Alfons Walde

_{Oberndorf 1891 - 1958 Kitzbühel}

From 1910 to 1914 Walde studied architecture at the Technische Hochschule in Vienna. He moved in artistic circles that included Albin Egger – Lienz, Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt. Ferdinand Hodler also influenced the young artist. In 1911 he had his first exhibition in Innsbruck, in 1913 he was already represented with four farm paintings at the exhibition of Vienna's Secession. From 1914 to 1917 he actively participated as a Tyrolean Kaiserschütze in the high mountain battles of World War I. Afterwards, he continued his studies at the Technische Hochschule in Vienna, but soon returned to Kitzbühel. In Kitzbühel he fully devoted himself to painting and participated in exhibitions of the Secession and the Wiener Künstlerhaus again in the 1920s. Around 1928 he finally found his own characteristic style that expressilvely rendered the idyllic Tyrolean mountain scenery - particularly the lively winter landscapes - and its robust people through the use of highly reduced drawings and a pastose colouring. In 1955 Walde was awarded the title of professor of the Vienna Academy as a late official recognition of his hugely important artistic work. The artist died in Kitzbühel in 1958. As a painter, architect, graphic artist and publisher, Alfons Walde formed the bedrock of Tyrolean art of the first half of the 20th century.