Mahler Hall/Marble Hall
The Vienna State Opera asked Dr. Sabine Plakolm-Forsthuber for an expert opinion on the artistic design of the auditoriums in the Vienna State Opera 1949-1955
in 1946, an artistic ideas competition was announced for the reconstruction of the auditorium and the roof construction of the Vienna State Opera. There were several reasons for the conspicuously small number of participants from rather less renowned Austrian architects: Firstly, the Prohibition Act enacted in May 1945 prohibited the participation of former members of the NSDAP. Secondly, foreign architects were not invited for cost reasons - the invitation of emigrated architects was not even considered - and thirdly, some architects were still prisoners of war.[1] Unsurprisingly, the plans submitted for this extremely complex task did not meet the expectations of the jury members of the Opera Building Committee. Therefore, in May 1947, another, narrower competition was held for the interior design, including the new intermission rooms on the second floor. The submissions were divided into groups. The first group included Erich Boltenstern (1896-1991) and the Salzburg architects Otto Prossinger (1906-1987) and Felix Cevela (1922-2022), while the second group included Ceno Kosak (1904-1985) and Clemens Holzmeister[2]
At the same time as the decision was taken in 1949 to entrust Erich Boltenstern with the overall artistic direction, Ceno Kosak was commissioned to redesign today's Gustav Mahler Hall (Tapestry Hall) and Otto Prossinger (Felix Cevela's colleague) was commissioned to redesign the Marble Hall (Buffet Hall).[3] The three architects knew each other from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and came from the close circle of Clemens Holzmeister and Peter Behrens; Cevela, who worked as a technical assistant in Prossinger's studio from 1938, only studied at the School of Arts and Crafts under Oswald Haerdtl after 1945 until 1948[4]
As members of the Nazi coercive organization of the Reichskammer der bildenden Künste, the commissioned architects had continued their architectural practice during the war years, albeit under very different conditions. Boltenstern, who had lost his position at the Academy of Fine Arts and his civil engineering license due to his "Jewish affiliation", managed to find work in a private architectural office and accept commissions in industrial construction.[5] As an exponent of the Patriotic Front, Kosak had been dismissed as a teacher at the School of Arts and Crafts in 1938.[6] Nevertheless, he was able to implement several projects in southern Bohemia during the war, including theater conversions in Budweis and Tabor. In 1939, Otto Prossinger, who was experienced in building modern villas in Salzburg, took part in an official Nazi competition to design the Lehen bridgeheads on the banks of the Salzach;[7] after the end of the war, he was involved in the reconstruction of the city. This largely uninterrupted planning activity by Boltenstern, Kosak and Prossinger between 1938-45 was probably one of the prerequisites for their successful participation in the state opera competition. Immediately after the end of the war, they were present both as planners and teachers. In addition, they were regarded as exponents of a moderate modernism based on the formal language of the 1930s, which fitted in well with the concept of a contemporary, yet largely reconstructive reconstruction of the identity-forming State Opera, as advocated by politicians, jurors and monument conservationists.
