Born 1923 in Carinthia in St. Urban on Lake Ossiach
Died 2021 in Vienna

Vita

Hans Staudacher “doodled”, as the artist himself calls it, at school. So he learned painting as an autodidact. After the war he attended Arnold Clementschitsch’s painting school in Carinthia. In the 1950s he moved to Vienna, but also lived in Paris, which had a great artistic influence on him. The young artist was particularly interested in the turn-of-the-century painters and the Nötsch circle. In Vienna he became a member of the Vienna Secession, where he is now an honorary member. In 1956 he represented Austria at the 28th Venice Biennale with eight paintings and in 1975 at the 13th São Paulo Biennale together with Cornelius Kolig and Gotthard Muhr. Today, unfortunately, he no longer paints or draws because his eyesight has deteriorated: “Otherwise, the last picture would be called ‘Staudacher sticks in the picture’ because I can’t get up anymore.”

Work

The artist has worked with various materials, but many of his works were created on paper. Although he began painting abstractly at an early age, Staudacher’s roots lie in the figurative. In interviews he says that he always painted very quickly and there was no time to think: “You must not have thought about anything when you painted that! I replied, “No, not anyway! It’s all about the muscles.” He often continues to work on his works years later. The spontaneity of the creation of the paintings can also be felt when looking at them. His works usually radiate an intensity that is very absorbing. Furthermore, they are executed in an expressive and gestural painting style. The artist also uses words and symbols in his works.

He is a member of the Forum Stadtpark and the Carinthian Art Association. He is considered a representative of Tachism and Action Painting. He is also said to be the founder of informal painting in Austria. However, the artist himself never wanted to write art history, but to paint. Staudacher is one of the best-known living Austrian painters.