Hans Fronius (12 September 1903 - 21 March 1988) was an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

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 complicate ...

. He was born in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

, which was then a territory of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

(now

Bosnia and Hercegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

). His father was descended from an old, aristocratic

Transylvanian Saxon The Transylvanian Saxons (; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjer Såksen'' or simply ''Soxen'', singularly ''Sox'' or ''Soax''; Transylvanian Landler: ''Soxn'' or ''Soxisch''; ; seldom ''sași ardeleni/transilvăneni/transilvani''; ) are a people ...

family ee Fronius">Fronius.html" ;"title="ee Fronius">ee Fronius As a young boy, he witnessed the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, an event that would later form the subject of his book, ''Attentat in Sarajevo'' (English: Assassination in Sarajevo). After the First World War, Fronius's family moved to Graz in Austria. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. From 1930 to 1960, he taught art and

projective geometry In mathematics, projective geometry is the study of geometric properties that are invariant with respect to projective transformations. This means that, compared to elementary Euclidean geometry, projective geometry has a different setting (''p ...

at a grammar school in

Fürstenfeld Fürstenfeld (; ) is a small historic city in Styria, Austria. It is situated near the border with Hungary, which is why the city was originally founded. The town has become quite famous in Austria and Germany because of the song by the same name ...

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

. His leftist sympathies put his teaching position in jeopardy after the ''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

'', and in 1943 he was drafted into the

German army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

. The art historian

Otto Benesch Otto Benesch (29 June 1896 in Ebenfurth – 16 November 1964 in Vienna) was an Austrian art historian. He was taught by Max Dvořák and is considered a member of the Vienna School of Art History. He is well known for his catalogue of Rembrandt ...

called Fronius "the most significant Austrian illustrator since

Alfred Kubin Alfred Leopold Isidor Kubin (10 April 1877 – 20 August 1959) was an Austrian artist, printmaker, illustrator, and occasional writer. Kubin is considered an important representative of Symbolism and Expressionism. Biography Kubin was born i ...

." His work is considered an example of ' Expressive

Realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *American Realism *Classical Realism *Liter ...

', with subjects that include portraits, street scenes, and literary interpretations. He was one of the first illustrators of the stories of

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

, and contributed illustrations to works by

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...

and

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

."A Lodging for the Night. Translated by Alexander Lenet-Holenia." Vienna and Berlin. Paul Neff Verlag 1963, 13 Sketches He remained a prolific artist until his death at age 84 in 1988.

Decorations and awards

* 1966:

Grand Austrian State Prize for Visual Arts The Grand Austrian State Prize () is a decoration given annually by Austria to an artist for exceptional work. The recipient must be an Austrian citizen with a permanent residence in Austria. It was originally created in 1950 by then education mi ...

* 1968: Medal of the Austrian capital Vienna *

Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class The Austrian Decoration for Science and Art () is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria and forms part of the Austrian national honours system. History The "Austrian Decoration for Science and Art" was established by the National C ...

* Grand Gold Decoration of the province of Lower Austria * Grand Gold Decoration of Styria * 1981: Gutenberg Prize of the City of Leipzig * 1983: Lovis Corinth Prize

References

External links

www.fronius-hans.com

Biography at the Lower Austrian Museum

(Includes samples) * http://www.austria-lexikon.at/af/Wissenssammlungen/Biographien/Fronius,_Hans 1903 births 1988 deaths Artists from Sarajevo 20th-century Austrian painters Austrian male painters German Army personnel of World War II Transylvanian Saxon people Academy of Fine Arts Vienna alumni Recipients of the Grand Austrian State Prize Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class 20th-century Austrian male artists {{Austria-painter-stub