Gustav Mahler Hall (Tapestry Hall)
Ceno Kosak's task was to transform the former management rooms along Kärntnerstrasse into a modern break room for the audience. In addition to questions of spatial planning, materiality and artistic design were also important. The Opera Building Committee demanded "first-class ballrooms" that were "culturally of the highest standard."[8] While in February 1948 it was still being considered whether to furnish the new auditoriums with items on loan from the Viennese collections in agreement with the Monuments Office,[9] Kosak must soon have developed his own ideas. For the long wall opposite the window wall and for the end walls of this gallery space, the idea was to alternate floor-to-ceiling tapestries (4.70 m x 2.83 m, with five areas also containing doors) and finely graduated light-colored wall surfaces made of stuccolustro. Such a large commission - covering an area of 171 m² - could only have been carried out by the renowned Viennese Gobelin Manufactory. The company, founded in 1921 by Dr. August Mader and Robin Christian Andersen as artistic director, had its production facilities in the Reich Chancellery Wing of the Hofburg.[10] In consultation with Mader, Kosak probably made contact with the painter Rudolf Hermann Eisenmenger (1902-1994), who had several tapestries made in Mader's company before and especially during the National Socialist era. This major order for the Vienna State Opera ensured the existence of the Wiener Gobelin Manufaktur[11]
It is astonishing that Eisenmenger, one of Vienna's leading illegal National Socialists, was already classified as "incriminated" in February 1947. His entry into the NSDAP is dated February 28, 1933.[12] From 1937, he belonged to the anti-Semitic Association of German Painters in Austria and held the presidency of the Vienna Künstlerhaus from 1939 to 1945. In addition to numerous major propaganda commissions, such as the decoration of Vienna City Hall, Eisenmenger was included in 1944 in the list of "Gottbegnadeten", a list of indispensable artists of the Nazi elite compiled by Adolf Hitler and Josef Goebbels. As a result of the National Socialist Law, which came into force on February 18, 1947, a distinction was now to be made between the "incriminated" and the "less incriminated", which surprisingly included Eisenmenger. From this point onwards, it was possible for him to take on official commissions again, such as the decoration of the Künstlerhaus cinema in 1948[13]
Tapestry art was used to decorate representative rooms. It experienced a significant upswing in this country during Austrofascism and also under National Socialism. After the Second World War, Jean Lurçat pushed for a renewal in the spirit of modernism and abstraction. He was able to inspire artists such as Le Corbusier, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Juan Miro and others with this architecture-related textile art. It is possible that the "Exhibition of French Modern Tapestries" (5.2.-4.3.1949) shown at the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts in 1949 encouraged Kosak in his plan to furnish the break room with wall hangings. The iconographic program from the "Magic Flute" theme, which was fixed in agreement with the commission on 11.7.1950,[14] can be seen as a reference to Moritz von Schwind's pictorial decoration in the preserved loggia. Eisenmenger's designs met with undivided approval; his former political views and positioning remained unquestioned,[15] although there would certainly have been alternatives at this time.
Herbert Boeckl, who would have represented a more modern, visionary approach, had to resign from his position as rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in June 1945 as a former NSDAP member and was then involved in denazification proceedings.[16] Oskar Kokoschka, as an emigrant, was not even approached. The older conservative artists in particular distanced themselves from Kokoschka, whom the president of the Künstlerhaus Karl Maria May defamed in 1955 as a "former Austrian who, when his homeland was in need, slipped into English citizenship" to the minister Udo Illig.[17] A similar attitude was taken towards Fritz Wotruba and Albert Paris Gütersloh. The art historian Alfred Schmeller described the situation within the artistic community after 1945 as follows: The "painters from the House of German Art [were] all still around. They sat grudgingly in their studios and waited for things to get going again. They acted as if there had never been a Nazi in the whole of Austria. Of course, that wasn't the case; they also existed among the artists."[18]
The young generation of textile artists, including the representatives of Fantastic Realism such as Wolfgang Hutter or the talented Maria Biljan-Bilger, were not yet publicly recognized, nor were those who were working with experimental concepts at the time. Fritz Riedl, Johanna Schidlo, Luise Autzinger and others had in common that they no longer worked their tapestries on the loom, but composed them as free textile objects (direct weaving art).[19] Of course, the aforementioned could not fall back on the experience that was attributed to Eisenmenger. Due to the foreseeable long production time for the tapestries - three and a half years were projected, but it turned out to be five years - the contract with Eisenmenger was quickly concluded on January 30, 1950[20]
In the meantime, Kosak tried to implement a much more comprehensive iconographic programme.[21] In the sense of a synaesthetic spatial concept, he wanted to place 16 larger-than-life individual figures or groups of two on pedestals in front of the wall surfaces, symbolizing musical performance titles or pieces of music according to the design by Wilhelm Frass. In order to convince the commission, a large-format model with 16 figurines as well as an approx. 1 m tall test figure in plaster was made around 1950.[22] Frass, who as a functionary of the Vienna Cultural Office had had a steep Nazi career as a sculptor comparable to Eisenmenger,[23] was probably brought into the game by the latter. The former illegal National Socialist Frass had also managed, thanks to the intercession of numerous artist colleagues, to be considered "less incriminated" in 1947 and, after various objections, "completely rehabilitated" in 1949 and therefore able to accept official commissions.[24] With the support of the Vienna Künstlerhaus, Kosak vehemently advocated the realization of this project and was even prepared to execute the figures in terracotta rather than marble in order to save costs and to involve several sculptors in the interests of promoting artists. In the end, however, he had to bow to the commission's judgment. The monument conservator Otto Demus, who was consulted, spoke of a "gamble" and the then head of the Austrian Federal Theatre Administration Egon Hilbert ironically spoke of the "loudness of a thought."[25] Regardless of the problematic authorship, a sculptural decoration would have disfigured rather than enriched the ballroom.
