Anton Velim

_{Wien 1892 - 1954 Wien}

Anton Velim was born in Vienna in 1892. From 1908 to 1912 he attended the Graphische Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt in Vienna and subsequently studied under Delug and Jungwirth at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts until 1920. That year he received a grant that took him to Rome. As early as 1913, the artist exhibited in the Secession and, from 1929 onward, also in the Künstlerhaus. In 1927 Velim was awarded the Austrian State Prize. In 1938 he became a member of the Vienna Künstlerhaus and the Vienna Secession. In 1954 he received the Honorary Award of the Municipality of Vienna.
Anton Velim created post cards for the Wiener Werkstätte. Initially, his pictures were delicate and lyrical: after the war his artistic interests shifted towards fresco painting, his themes focusing on the peasant and worker milieu. In his later works colour became his most important stylistic element, which drew Anton Velim to the threshold of abstract painting.