09 juli 2015

Herbert Boeckl













"....
Between 1928 and the time of his cerebral stroke in 1964, the artist worked in his studio at No. 42 Argentinierstraße in Vienna’s 4th district. His workplace presents itself today in its original condition, as the artist left it behind. Easels, old paint tubes, brushes, books, and other painting utensils as well as furniture can still be seen in situ.
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His studio was an important place of inspiration for Herbert Boeckl. Even when the windows were broken due to bomb damage, the artist unflinchingly continued working in the cold. In 1945 a visitor interested in his pictures reported: “Boeckl’s studio […] has remained undamaged, merely the panes of the tall windows have been smashed. Consequently, because of the rough weather, it is icy cold in the unheated room. Today there was a snowstorm accompanied by a biting wind. The snowflakes were dancing right into the room. Boeckl does not allow anything to keep him from working. He has stored his paintings and drawings away in the basement of the Academy of Fine Arts and therefore could only show me the panels that currently occupy him. These are the two side wings of a polyptych, which are painted on wood on both sides […]. These pictures were painted by a profound, truly pious man.”

It is owing to the artist Marie-Cécile Boog, Boeckl’s muse during his final years, that the studio has survived as it was. A sculptor and pupil of Fritz Wotruba, she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts between 1951 and 1956. After Herbert Boeckl’s death, she left everything unchanged. Thanks to the generosity of the landlord, Ingenieur Koch, it has been possible for the Belvedere to maintain the studio. The furniture and the painting utensils have carefully been restored and convey a fascinating impression of this important painter’s working environment." (bron: Belvedere)

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