Groups

Vienna School of Fantastic Realism

The Vienna School of Fantastic Realism is a group of artists founded in Vienna in 1946. It includes Ernst Fuchs, Arik Brauer, Rudolf Hausner, Wolfgang Hutter, Anton Lehmden and Fritz Janschka, all students of Professor Albert Paris Gütersloh at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. It was Albert Paris von Gütersloh’s emphasis on the techniques of the Old Masters that gave the Fantastic Realist painters a grounding in realism, expressed with a clarity and detail some have compared to early Flemish painting. This combined with religious and esoteric symbolism.

A breakthrough came in the 1960s when the three artists achieved international success as representatives of Austrian post-war painting. Arik Brauer and Ernst Fuchs are two of the central figures in the art movement known as the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism. It developed out of the general perception of Surrealism in the early post-war years and its main representatives were Ernst Fuchs, Arik Brauer, Wolfgang Hutter, Anton Lehmden and Rudolf Hausner. As a figurative painting style, the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism used the techniques of the Old Masters and its content was diametrically opposed to avant-garde art, which was abstract and abstracting. It attained a certain significance alongside other movements and forms of expression in Austrian post-war art and was particularly popular between 1955 and 1970. Unlike other movements, it did not consist of a group of artists with a similar programme, but in spite of the highly individual characters, methods of working and themes, the extreme perfection of the painting technique is a common feature of all of the artists.

The Vienna School of Fantastic Realism was an art movement founded in post-war Austria by a group of young, mostly Austrian artists. These artists attended the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts together, and their teacher and mentor was Albert Paris Gütersloh, a dazzling, larger-than-life personality (1887-1973). Born in Vienna, Gütersloh, whose real name was Albert Conrad Kiehtreiber, studied with the painter Gustav Klimt. When he started his teaching career in 1930, he had already acquired an extraordinary amount of varied experience: he had been a journalist, a writer, an editor, an actor and a film director. Among his friends were some of the most outstanding writers of the early 20th century, including Heimito v. Doderer, Hugo v. Hofmannsthal, Robert Musil and Hermann Bahr.

From 1938 until the end of the Second World War he was banned from his teaching duties by the Nazis. In 1945, Gütersloh became a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts. Two years later, he became the first president of the newly-founded Arts Club which later gave rise to the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism. Considered one of the most progressive platforms for young artists, the Arts Club’s mission was to fight for the autonomy of art. A number of exhibitions were organized by the Arts Club at the famous Vienna Secession, a permanent gallery founded by an art movement called Secession, or the Zedlitzgasse, where the Vienna Art Center was located.

Techniques and Sources

Gütersloh emphasized the techniques of the Old Masters which gave his students a grounding in realism, thus exposing them to the clarity and detail of early German and Flemish painting. Fantastic Realism combines religious and esoteric symbolism with elements of psychoanalysis. It is rooted in the Jugendstil and New Objectivity, an Expressionist art movement founded in Germany in the aftermath of World War I. Although Fantastic Realism was initially overshadowed by Abstract Art, it soon became accepted as a valid manifestation of modern independent Austrian art. Since it had initially associated itself with Surrealism, the Vienna School faced bitter denunciation by Surrealists and Surrealist groups. The differences, however, between Fantastic Realism and Surrealism were clearly evident. Orthodox Surrealists such as André Breton demanded that painting not be subject to any control by reason, whereas most of the Fantastic Realists created artificial spaces of fantasy which they then interpreted with their intellect.

Society for the Art of Imagination

A work of imagination originates when artists express their awareness of some significant relationship with larger forces or realities using realism in an effort to reveal their secrets.

It may be called by many names – Fantastic Realism, Surrealism, Magic Realism, Visionary Art, Inspirational Art – but the Society has chosen ‘Art of Imagination‘ (artofimagination.org) because it is the least restrictive and yet most unifying title.

The members of the Society work independently of one another in various countries yet their work shows a consistent ethos and, whether the work is a painting, sculpture, computer-originated art or 3D object, it speaks a universal language. Though each work is its own, separate, distinct and original creation there is a kindred spirit unimpaired by language, time or distance.

Since their inception AOI have grown to an Internnational Society with branches all over the world. The American branch is a registered US Charity.

Honorary Art Members of AOI are Ernst Fuchs, H R Giger, Bob Venosa, Martina Hoffmann, Alex Grey, Laurie Lipton, Henry Boxer, De Es , and Ingo.

Statement of Purpose

• AOI’s mission is to battle the spirit of anti-art that is endemic around us
• They intend to assist the resurgence of interest in fantastic and visionary art and make the Art of Imagination accessible to all
• They are creating a community of support for other artists working in this spirit
• They encourage fine technique coupled with imagination to create fine works of art that transcend the ordinary
• They plan to provide teaching and seminar programs free or at low cost
• They are planning A book of Art of Imagination
• They Maintain an active website (artofimagination.org)
• They Send out a high quality magazine called Inscape twice a year to their members

Aims of the Society for Art of Imagination

The Society for Art of Imagination was founded by Brigid Marlin (brigidmarlin.com) in England in 1995. It’s aim was to form a movement where artists of Vision and Craftsmanship could unite together to create a forum for the Exhibition and promotion of Art of Imagination.
“The artist should be a creator, a transformer linked to the inner spirit who, with skill and imagination, constructs a creation which embodies or symbolises a significant human value in a way which never existed before; to enhance, illuminate and perpetuate what is best in human values.” writes Michel de St.Ouen, Chairman of the English branch of the Society, and goes on to say;”What is termed ‘art of imagination’ portrays the dramas which are the human conditions, exploring and expressing mysteries so as to make them comprehensible.and the chief contribution that artists of the imagination can make is their power to enlarge the range of emotions which affect all of us, enriching psychic, metaphysical, and spiritual values, and the appreciation of the beauties of the physical world which expand delight in existence and enhance self-realisation.

International Fantastic Art Association

To the outside world, Japan has long had a reputation for being fascinated with the strange and bizarre. Japan has always loved Fantastic Art since the Ukiyoe era. In 1965, a japanese poet, Shuzo Takiguchi was the first to introduce Surrealism to Japan. He used to be in contact with Salvador Dali and is also found in Andre Breton’s dictionary of Surrealism. Many Japanese visionaries were taught by him.

Five years ago, Japanese artist Shoji Tanaka discovered the Society for the Art of Imagination (AOI) and then later Beinart.org. It was at that time that he put together IFAA believing that they needed something else than just galleries, as in Japan there are few Fantastic Art galleries. But the few do that do exist do have good collectors and many fans.

Most Japanese Fantastic Artists are isolated and work on their own, and have no network. Hence there was the need to create the association. The Association’s members are mostly younger artists as the older artists are not so inclined to network. It is believed that there are many Japanese artists working in the Fantastic, Surreal and Visionary genres and the IFAA wants to find them.

The Association’s priority is its yearly exhibition. To date there have been three shows (2006, 2007, 2008). The Association also invites one or two foreign artists each year to exhibit with them, with the intent to build international relationships. Websites such as those of AOI and beinArt.org have shown us the wealth of talent that exists in the world.

The IFAA also have a website http://ifaa.cc/ifaa/. The web site is progressing and they hope to update it by the end of the year in Japanese and English.

Labyrinthe

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