Gerhard Gepp (20 April 1940 – 26 March 2024) was an Austrian illustrator, painter, and graphic designer.

Biography

Gerhard Gepp was born on 20 April 1940 in

Pressbaum Pressbaum is a town in the districts of Austria, district of Sankt Pölten-Land District, St. Pölten-Land in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. In 1881, Johannes Brahms completed his Piano Concerto No. 2 (Brahms), Second Piano Concerto while in ...

on the western edge of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, where he lived and worked until his death. His initial training was in

offset printing Offset printing is a common printing technique in which the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on ...

. As an artist, he was self-taught. Between 1964 and 1976, he worked as a

graphic designer A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for publishe ...

and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

. Gepp received prizes for various pieces of work such as the "Poster Prize" from the

City of Vienna A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and the

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

ese "Rizzoli Prize". His first publications in various professional journals in Germany and Switzerland followed. At the same time Gepp worked at advertising photography and staged his own exhibition in the Vienna gallery "Die Brücke". In 1976 he also started to produce hand-coloured

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other type ...

s. From 1976 he was working on drawings,

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache ...

and oil paintings which were exhibited in Vienna at the BAWAG-Foundation. Further exhibitions in Austria and Germany followed and at art fairs in

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS) ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

and

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest i ...

. From 1989, his illustrations focused increasingly on political satire. Working with acrylic on cardboard and/or canvas he continued to receive prizes at exhibitions. His illustrations frequently appeared in German-language and international publications. In 2001 the Austrian "professional" Professor title was conferred on Gepp. Gepp died in

Tulln an der Donau Tulln an der Donau () is a historic town in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, the administrative seat of Tulln District. Because of its abundance of parks and gardens, Tulln is often referred to as ''Blumenstadt'' ("City of Flowers"), and "The C ...

on 26 March 2024, at the age of 83.

Illustrations in newspapers and journals

Gerhard Gepp had numerous print media contracts. These have included daily papers such as ''

Der Standard ''Der Standard'' is an Austrian daily newspaper published in Vienna. History and profile ''Der Standard'' was founded by Oscar Bronner as a financial newspaper and published its first edition on 19 October 1988. German media company Axel Spring ...

'', ''

Die Presse ''Die Presse'' is a German-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vienna, Austria. It is considered a newspaper of record for Austria. History and profile ''Die Presse'' was first printed on 3 July 1848 as a liberal (libertarian)-bourge ...

'' and the ''

Wiener Zeitung ''Wiener Zeitung'' is an Austrian newspaper. It is one of the oldest, still published newspapers in the world. It is the official publication used by the Government of the Republic of Austria for legally-required announcements, such as company r ...

'' in Austria as well as the ''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat. Histo ...

'' and ''

Die Zeit ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History Th ...

'' in Germany. His magazine contracts included the Austrian economic monthly ''

Trend A fad or trend is any form of collective behavior that develops within a culture, a generation or social group in which a group of people enthusiastically follow an impulse for a short period. Fads are objects or behaviors that achieve short- ...

'', the German popular psychology monthly '' Psychologie Heute'' and Switzerland's satirical monthly ''

Nebelspalter The ''Nebelspalter'' is a Swiss satirical magazine, which also has a political orientation in its online platform. It was founded in 1875 by Jean Nötzli of Zurich as an "''illustrated humorous political weekly''." The magazine was modelled on Br ...

''. In addition, Gepp produced a large number of illustrations and title images for the ''Wiener Journal'' founded in 1980 by

Jörg Mauthe Jörg Mauthe (1924–1986) was an Austrian writer, journalist and broadcasting executive. For some years he was prominent in the city politics of Vienna. Life From 1947 he was working as a journalist, specialising from 1950 in cultural criticism ...

(and sold in 2004 to the ''Wiener Zeitung''). Fenster

Gerhard Gepp awards and prizes

* 1983 Staatspreis für Werbung, Girozentrale / IMT Wien * 1990 Intern.Cartoonfestival Budapest/H, 3rd prize * 1991 Satyrykon, Legnica/PL, Special prize * 1992 IWA-Foundation, Havirov/CZ, 3rd prize; Velocartoon, Siauliai/LIT, 1st prize * 1993 Satyrykon, Legnica/PL, 3rd prize * 1994 Österr.Kinder-und Jugendbuch-Illustrationspreis 1994; Children/youth prize from the City of Vienna 1994 * 1996 Satyrykon, Legnica/PL, Special prize * 1997 The Golden Smile, Belgrad/YU, 2.Preis; Satyrykon, Legnica/PL, 3rd prize * 1998 12.Dutch Cartoonfestival, Eindhofen/NL, Spezialpreis; Satyrykon, Legnica/PL, 3rd prize * 1999 2o.Biennale Intern.dell´Umorismo nell´Arte, Tolentino/I, Spezialpreis; Satyrykon, Legnica/PL, Special prize * 2001 Intern. Forum of Visual Humour, Surgut/RUS, Special prize * 2002 Satyrykon, Legnica/PL, 1st prize * 2003 Eurohumor, Borgo San Dalmazzo/ I, Special prize, Satyrykon, Legnica / PL, 3rd prize * 2004 Swiss Cartoon Award, CH, Spezialpreis; Humorest, Hradec Králové/CZ, 3rd prize * 2006 "Alles Wein“, Literatur & Karikatur, Krems/A, 2.Preis; Satyrykon, Legnica/PL, Grand Prix * 2008 Hans Langitz-Gedächtnispreis für Karikatur, Klagenfurt/A; Aydin Dogan XXV Intern.Cartoon Comp., Istanbul/TR, 3rd prize * 2012 Karikaturmuseum Warschau, Intern. Competition "The ball is in play" 1st prize

Books

* Werner Fiala, Gerhard Gepp: ''Manifest in Wort und Bild.'' Bibliothek der Provinz, 2010, * Irene Ulitzka, Gerhard Gepp: ''Das Land der Ecken.'' Picus Verlag, 1994, , (Österr. Kinder- und Jugendbuchpreis 1994, Kinder- und Jugendbuchpreis der Stadt Wien, 1994) * Gerhard Gepp: ''Kleines Boot auf Grosser Reise.'' Picus Verlag, 1995,

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gepp, Gerhard 1940 births 2024 deaths 20th-century Austrian painters 21st-century Austrian painters Austrian male painters Austrian graphic designers Austrian children's book illustrators People from Sankt Pölten-Land District