Oswald Oberhuber

_{Merano 1931 - 2020 Vienna}

Austrian painter, sculptor and graphic artist Oswald Oberhuber first studied sculpture at the Federal Trade School in Innsbruck from 1945 until 1949. He then moved to Vienna to study sculpture with Fritz Wotruba at the Academy of Fine Arts, followed by a stay at the Stuttgart Academy with Willi Baumeister. The Academy in Stuttgart named Oberhuber an honorary member in 1982 and honorary senator in 2004.
In 1964/65, he became an artistic advisor to the Galerie nächst St. Stephan, of which he took over leadership from Otto Mauer in 1973, leading the gallery until 1978. In 1972, he represented Austria at the Venice Biennale. A year later, he assumed the position of professor at the Hochschule für angewandte Kunst in Vienna, to which he stayed associated until achieving the status of emeritus in 1998. In 1977 Oberhuber participated in the documenta 6 and 1982 in the documenta 7. Between 1979 and 1987 as well as between 1991 and 1995 he headed the Hochschule as rector.
The artist’s early work is considered belonging to the Informel movement. From the mid-1950s onwards he began working more realistically. He exhibited twice in the gallery Vorsetzen in Hamburg, with Objektmöbel, Entwürfe, Zeichnungen (1989) and Malerei (1992). He died in 2020 and was buried at the Hietzinger cemetary in Vienna.