Black and white photograph: It shows a white woman dressed in a black cape, laughing and wearing a hat.

GERTIE FRÖHLICH

(In)Visible Pioneer

The artist Gertie Fröhlich (1930–2020) was in the background and yet still the focal point of the activities of the Viennese avantgarde.

13.9.2023—3.3.2024

Works on Paper Room + MAK Direktion

While studying at the Academy of Fine Arts, she made contact with young artists of all disciplines, became the “moving spirit” of the Galerie nächst St. Stephan [Gallery near St. Stephan’s Cathedral], and her apartment at Sonnenfelsgasse 11 was soon a meeting place for creative people such as Wolfgang Hollegha, Martha Jungwirth, Peter Kubelka, Markus Prachensky, Arnulf Rainer, and Gerhard Rühm. In 1964 she gave the Austrian Film Museum its distinctive corporate design, the Zyphius. In 1987 she took part in André Heller’s Luna Luna project with a gingerbread booth. The MAK presents Gertie Fröhlich as a “Gesamtkunstwerk” [a total work of art]: artist, craftswoman, Eat-Art activist, graphic designer, and influential networker of Viennese post-war modernism.

During the exhibition the film WHAT’S HAPPENING? Art in the Life of Gertie Fröhlich, a film by Marieli Fröhlich 2023, will be shown.

A Minotaur lies on the ground, next to him stands a woman

Gertie Fröhlich, Flying Woman, 1980, Egg tempera

Watercolor with four women, in the background the sea or a lake

Drawing/Painting: Woman with apple and dove

Gertie Fröhlich, family portrait, 1985, Egg tempera on canvas

Gertie Fröhlich, The Last Thing I Want to Do Is Reproach You, But You Are a Monster!, 1972, Watercolor

Gertie Fröhlich, What’s the Matter?, 1986, Gouache

Poster with graphic, on it is a waving and crying Statue of Liberty

Gertie Fröhlich, Arnulf Rainer and Gertie Fröhlich in Galerie St. Stephan, ca. 1955, Photograph

The fantasy creature Zyphius, a mixture of unicorn, phoenix, sphinx, sirens and other magic animals.

Ballustrade with columns, behind it you can see into an exhibition room

Exhibition room, in the middle a showcase, on the walls framed pictures, frontally a tapestry

MAK Exhibition View, 2023, GERTIE FRÖHLICH: (In)Visible Pioneer, (detail): Lilies in the Field, Tapestry for the St. Virgil educational center in Salzburg, 1976

Exhibition room, on a metal wall framed pictures and posters

Exhibition room, on a metal wall framed pictures and posters, in front of it a display case

OPENING
Tuesday, 12.9.2023, 7 pm
Free admission on the opening night

CURATOR

Kathrin Pokorny-Nagel, Head, MAK Library and Works on Paper Collection/Archive in creative collaboration with Marieli Fröhlich

GRAPHIC DESIGN AND EXHIBITION DESIGN
Stefan Fuhrer

Supported by
Gustav Belousek / Legat Carla and Joseph Binder

Media

Gertie Fröhlich with cloak, 1970 © Photo: Estate Gertie Fröhlich; graphic design: Stefan Fuhrer

Gertie Fröhlich, Ariadne Ties Up the Minotaur, 1996, On loan from the Albertina, Inv. No. 42417r © Estate Gertie Fröhlich

Gertie Fröhlich, Flying Woman, 1980, Egg tempera © Estate Gertie Fröhlich

„Die wartenden Frauen“ 1978, Aquarell © Estate Gertie Fröhlich

Gertie Fröhlich, poster design for the retrospective of Oleksandr Dovzhenko’s films at the Austrian Film Museum, 1965 India ink, watercolor © Estate Gertie Fröhlich

Gertie Fröhlich, family portrait, 1985, Egg tempera on canvas © Estate Gertie Fröhlich

Gertie Fröhlich, The Last Thing I Want to Do Is Reproach You, But You Are a Monster!, 1972, Watercolor © Estate Gertie Fröhlich

Gertie Fröhlich, What’s the Matter?, 1986, Gouache © Estate Gertie Fröhlich

poster for the Austrian Film Museum: in memoriam Luis Buñuel, October–November 1983 © Estate Gertie Fröhlich

MAK Exhibition View, 2023, GERTIE FRÖHLICH: (In)Visible Pioneer, MAK Direktion and MAK Works on Paper Room © Stefan Lux/MAK

MAK Exhibition View, 2023, GERTIE FRÖHLICH: (In)Visible Pioneer, (detail): Lilies in the Field, Tapestry for the St. Virgil educational center in Salzburg, 1976 © Stefan Lux/MAK

MAK Exhibition View, 2023, GERTIE FRÖHLICH: (In)Visible Pioneer, MAK Direktion and MAK Works on Paper Room © Stefan Lux/MAK

MAK Exhibition View, 2023, GERTIE FRÖHLICH: (In)Visible Pioneer, WHAT’S HAPPENING? Art in the Life of Gertie Fröhlich Film by Marieli Fröhlich, 2023, 20 min. © Stefan Lux/MAK