Eisenmenger's first designs envisaged Verduren (green carpets). This is a form of representation known since the 14th century in which the background is covered exclusively with plant motifs. Verduras, which were revived under National Socialism and often incorporated national emblems or propagandistic banners (Carlos Riefel, Robin Christian Andersen), also experienced a revival after 1945. As decorative wall decorations, usually depicting meadows and forests populated by animals, they were largely ideology-free and versatile. Eisenmenger enriched the original Verdur designs with figural scenes. The Queen of the Night, enthroned and surrounded by a wreath of stars, appears on one end wall, while Tamino with the Magic Flute appears on the opposite wall. Along the long wall, the sleeping Pamina and the bird-catching couple Papageno and Pagagena in their feathered dresses blend into the forest of leaves. The detailed depiction of the forest's interior repeatedly allows a view into the mostly yellowish depths and is enlivened by numerous birds.
Eisenmenger suggested several color variations, which differed primarily in the coloration of the background. The color palette of the design shows a bright yellow (now somewhat faded) background with predominant shades of blue, green, purple and brown. Some of the designs for the windows included curtains with other motifs from "The Magic Flute", including depictions of Sarastro as an apparition of light, a procession and wild animals. Eisenmenger produced numerous designs, sketches and preliminary studies; he was also responsible for the reversed cartoons,[26] which were executed on the flat loom under his supervision at the Vienna Gobelin Manufactory. The artistic realization is traditional and unagitated; the conservative presentation corresponded to the concept demanded by the patrons to offer the public walking in the auditorium a pleasant stay. Like the parquet floor, the floor-to-ceiling tapestries framed by wooden frames muffle the conversations during breaks and provide a view of a continuous forest scene; the finely graduated stuccolustro wall surfaces inserted between them appear like gathered curtains. An abstract, gilded console frieze forms the end of the room, while the ceiling is divided into geometric surfaces by delicate gilded lines.[27] The chandeliers, executed by the Bakalowitz company in 1954 according to Kosak's designs and projecting like flowering chandeliers, hang low and, in keeping with the tapestries, convey a certain gravitas, even stolidity.
Concluding remark
Kosak's idea to decorate the walls of the break room with tapestries led to cooperation with Eisenmenger, who had gained a wealth of experience as a tapestry designer before and during the Nazi era. As there was no demand for experiments, Eisenmenger, who was classified as "incriminated" in 1947, was able to accept this major commission in 1950. The green carpets with their few figural motifs provide a view into the forest interior of this important inner-city cultural building, positioning it far removed from any contemporary or social context. Seen in this light, they stand for a restorative, harmonizing and not very future-oriented image of a world that actually belonged to the past with the destruction and reconstruction of the State Opera. Tapestry art in particular, which reinvented itself after 1945, would also have offered alternative solutions, such as abstract, brightly colored surfaces that would have given the room a more contemporary look, but this was not considered or even intended due to the speed with which the commission had to be awarded.
Marble Hall:
The Salzburg architects Otto Prossinger and Felix Cevela were commissioned with the conversion of the former magnificent Kaisersaal, which was located on Operngasse and had been destroyed during the war, and the adjoining official apartment of the "Hausinspektor" in 1949. Due to its new purpose as a buffet hall, it had to have a different design to the Gobelin Hall because of the catering that took place here. Light white marble was chosen as the defining material for the room. The decision as to who would be responsible for the artistic design of the Marble Hall was made comparatively late, in 1954.[28] It is not known why the Salzburg architects chose the sculptor Heinz Leinfellner (1911-1974). The sculptor, who trained under Anton Hanak and Josef Müllner at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna from 1932 to 1940, worked as a freelancer from 1946 and was an assistant in Fritz Wotruba's master class from 1948 to 1953. His story is evidently one of a successful transformation that was also recognized by unsuspicious contemporaries.
