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1929 - Wien - 2008
- Title
- „Four Heads“
- Time
- 2003
- signed
- lower left: "M 2003"
- Technique
- oil on canvas
- Measurements
- 32×32 in
Josef Mikl was one of the most important pioneers of abstract painting in Austria. Yet the artist saw himself as a representational painter, as he worked with abstracted but nevertheless recognizable motifs. The human form predominates as the subject of Mikl’s paintings and drawings. With wide, gestural brushstrokes in strong, brilliant colors, the artist created works of great vitality that can be counted among the works of the Art Informel movement. Josef Mikl was very active in both the domestic and international art scenes throughout his life. After completing his studies at the Academy in Vienna with Josef Dobrowsky (1948-55), he co-founded the renowned Galerie nächst St. Stephan together with the famous Austrian artists Markus Prachensky, Arnulf Rainer, and Wolfgang Hollegha. He took part in countless national and international exhibitions, and was honored with numerous awards including the Grand Gold Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria. Josef Mikl received a number of prestigious commissions, including one for a monumental ceiling fresco and 22 murals in the Redoutensaal of the Hofburg Palace. He was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna from 1969 until 1997.