494 - Paul Flora* (Glurns 1922 - 2009 Innsbruck)

Paul Flora* (Glurns 1922 - 2009 Innsbruck) Canale Grande, Venice, 1984 indian ink/paper 20 x 25 cm signed Flora, dated 84 SCHÄTZPREIS / ESTIMATE € 1400 - 2400 STARTPREIS / STARTING PRICE € 1400 The Austrian draftsman and graphic artist Paul Flora was born in Glurns in the Vinschgau region of South Tyrol and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich from 1942 to 1944 under Olaf Gulbransson and Adolf Schinnerer. After a brief period as a prisoner of war, he returned to Tyrol in 1945 and worked thereafter as a freelance artist in Innsbruck. From 1957 to 1971, he contributed weekly political cartoons and illustrations to the Hamburg weekly newspaper Die Zeit—producing a total of around 3,000 drawings that were also published internationally in outlets such as The Times and The Observer. Flora’s distinctive pen-and-ink technique—characterized by delicate, fine lines and an ironic, sardonic tone—established him as one of Europe’s most prominent illustrators and caricaturists from the 1960s onwards. His whimsical cast of characters includes ghosts, mountebanks, marionettes, ravens, Venetian plague doctors, and "his" quirky Tyroleans—all depicted with a slight tilt and a wink—creating a world that straddles satire, symbolism, and Viennese Modernism. While his early work was heavily influenced by Alfred Kubin and the Munich School, Flora made a radical break with dense hatching before 1950, developing a signature outline style rooted in Classical Modernism and Expressionism. By the time of his death in 2009, he had produced nearly 150 illustrated books and volumes, alongside numerous individual drawings, lithographs, and etchings; his work ranks among the most significant Austrian graphic art of the post-war era. Flora received numerous prizes and awards, including the Paul Flora Prize from the State of Tyrol, which has supported young Tyrolean artists since 2002. His work is represented in major collections, such as the Albertina in Vienna, and is regularly featured in retrospectives—for instance, in 2022 at the Karikaturmuseum Krems to mark his centenary. 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.