484 - Johann Fruhmann* (Weißenstein 1928 - 1985 Lengenfeld )

Johann Fruhmann* (Weißenstein 1928 - 1985 Lengenfeld ) Untitled, 1968 silkscreen/paper 49 x 41 cm signed Johann Fruhmann, dated 68 inscribed Probedruck SCHÄTZPREIS / ESTIMATE € 200 - 400 STARTPREIS / STARTING PRICE € 200 Fruhmann moved to Graz in 1932 and studied at the School of Arts and Crafts under Fritz Silberbauer and Alfred Wickenburg from 1943 to 1948. He subsequently continued his training in 1948–49 at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna under Robin Christian Andersen and Albert Paris Gütersloh. He became involved with the Art Club early on, becoming a member in 1951; he was also affiliated with the Vienna Secession and the Graz Secession. As early as the 1950s, Fruhmann turned away from figurative art and developed one of the earliest consistently abstract styles in Austria. His works combine flat, geometric arrangements with granular surfaces, material textures, and an increasingly free, expressive brushwork. For him, color was not a means of representation but an independent subject of painterly exploration. In addition to easel painting, Fruhmann created significant works for public spaces: in 1957, he designed a mosaic for the Wiener Stadthalle; in 1964, a mosaic for the Austrian Pavilion at the New York World's Fair; and in 1967, a light environment for Expo 67 in Montreal. In 1965, he received the Austrian State Prize for Painting. From 1971 onwards, Fruhmann lived and worked with his wife, the painter Christa Hauer-Fruhmann, at Schloss Lengenfeld near Krems. The couple gradually renovated the castle and transformed it into an artists' center; between 1972 and 1984, Fruhmann also designed its façade using the sgraffito technique. His body of work was honored in 2005 with a major retrospective at the Leopold Museum in Vienna. 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.