Studio Herbert Boeckl

3 June 1894

Born in Klagenfurt, the second (of four) sons of Leopold Böckl, a mechanical engineer and teacher at the Staatsgewerbeschule [State Vocational School], and his wife Paula, née Münichsdorfer.

Attends secondary school in Klagenfurt.

Having applied to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts without success, Boeckl studies architecture at the Technical University and takes private lessons with Adolf Loos. Participates for the first time in an exhibition, at the Vienna-based Kunstsalon Pisko in 1913.

Serves in the army on the Italian front with the art historian Bruno Grimschitz, the future curator and director of the Austrian Gallery, who becomes one of his main supporters.

On the recommendation of Egon Schiele, he signs an open-ended commission contract with the Viennese art dealer Gustav Nebehay, which entitles him to advance payments.

Marries Maria Plahna (they have nine children by 1941).

Study trips to Berlin, Paris, and Sicily.

First solo show; thirty oil paintings at the fall exhibition of the Vienna Secession.

Moves into a studio at Argentinierstrasse 42 in Vienna’s 4th district. (In 1930, the family moves to Perchtoldsdorf, and in 1937, to Alliiertenstrasse in Vienna’s 2nd district.)

Receives the Grand Austrian State Prize, awarded for the first time, for his painting Hymn to Mary. Participates in the Venice Biennale (also in 1932 and 1936).

Appointed professor at the General School of Painting, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna. Nominated as special commissioner of the Austrian government for the art exhibition at the World’s Fair in Brussels. Travels to Belgium, Holland, Italy, France, and England.

Participates in the Exposition d’art Autrichien at the Musée du Jeu de Paume des Tuileries in Paris.

Changes the spelling of his name from Böckl to Boeckl; the first painting he signs with an “oe” is Yellow Quarry near St. Margarethen.

Resigns from his master class in painting at the Vienna Academy and takes over the direction of the “Abendakt,” a compulsory nude drawing course for all academy students. He is marginalized in the official art world and seldom included in exhibitions.

Joins the NSDAP and aligns himself with the Nazi regime, driven in part by economic considerations as a family man.

Classified as “politically unreliable” and assigned to fortification work.

After the liberation of Vienna, is appointed provisional principal of the Academy of Fine Arts, while Albert Paris Gütersloh and Fritz Wotruba are appointed professors.

Dismissed as principal for failing to register in 1945 as a former member of the NSDAP. Boeckl is allowed to continue as a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts and is given a retrospective exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.

Study trip to Spain. Starts to work on the frescoes of the Chapel of Angels in the Benedictine Abbey of Seckau in Styria.

Awarded the Grand Austrian State Prize.

Study trip to Greece.

President of the Austrian section of the UNESCO Association internationale des arts plastiques; he attends its first congress in Paris.

Study trip to Egypt.

Hosts the third conference of the UNESCO Association internationale des arts plastiques in Vienna. Completes the frescoes in Seckau.

Elected principal of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.

Retrospective at the Vienna Museum of the Twentieth Century. Represents Austria at the Venice Biennale.

20 January 966

Dies in Vienna and is buried in a City of Vienna grave of honor.