Modern Art - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 1987 - 5 Shilling

The river landscape on the thirteenth value of the special stamp series "Modern Art in Austria" is both a real and an imaginary one. The fantastically unreal character is indicated by two female figures, growing or connected with tree trunks, that embody the Daphne motif. At the same time, the precise look directed towards the working technique will reveal that they are not painted but collaged elements of composition, whose loose yet well-organized parts make different tree species grouped together into a landscape. Specifically, the artist associates with her the area of ​​the river Thaya in the immediate vicinity of his life and work area. Arnulf Neuwirth was born on 4 January 1912 in the Lower Austrian town of Gablitz. At the Vienna Academy of Arts he studied with Karl Sterrer, who, like many of his classmates, had inspired him to study East Asian landscape painting. Neuwirth had completed the Vienna Academy time after seven years in 1937. This was followed by travel and military service as part of an interpreting company during the Second World War. After returning to Vienna, he became co-founder of the artist group "Der Kreis". He taught at a fashion school and began producing his first collages in 1956. The work, which served as a template for the brand's motif, "Elysium an der Thaya", he painted between 1970 and 1974.