Adalbert Pilch (16 February 1917 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

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– 10 December 2004 in Tulln) was an Austrian painter and graphic artist. The works of Adalbert Pilch include paintings, drawings and illustrations. He became well known for designing

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Life

In 1937, after graduating from school, Pilch took up studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in the master class of Wilhelm Dachauer, with whom he was close friends until his death. From 1940 to 1945 he was enlisted and was at first deployed to

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. Later he was sent to Lapland,

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, and

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as a painter for the German war museums. He married in 1942. In 1945, after the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Pilch started illustrating newspapers and was consulted for collaboration on

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s and murals. He created more than 4,000 illustrations for children's and young adult's books and textbooks. Secondary, he worked on the appraisal of old farmhouses, hammer mills, mills, and saw mills by order of the Federal Museum of

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

. He portrayed former and acting Federal Presidents of Austria, as well as Presidents of the National Council, Traffic Ministers, and Director Generals of the postal service. He devised 200 drawings for the War Museum at Vienna. From 1950 on he was a member of the Vienna Künstlerhaus. In 1953 he received public attention due to a special exhibition of approximately 50 of his works, while in 1956 he got the first order for designing Austrian stamps. His "Hunting Series" (1959), the Europe Stamp (1960), the series "Olympia 1963" and "UPU 1964", as well as the commemorative stamp "Die Kunst der Donauschule" (The Art of the Danube School; 1965) got international acknowledgment. During his life, Pilch designed 318 stamps for the Austrian post, 30 for the Principality of

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and one stamp for

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. The stamp he created in 1965, "Die Kunst der Donauschule", was elected the "most beautiful stamp of the world". In 1968 Pilch moved to Mauerbach near Vienna. In 1970 he was promoted to

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. He displayed his opus at several exhibitions until 2000. Pilch spent his last year of life in the nursing home ''Theresiaheim'' in Tulln.

Honours

* Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art * Gold Medal of Honour of the

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of Vienna * Silver Medal of the city of Vienna * Gold Decoration for Services to the province of

References

External links

*
Homepage of Adalbert Pilch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pilch, Adalbert 20th-century Austrian painters Austrian male painters 21st-century Austrian painters 21st-century Austrian male artists Austrian stamp designers Artists from Vienna 1917 births 2004 deaths Academy of Fine Arts Vienna alumni Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art 20th-century Austrian male artists