Wotruba International

To mark the fiftieth anniversary of Fritz Wotruba’s death, the Belvedere will present a comprehensive exhibition that, for the first time, highlights the international reach of the Austrian sculptor’s career.

Fritz Wotruba is regarded as one of the most influential figures in Austrian art since 1945. The human figure remained central to his sculptural work, which he increasingly abstracted and reduced to monumental blocks or cylindrical forms—yet never lost its connection to anthropomorphic origins. He thought of his art as a humanistic counterpoint to the devastation of war. The human being remained the central pillar of Wotruba’s artistic work: it stands at the beginning and will stand at the end (Wotruba, 1959).

Following Fritz Wotruba’s death in 1975, his artistic presence dimmed—partly because the concept of sculpture since the 1960s had expanded, and the medium increasingly embraced performative, installation-based, and process-oriented forms. The exhibition at the Belvedere 21 provides a fresh impetus for the international reception of Wotruba’s oeuvre by placing the artist in a global dialogue with a generation of sculptors who centered their practice on reflecting on the human condition. The exhibition demonstrates that Wotruba, the Austrian sculptor par excellence, was by no means a local phenomenon. It was primarily his mastery of stone that earned him early and significant international acclaim, establishing him as an important voice in the postwar discourse on sculpture.

Featuring sculptures by Fritz Wotruba alongside works by international artists who shared his artistic path, the exhibition offers a fresh perspective on postwar Modernist sculpture. Central to the presentation are a broad selection of Wotruba’s large-scale works—from the Belvedere’s collection and international loans—dating from 1928 to 1974. These are complemented by fifteen sculptures by artists who were either friends, collaborators, or fellow exhibitors on the international stage. The conversations between Wotruba’s works and those of Kenneth Armitage, César, Lynn Chadwick, Alberto Giacometti, Barbara Hepworth, Henri Laurens, Jacques Lipchitz, Aristide Maillol, Marino Marini, Henry Moore, Louise Nevelson, Isamu Noguchi, Eduardo Paolozzi, Alicia Penalba, and Germaine Richier bring these historical encounters to life. In a spatial staging by the next ENTERprise Architects they highlight the broader international context and underscore the distinctiveness of Wotruba’s sculptural language.

The exhibition will be accompanied by the publication Wotruba International, published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König.

Curated by Verena Gamper and Gabriele Stöger-Spevak

Press contact: presse [at] belvedere.at / T +43 1 79 557 185. View press materials here.