Gabriele Baumgartner

2019

Josef Mikl is not only one of Austria's most important artists in terms of painting, but is also respected for his intellect and erudition. Not only his own numerous satirical writings and texts about fellow artists prove how closely his life was linked to literature, but his art also repeatedly incorporated painterly interpretations of the authors he valued: the stained glass windows in St. Margarethen, for example, are based on an aphorism by Sören Kierkegaard, whose “Stille Verzweiflungg” he artistically translated into a series of etchings in 1962. He undoubtedly created a monument to Austrian literature with the design of the Great Redoutensaal when he dedicated his 404 m² ceiling painting to the poem “Jugend | Youth” by Karl Kraus and interpreted it, as well as painterly realizing text passages by Johann Nestroy, Ferdinand Raimund and Elias Canetti for the 22 murals.

Johann Nestroy's one-act play “Häuptling Abendwind” inspired Josef Mikl so much that he created a cycle of works with individual scenes and sketched stage sets, thus making the work his own in his own way. Finally, another important source of inspiration was Nikolai Gogol's “Dead Souls”, which he also artistically dissected extensively in various formats.

Josef Mikl wrote in 1994 on the occasion of his published book about the work on the paintings for the Großer Redoutensaal: “I was always in favor of bookcases. Bookcases with good content. Bookcases that are also read. No bestsellers on the shelves, no addiction to titles,"

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And so - in addition to his painterly work - his extensive library, peppered with many first editions, testifies to his literacy and the great appreciation he had for the written word.

 (This text was written for the project "Ein Raum ohne Bücher ist ein Körper ohne Seele", Künstlerhaus 1050, 22. - 30. März 2019 by Julia Dorninger and Gabriele Baumgartner

www.wissenschafft-kunst.com)