2024 marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of the artist Adolf Frohner, who died in 2007. To mark this anniversary, the Forum Frohner is dedicating a two-part exhibition series to him, which sheds light on the artistic relationships between the passionate teacher and his pupils.
Frohner himself was self-taught. He did not complete any regular art studies. He only attended the famous evening course with Herbert Boeckl at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in the 1950s.
After his solo exhibition at the Venice Biennale (1970), Frohner was appointed to the Academy of Applied Arts (now the University of Applied Arts) in 1972. He initially worked as an associate professor for nude drawing. In 1976 he became a full professor. He subsequently took on various departments and positions until he held the master class for painting from 1985. Despite retiring in 2002, he continued to teach in the painting class for a further three years. During his four decades at the University of Applied Arts, he met a large number of young artists.
Adolf Frohner, Van Gogh & Cézanne try to fly, 1998 © Adolf Frohner gemeinnützige Privatstiftung, Photo: Peter Böttcher
Dialogues
The spring exhibition "Dialogues" shows works by artists who studied in Adolf Frohner's master class in the 1980s and early 1990s and have links to Frohner's artistic position. In these decades, the gesture of painting, the color itself and the relationship to what is seen are the focus of the art. In the juxtaposition of an early work and a current work by these artists, continuities become just as visible as ruptures and changes.
With Frohner's monumental painting "Van Gogh & Cézanne attempt to fly" (1998), the show also presents a programmatic work by Adolf Frohner. Classical modernism and its important representatives form the framework of his artistic and didactic position.
Artists:
ONA B., Adolf Frohner, Harald Gfader, Sylvia K. Kummer, Lisa Kunit, Saša Makarová, Nina Maron, Nikolaus Moser, Emi Rendl Denk, Birgit Sauer
May 25 to October 20, 2024
Confrontations
From November 2024, the second part of the series, entitled "Confrontations", will be dedicated to counter-positions to Frohner's work.
