Erna Kopriva

_{Vienna 1894 - 1984 Vienna}

Erna (Ernestine) Kopriva was born in Vienna in 1894. She studied at the School of Arts and Crafts between 1914 and 1919 in the specialist class for sculpture under Anton Hanak and for architecture with Josef Hoffmann. After graduation she switched seamlessly to the Wiener Werkstätte as a ceramist. She presented her works at the Art Show in Vienna in 1920, the World’s Fair in Paris in 1925, and at the Exhibition for European Arts and Crafts in Leipzig in 1927. In 1928 she left the Wiener Werkstätte and became the substitute teacher and assistant to Hoffmann at the School of Arts and Crafts. After her compulsory retirement during the war years, she received the position of head of the masterclass for printed materials and wallpaper, and the title of professor in 1953. From 1960 onward, Erna Kopriva worked for nearly twenty years in her retirement as a freelance artist. She died in Vienna in 1984.