Kunstgewerbeschule) in the department for ornamental and general form theory under Franz Čižek and Rudolf von Larisch. By 1924, Wagner had become Čižek’s assistant; alongside this role, he worked as a painter, graphic artist, and interior and landscape architect. Wagner is considered a key figure of Viennese Kineticism, a distinct Austrian manifestation of the classical avant-garde of the 1920s. Drawing on Cubist and Futurist impulses, this movement sought to translate sequences of movement, the interplay of forces, and dynamic rhythms into an abstract pictorial order. His compositions are characterized by geometric reduction, forms set in dynamic tension against one another, and a precisely organized interplay of line, plane, and space. Viennese Kineticism emerged within the circle surrounding Franz Čižek, involving artists such as Erika Giovanna Klien, My Ullmann, Elisabeth Karlinsky, Karl Steiner, and Alois Wachsmann. Wagner was not only part of this milieu but also passed on its formal principles to subsequent generations through his teaching. He became a member of the Vienna Secession in 1949; his work thus exemplifies the synthesis of applied arts, graphic design, pedagogy, and abstract art within Austrian Modernism. PLEASE NOTE: The purchase price consists of the highest bid plus the buyer's premium, sales tax and, if applicable, the fee of artists resale rights and platform fee. In the case of normal taxation (marked ° at the estimate), a premium of 24% is added to the highest bid. The mandatory sales tax is added to the sum of the highest bid, the buyer's premium and platform fee. This amounts to 13% for paintings, drawings, graphic works and sculptures and 20% for photographs and all other items. The buyer's premium amounts to 28% in case of differential taxation. The sales tax is included in the differential taxation.