Herbert Albrecht

To celebrate the ninetieth birthday of Herbert Albrecht, a stone sculptor from Vorarlberg, the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna is collaborating with the vorarlberg museum in Bregenz and hosting an exhibition in the galleries of the Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities, showcasing the work of this fascinating representative of recent Austrian art.

For over sixty years, Albrecht, who studied with Fritz Wotruba, has focused on the human body. This exhibition juxtaposes his works with ancient Greek and Roman sculpture that was fundamental to shaping the human image in Western art. Standing or seated figures, and especially the human head – Herbert Albrecht continues to search for new forms of his chosen topic. »The human image has become fragile, at least following the horrors of National Socialism«, he said. He feels it is no longer possible to idealize man, which is why »I reduce him; in a way I turn him into a symbol of man«.

Herbert Albrecht has always stayed true to this doctrine – and a sculptor’s traditional materials, stone and bronze. Most contemporaries refuse to subject themselves to this heavy work, but ninety-year-old Albrecht can be found in his studio every day. »Stone demands attitude and poise, and its hardness defies the fast pace of our time and thus the zeitgeist«.