Leinfellner, who joined the NSDAP on May 1, 1938,[29] belonged to the National Socialist German Student Association (NSDStB) from 1939 and was accepted as a member of the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts (B 4052) on April 1, 1940.[30] Leinfellner's initial enthusiasm for the "Anschluss" can be seen on several levels: Through party-political memberships, participation in Nazi competitions, propaganda commissions,[31] prize competitions[32] and in publications.[33 ] The artist, who was drafted for military service in 1941 and stationed in Hainburg, was appointed to the Reichskammer der bildenden Künste on 4.11.in 1941, as a "promising talent", he was given an unavailable position (UK position) in order to carry out construction tasks important to the war effort in Vienna;[34] in 1942 and 1943, he was entrusted with various artistic tasks in Vienna[35]
Neither in his CV nor in the catalog published on the occasion of a memorial exhibition in 1983 are Leinfellner's Nazi works discussed in detail. On the contrary, the competition for the "memorial painting" in Wöllersdorf is described as the "only contact with those in power at the time". Leinfellner's artistic reorientation made him forget his past. What's more, Gabriele Gubitzer writes that his studio "subsequently became a kind of enclave for 'degenerate' artists."[36] It is not known exactly when this change of heart took place. However, Leinfellner was a founding member of the internationally active Art Club group of artists in 1947. His objection to his registration as a member of the NSDAP, submitted to the "Complaints Commission under Section 7 of the Prohibition Act" at the Federal Ministry of the Interior on September 25, 1949, was rejected (December 15, 1950), and his claims to have been active in the resistance were not believed.[37]
In 1954, when the commission for the wall design in the Marble Hall was awarded, his Nazi involvement no longer played a role; this was in line with the socio-political consensus on this issue at the time. From 1947 onwards, Leinfellner, who was "less incriminated", was regarded as a representative of the avant-garde, was a prizewinner of the City of Vienna (1950) and was represented in international exhibitions. In retrospect, the commissioning of Leinfellner was seen as a courageous decision by the construction management, the authorities and the architects - this assessment was made solely for artistic reasons[38]
After the choice of material and the positioning of the reliefs "as a spot to be filled in"[39] had been determined by the two architects, Leinfellner's task was to insert two room-filling decorations into the wall to the left and right of the buffet formerly created by Boltenstern (which had since been renewed and enlarged). For Leinfellner, who at this point had become known primarily as a sculptor, the task was a challenge in every respect. The chosen technique of marble inlay, known from Italian baroque churches, required knowledge of stone cutting techniques, but above all different colored marble, which was difficult to obtain in the mid-fifties. It is known that Leinfellner therefore also integrated artificial marble, various types of European marble and used marble, e.g. slabs from café tables. He received technical support from the sculptor Fritz Tiefenthaler (1929-2010), who studied under Wotruba at the Academy from 1948. The thin, polished marble slabs, cut out as if with "a fretsaw", but in fact with modern stone-cutting machines, were embedded in the wall using plaster and fine pins.[40] Leinfellner perfected this technique in his large abstract relief for the Wiener Stadthalle.
Leinfellner chose a look behind the scenes of the opera as the motifs for his two large murals.[41] The left-hand relief shows scenes from a costume rehearsal, musical instruments, a dance rehearsal, a props room and wardrobe, while the right-hand one shows a wigmaker, a scenery depot, a choir rehearsal, stage architecture and a stage direction rehearsal.[42] The ingenuity of the idea was to arrange the various scenes as if on an unfolded folding screen. Following a basic cubist approach, Leinfellner divided the respective motifs into geometric fields, which he covered with gray, brown, white and dark brown marble slabs. The monumental murals embedded in the white marble wall admittedly appear to have been applied afterwards - Prossinger and Cevela have failed to achieve a convincing architectural integration. The integration of the four supraports above the wooden doors inlaid with an elegant, intricate pattern of lines was more successful. The cubist marble inlays above the doors depict overlapping masks, musical instruments and still lifes; the materials used, such as the red-brown door surround, are made of Salzburg marble.
