BRESSLERN ROTH, NORBERTINE (1891-1978)

"Junge Raubvogel” (c.1920)
Original linocut
25.5 x 26.5cm
Signed lower right
*private collection, Sydney
 
Bresslern Roth was a legendary, pioneering, award-winning Austrian painter and printmaker and illustrator. Alongside her male colleagues, Carl Fahringer and Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel, she is considered to be one of Austria’s best animal painters. She studied at the Graz Landeskunstschule Art School, then the Vienna Academy of Fine arts under Ferdinand Schmutzer. She became a member of the "Werkbundes Freiland" group, which, under Fritz Silberbauer, was also engaged in the promotion of female artists. Bresslern-Roth was able to train her precise gift for observation at home and in the garden. From 1920, she became a pioneer of the linocut process - a technique that was then still in its infancy and which she perfected over the years. Aside from her animal paintings, she made a name for herself as an illustrator for school and children's books. She also produced tapestry and ivory miniatures. She rapidly achieved success with her artworks, her pictures sold well and her exhibitions at home and abroad were always very well attended. In 1928, she took a study-trip to North Africa. The sketches, photographs, watercolours and gouache paintings she created there served as a source of inspiration for her future artworks. Bresslern-Roth was awarded numerous prizes, including the Austrian State Prize in 1936. She was also associated with the Joanneum state museum through her many years of collaboration and countless donations. In 2016, the Neue Galerie Graz dedicated a major exhibition to her.