Walter Pichler

The Austrian sculptor, draughtsman and architect Walter Pichler always claimed a consistent interpenetration of life, art, sculpture and architecture. He always understood art as the elementary essence of life. The intrinsic tension between sculpture and architecture is characteristic of his entire oeuvre. - Similar in age, with some overlaps in their biographies, Hermann Nitsch and his friend Walter Pichler chose very different paths in their artistic expression. Since their participation in the group exhibition “Rennweg” curated by Rudi Fuchs in 1985, they had intended to exhibit together again. Posthumously, we proudly could make this possible.

Biography

Born 1936 in Deutschnofen, South Tyrol, Italy
Died 2012 in Vienna, Austria

Walter Pichler was educated at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Innsbruck and studied at the University for Applied Arts, Vienna. Already from a young age, he was exhibited in renowned international museums, such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, 1967 and 1975, at the Documenta 4 in Kassel 1968, at the Austrian Pavilion at the 40th Venice Biennale 1982

Since 1973, Walter Pichler mainly worked at a remote farmhouse in St. Martin an der Raab in Burgenland, where he also realized architecture for his sculptures. His sculptures and drawings developed in an often long-standing process and a permanent correlation. For Walter Pichler, the drawings were focused on conception in preparation for his meticulous work on his sculptures, but also a kind of liberation from that precision work.

Walter Pichler is exclusively represented by Galerie Krinzinger in Vienna.

Selected solo exhibitions

1967Architectural Fantasies (mit Hans Hollein und Raimund Abraham), MOMA, New York/US
1971Walter Pichler, Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts, Wien/AT
1973111 Zeichnungen, Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Wien/AT
1975Projects: Walter Pichler, MOMA, New York/US
1977Walter Pichler, Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover/DE, Kunsthalle Tübingen/DE,
Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, München/DE
1978Walter Pichler, Haus der Kunst, München/DE
Walter Pichler, Israel Museum, Jerusalem/IL
1981Werkschau sämtlicher Architekturprojekte, Zeichnungen, Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Stuttgart/DE
198240. Biennale di Venezia, Österreichischer Pavillon, Venedig/IT
1988Directions: Walter Pichler. Works On Paper, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington/US
1990Skulpturen. MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst, Wien/AT
1996Joseph Beuys, Walter Pichler: Zeichnungen, Gerhard Marcks–Haus, Bremen/DE; Käthe–Kollwitz–Museum, Berlin/DE; Mannheimer Kunstverein, Mannheim/DE
1998Drawings: Sculptures: Buildings, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam/NL
2001Drawings, Sculptures, Architecture, Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York/US
2002Das Haus neben der Schmiede, Architekturzentrum, Wien/AT
2007Es ist doch der Kopf, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin/DE, 2007
Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck/AT
2010Zeichnungen – Für meine Mutter, Schloss Tirol, Südtirol/IT
2011Künstler im Fokus #11: Walter Pichler: Skulpturen, Modelle, Zeichnungen,  MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst, Wien/AT
2016Pichler. Radikal: Architektur & Prototypen, Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Salzburg/AT

Selected group exhibitions

1966Selection 66, MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst, Wien/AT
1967Biennale des Jeunes, Paris/FR
1968Documenta 4, Kassel/DE
196914 x 14, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden/DE
1973Zeichnungen der österreichischen Avantgarde, Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck/AT; Palais Thurn & Taxis, Bregenz/AT; Galerie Stampa, Basel/CH; Bündner Kunsthaus, Chur/CH; Städtisches Museum Schloss Morsbroich, Leverkusen/DE; Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz/AT; Austrian Cultural Forum, New York/US
1974Works on Paper, MOMA, New York/US
1977Architecture: Seven Architects, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia/US
1977Documenta 6, Kassel/DE
1978Zeichen setzen durch Zeichnen, Kunstverein, Hamburg/DE
1984Content: A Contemporary Focus 1974–1984, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington/US
1985Rennweg, Castello di Rivoli, Turin/IT; Nationalbibliothek, Madrid/ES
1989Drawing as itself, National Museum of Art Osaka, Osaka/JP
1995Freud’s Children: Postwar Austrian Drawings, David Nolan Gallery, New York/US
1996Malerei in Österreich 1945–1995. Die Sammlung Essl, Künstlerhaus Wien, Wien/AT
1996Kunst aus Österreich 1896–1996, Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn/DE
1996Visionäre Architektur in Österreich, Architektur Biennale, Venedig/IT
1997Augenzeugen. Die Sammlung Hanck. Papierarbeiten der 80er und 90er Jahre, Stiftung Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf/DE
1999Lineamente International – Von der Linie zur Zeichnung, Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz/AT
1999Das Gedächtnis öffnet seine Tore. Die Kunst der Gegenwart im Lenbachhaus, Städtische Galerie Lenbachhaus, München/DE
2000Open Ends, MOMA, New York/US
2001Les Années Pop. 1956–1968, MNAM, Centre Pompidou, Paris/FR
2002Design Now. Österreich, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokio/JP
2003The Changing of the Avant-Garde: Visionary Architectural Drawings from the Howard Gilman Collection, MOMA, New York/US
2004SUPPORT 2 – Die Neue Galerie als Sammlung, Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz/AT
2005Occupying Space. Sammlung Generali Foundation, Haus der Kunst, München/DE; Witte de With, Nederlands Fotomuseum, TENT, Rotterdam/NL; Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb/HR
2005Summer of Love. Art of the Psychedelic Era, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool/GB; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt/DE; Kunsthalle, Wien/AT; Whitney Museum, New York/US
2006In-Depth: The House of Spiritual Retreat by Emilio Ambasz, MOMA, New York/US
2007For a Special Place: Documents and Works from the Generali Foundation Collection. Austrian Cultural Forum, New York/US
2008Mind Expanders – Performative Körper – utopische Architekturen um ’68, mumok – Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Wien/AT
2009Dreamland: Architectural Experiments since the 1970s, The Museum of Modern Art, New York/US
20091968. Die Große Unschuld, Kunsthalle, Bielefeld/DE
2010Roboterträume. Robot Dreams, Kunsthaus Graz am Universalmuseum Joanneum, Graz/AT; Museum Tinguely, Basel/CH
2011Eyes Looping for a Head to Inhabit 1970s, Muzeum Sztuki, Lodz/PL
20129 + 1 Ways of Being Political: 50 Years of Political Stances in Architecture and Urban Design, The Museum of Modern Art, New York/US
2013Il Palazzo Enciclopedico, 55th International Art Exhibition, Biennale di Venezia, Venedig/IT
2014Soleil politique – The museum between light and shadow, Museion, Bozen/IT
2016Wir Wegbereiter. Pioniere der Nachkriegsmoderne, mumok – Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Wien/AT