As a reminiscence of the former neo-baroque Kaisersaal, a formally reduced white coffered ceiling was inserted above a beige cornice. The flat, ring-shaped ceiling chandeliers and the wall lights between the windows were made by the Bakalowitz company.[43] The flooring consists of sand-colored marble slabs.
Concluding remarks
The architects Otto Prossinger and Fritz Cevela, who were commissioned with the architectural planning of the Marble Hall in 1949, only decided in 1954 to cooperate with the sculptor Heinz Leinfellner, who had to design a work of art to match the room shell for this catering hall. Leinfellner, who, like Eisenmenger, had been involved in Nazi commissions as a member of the NSDAP, was considered "incriminated" from 1947 onwards and sought contact with the international art scene, at least after the end of the war. The influences of Cubism, the reduction, blocking and fragmentation of forms characterize his subsequent sculptural oeuvre. For the planned relief paintings, the sculptor opted for the marble inlay technique, which is rarely used in monumental architecture. By choosing scenes from the backstage area, he created a suitable motivic reference to the world of theater. The spatial integration of the artworks was less convincing. The materiality, which was fixed from the outset, was intended to be reminiscent of prestigious marble halls. Instead of lavish representation, design and colorful richness, a tendency towards restraint and sober modernity is noticeable. The dominance of light white marble for floors and walls, contrasted only by Erich Boltenstern's red sofas, results in a certain sterile atmosphere, into which the consuming public brings life and movement.
Conclusion: The rebuilding of the Vienna State Opera, like that of St. Stephen's Cathedral and the construction of the Tauern power station in Kaprun, was one of the identity-forming building projects in Austria's post-war history. The reconstruction, for which Erich Boltenstern was responsible, was carried out entirely in the spirit of reconstruction. The design of the interior rooms largely follows the same principle, with the exception of the so-called side rooms, where the intention was to proceed somewhat more freely. The Tapestry Hall and the Marble Hall nevertheless point in different directions. In terms of its design (as well as the artists who executed it), the Tapestry Hall is clearly restorative, whereas the Marble Hall was at least intended to express a claim to modernity. (The smoking room designed by Giselbert Hoke was not accessible anyway because it was too modern). The speed with which the commission was awarded contributed to the fact that the two very different rooms are now a contemporary document of the difficult new beginning of Austrian art after 1945.
[1] I would like to thank Anna Stuhlpfarrer for making archival material from the Austrian State Archives available to me. Anna Stuhlpfarrer: Outside of contemporary events in modern architecture. Zum Wiederaufbau der Wiener Staatsoper in den Jahren 1945-1955, in: Oliver Rathkolb/Oliver Láng /Dominique Meyer/Andreas Láng (eds.), Geschichte der Oper in Wien Band 2: Von 1869 bis zur Gegenwart, Vienna-Graz 2019, p. 9.
[2] O. A.: Redesign of the Vienna Opera, in: Weltpresse, 31.12.1947, p. 2.
[3]AT-OeSTA, AdR/04/BMfHuWAB, GZ30.478/1949, Zl 32.370/I/5/1949. The preliminary contract is dated 23.2.1949
[4] University of Applied Arts Vienna, Art Collection and Archive, National Felix Cevela. The contracts for the interiors were probably already awarded to Prossinger/Cevela and Kosak in October 1948. Cf. n.d., Reconstruction of the State Opera, in: Salzburger Nachrichten, 28.10.1948, p. 6.
[5] Ingrid Holzschuh/Sabine Plakolm-Forsthuber: Auf Linie. NS art policy in Vienna. The Reich Chamber of Fine Arts, Basel 2021, p. 95.
[6] AT-OeStA/AdR UWFuK BMU PA Sign 1 Kosak Ceno Kosak, Ceno, 30.12.1904, 1945-1984.
[7] K.: Großzügige Neugestaltung an der Lehener Brücke, in: Salzburger Volksblatt, 3.6.1939, pp. 5-6. Prossinger submitted the design with Otto Janko.
[8] AT-OeSTA, AdR/03/ÖBThV/Wiederaufbau, 28 (fol.1), Zl 2, 1952 /Kt.2), memorial minutes of the State Opera meeting, 27.6.1951.
[9] AT-OeSTA, AdR/04/BMfHuWAB/GZ 30.478/1949, Zl. 30.909/I/5/1949.
