Sunday 19 December 2010

Ludwig Bürgel



Ludwig (Pollak) Bürgel

(1901-1980)

Austrian naturalistic grafic artist and painter.

Thanks to Claus, faithfull follower of the Linosaurus, within just 24 hours I know now who the maker of my latest find was. And that my print is indeed a color etching. I scratched together some pictures of Ludwigs art and some facts on his life and career to show you.

As a boy Ludwig already showed a talent for drawing and had a great drive to create. As a young man he worked in the art printing firm Äust in Vienna and learned the skills and technical details of the world of grafics. In the evenings he followed lessons at the Vienna Art school (Akademie der Bildende Künste) and aged 21 he started his professional career taking on his mother maiden name Bürgel.

In his life time he was a popular and loved naturalistic artist famous in and around Vienna and Linz were art dealers promoted and sold his work.

To day his work hangs in many Austrian family houses and he is represented in all major Museums in Austria. More recently his art is again appriciated and in demand.


Besides etching and printing Ludwig Bürgler was a gifted painter in oil as you can see in this "View on Salzberg".

(Quotes from a biography by Peter Pollak (Salzburg 2001)

Thank you Claus !



This posting is updated April 13th 2011

8 comments:

  1. I note the double appeal to his buyers - the grandeur of both the Alps and the Church. The alpine people of Romania make the same association, only for Orthodoxy, of course. We lost all that somewhere along the way.

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  2. Funny that you mention this, in the little biography I found (probably by his son, or grandson) it is said that Ludwig was worried by "die Entfernung der Menschheit von der Natur". Put that together with empty churches and your comment is really evocative. Yes we have lost a lot, I agree, but who notices it ?

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  3. Hi,
    I have been trying to research a graphite etching that has been in my family for about 40 yrs. It is titled, "Nuremberg", by L.Buergel. Not sure if it's an original or a ltd edition print? I can provide a pic.
    Look forward to hearing from someone in the know. I'm fairly sure I have the right artist (going by the signature), but this one appears to be in pencil, black & white (not in colour).

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    1. Please do, send me pictures (gerbrandcaspers@icloud.nl)

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    2. Hello,
      Have you found any other information on your L Burgel etchings? I have 2 I inherited from my aunt who passed away in the 80's. They're both titled Nurnberg. One was crossed out and corrected with Nuremburg. I went to Nurnberg 3 times and found one of the locations on one of my lithographs. My wife and I had our photo taken from the exact spot Burgel was when he painted it. It was exhilerating. Anyway, I love them but it is so hard to find information.

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    3. I haven't been busy with Ludwig since Jim. I just looked him up a couple of his etchings. He was very prolific, a bread and butter (tourist) artist, but a fine drawer and etcher. I think he produced mainly aquatint etchings, not lithographs or paintings. That I know of. And that's not definitive.

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  4. i have a salzburg etching on silk it has 2 signatures on the back and a # 140 . there is also rightin but i dont understand it

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    1. Hello and good morning to you too Michael: neither do I (understand it) unless you send me a picture and allow me to translate. Please do: gerbrandcaspers@icloud.com

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