GOTTFRIED SALZMANN

GOTTFRIED SALZMANN

Biography

Images

Gottfried Salzmann, born in Saalfelden near Salzburg in 1943, studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 1963, moved to Paris in 1965 and studied at the École des Beaux Arts. His landscape paintings received recognition early on. He has been awarded numerous prizes. In 1982, a major monography by Walter Koschatzky, the Director of the Albertina in Vienna. In the same year, a retrospective in the Albertina with a catalogue. Also in 1982, a monograph by Wieland Schmied on his drawings. 1991 Exhibition at the Rupertinum in Salzburg. 2006 Creation of a Gottfried Salzmann Room at the Salzburg Museum; the monograph includes a contribution by Klaus Albrecht Schröder. 2011 Award of the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art.

Klaus Albrecht Schröder: Gottfried Salzmann remains completely independent in the manner of the colouring and composition of his paintings. Beyond the virtuosity of his handling of the technique, they are of great complexity and singular in this. Salzmann is able to build an expressive basic framework from the white of the paper, which has equal importance to the colour, and also forms a stabilising element for the composition. The gradations and traces of colour, which appear to be randomly spread over the paper, are of a delicacy that is not appealing, for the very reason that they have no value for themselves, but are balanced for the overall concept. (Klaus Albrecht Schröder, Director of Albertina Vienna, Gottfried Salzmann, 2006)