[10] Anita Gallian: Wiener Gobelinmanufaktur 1921-1987. Geschichte einer Manufaktur, Dipl.-Arb., Univ. Vienna, 1996.
[11] Privately owned by the Eisenmenger family, Vienna: Letter from August Mader to Rudolf H. Eisenmenger dated January 12, 1950, in which Mader wrote: "I am happy that it has now come to the desired conclusion".
[12] AT-OeStA/Gauakt Rudolf H. Eisenmenger, NSDAP, personnel questionnaire, 19.5.1038, NSDAP membership number 1.457.641 (from 28.2.1933).
[13] Holzschuh/Plakolm-Forsthuber 2021, pp. 265-270.
[14] AT-OeSTA, AdR/04/BMfHuWAB/GZ 30.002/I/5/1950 (in box 1205), no. 40-937/I/5/1950
[15] J(örg) L(ampe): Gobelin-Verdüren für die Wiener Oper, in: Die Presse, 8.1.1951. Lampe merely notes that criticism had been voiced at the time when the commission was awarded to "a single person". On the basis of the sketches now presented, however, he was convinced "that only one hand could find a coherent solution here".
[16] His impressive tapestry for the Wiener Stadthalle on the theme of "The World and Man" was created between 1954 and 1957. AT-OeSTA, AdR/Gauakt Herbert Boeckl, No. 129.819. Elisabeth Klamper: Zur politischen Geschichte der Akademie der bildenden Künste 1918 bis 1948. Eine Bestandsaufnahme, in: Hans Seiger/Michael Lunardi/Peter Josef Populorum: Im Reich der Kunst. Die Wiener Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna 1990, esp. pp. 43-51, pp. 54-55.
[17] Künstlerhaus-Archiv, Personalakt Rudolf H. Eisenmenger, letter from Karl Maria May to the Federal Minister for Trade and Industry Udo Illig, June 20, 1955.
[18] Alfred Schmeller: Ein Sammelsurium, in: Otto Breicha (ed.): Der Art Club in Österreich, Vienna 1981, p. 32.
[19] Textilkunst Linz 81 Österreichische Tapisserie 1921-1980, Schloßmuseum Linz 1981.
[20] Privately owned by the Eisenmenger family, Vienna: Contract for the production of the tapestry designs and cartons for the new hall on the Kärtnerstrasse side of the Vienna State Opera I, Opernring 2, Vienna, dated January 30, 1950. Estimated total cost 530,000 schillings. Due to the desired integration of figures, the price per square meter increased from 3,100 to 3,000 schillings. AT-OeStA, AdR, BMfHuWAB, GZ. 30.002/I/5/1950 (in box 1205), no. 40.937/I/5/1950
[21] AT-OeSTA, AdR/04/BMfHuWAB/GZ 30.002/I/5/1950 (in box 1205), Zl. 31.284/I/5/1950. As early as 1949, Kosak submitted the first drafts, which proposed "covering the wall surfaces with tapestries, furthermore the installation of larger-than-life sculptures on both sides and a corresponding design of the ceiling and floor".
[22] St. Pölten, City Museum, Wilhelm Frass estate. 11 statuettes, the large-format figure "Grazioso" in plaster and a model photo have been preserved here.
[23] Holzschuh/Plakolm-Forsthuber 2021, pp. 145-148.
[24] Ibid.
[25] Künstlerhaus Archive, personal file Ceno Kosak, undated letter. AT-OeSTA, AdR/03/ÖBThV/Wiederaufbau, 28 (fol.1), Zl 2, 1952 /Kt.2), memorial minutes of the State Opera meeting, 25.1.1951 and 27.6.1951.
[26] Cf. private property of the Eisenmenger family, Vienna.
[27] AT-OeTSA, AdR/03, ÖBThV/Wiederaufbau, 28 (fol. 1) , Zl. 2/1952 (Kt. 2) Info vom Opernbaukomittee an Sekt. Head Hilbert dated 23.1.1952 about a meeting on 30.11.1951: The originally planned ceiling design with figural motifs by Ferdinand Kitt and Hilde Jesser was rejected. "Demus speaks out against the figurative because he believes that the effect of the tapestries would be impaired by depictions of people on the ceiling."
