Walter Pichler, Kopf 2, 1989

Walter Pichler (Deutschnofen, Italy 1936 - Vienna, Austria 2012)

Born in 1936, Walter Pichler produced a vast number of drawings, sculptures and architectural constructions blurring the boundaries between the various arts. His early artworks were inspired by the “utopian architecture” that emerged in Vienna before spreading internationally in the 1960s. His sculptures and drawings developed together through a long process with a constant correlation; some of his sculptures took decades to be completed.

Pichler’s most important sculptures, displayed in purpose-built architectural shells, are in St. Martin in Burgenland, where the artist lived until the end of his life.

Pichler was educated at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Innsbruck and studied at the University for Applied Arts in Vienna. He has exhibited internationally, including at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in 1967 and 1975; Documenta 4 in Kassel in 1968; Austrian Pavilion at the 40th Venice Biennial in 1982; Städel Museum in Frankfurt am Main in 1978; MAK, Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna in 1988 and 2011; Generali Foundation in Vienna in 1998; Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1998 and the Modern Art Museum in Salzburg in 2016/17.

He died in Austria in 2012.