[28] Stuhlpfarrer 2019, p. 84
[29] AT-OeStA/AdR Interior BMI BeKo, Leinfellner Heinz: NSDAP membership number 6.213.506
[30] Professional Association of Austrian Visual Artists (BV), Heinz Leinfellner membership file.
[31] He took part in the 1938 competition for a "memorial" in the former Wöllersdorf detention camp, where Leinfellner and Hannes Krasser won one of the first two places out of 50 entries. The design envisaged a massive round tower into which a ground-level "consecration room" was integrated, for which Leinfellner designed the figure of the "bound figure". O. A.: Ein Erinnerungsmal in Wöllersdorf, in: Völkischer Beobachter, 23.9.1938, p. 9. However, two figures (a miner and a smelter) were executed for the management building of the "Hermann Göring Werke" in Leoben-Donawitz, a relief for the works hotel and a large relief for the Franz Domes Hof in Vienna on the subject of "New Youth Education". Cf. BV, membership file Heinz Leinfellner.
[32] In 1939, together with Paul Peschke, he won the "Reich's best victory for the design of a memorial and celebration site for the Hitler Youth on the Kreuzberg in Krems" at the Reich's professional competition at the German Academy of Art. Cf. O.A.: Today academics - tomorrow leaders of the people, in: Neues Wiener Tagblatt, 24.6.1939, p. 6.
[33] O. A.: Heinz Leinfellner, in: Die Pause, 3rd volume, 1938, pp. 100-101.
[34] BV, file Heinz Leinfellner. His work on the extension of the Vienna 101 post office was classified as important to the war effort. The UK position was provisionally limited until March 1942. leinfellner was called up for military service in 1943.
[35] Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv, M. Abt. 350, Allg. Reg. A1-46, 1943, reports of the consultants of the Cultural Office, from 1.1.-30.4.1943. Commission for a fountain ("Relief Türkenlager") at the air-raid shelter in Währingerpark (16.12.1942).
[36] Gabriele Gubitzer: Der Bildhauer Heinz Leinfellner (1911-1974), in: Oswald Oberhuber (ed.): Heinz Leinfellner 1911 -1974. Gedächtnisausstellung (Hochschule für angewandte Kunst Wien) 1983, no p.
[37] AT-OeStA/AdR Inneres BMI BeKo Buchstabe L, Leinfellner Heinz 1946-1959.
[38] Künstlerhaus Archive, personnel file Heinz Leinfellner. Alfred Schmeller: Art and authority arm in arm, in: Neuer Kurier, 7.7.1955.
[39] Ibid.
[40] Alfred Schmeller: Marble pictures in the Vienna State Opera, in: Der Bau 9/10 (1955), pp. 216-218
[41] In February 2022, the architect Felix Cevela, who died on April 1, 2022, reported that the designs for the State Opera reliefs came from Leinfellner's wife, the artist Therese Schütz-Leinfellner (1922-1965), but this could not be confirmed by other sources. It was also important for him to note that it was also about "preventing Wotruba." I would like to thank Marena Marquet for contacting Felix Cevela. One could well imagine that the idea of looking behind the scenes could have originated from a female imagination. Therese Schütz-Leinfellner used the cubist formal language and the material technique of marble inlay in a similar way in her 1957 horse reliefs at the side of the courtyard entrances to the "Hansi Lang Hof" at Hutweidengasse 23-27, 1190 Vienna.
[42] Maria Kramer, The Vienna State Opera. Zerstörung und Wiederaufbau, Vienna 2005, p. 77. AT-OeStA, AdR, BMfHuWAB, Sig. 122, 1954, Kt. 2676, GZ. 30.649, Zl. 53.579/I/2/1954. Leinfellner stated the total costs at 170,000 schillings. Leinfellner's designs were recently auctioned on the art market. Cf. Ressler, 15th art auction, 2020: Designs for the mosaic in the Vienna State Opera. Two designs (mixed media on paper, 36 x 66 cm). Cf. resslerkunst.com/exponat/heinz-leinfellner-entwuerfe-fuer-das-mosaik-in-der-wiener-staatsoper-2-werke-two-works/ (accessed 13.4.2022).
[43] Eva B. Ottillinger (ed.), Möbeldesign der 50er Jahre, Vienna et al. 2005, pp. 99-100.