duo.! anton dobay – oswald tschirtner

To mark the reopening of the museum following its incorporation into the NÖKU, the exhibition duo.! anton dobay – oswald tschirtner was shown on September 17, 2009: large-format canvases by Oswald Tschirtner together with more than 120 works by the hitherto little-known Anton Dobay. It was the biggest presentation of that artist’s works up to that date.

The works of Anton Dobay (1906-1986), primarily done in pencil, colored pencils, and wax crayons, were rarely executed as free creations: encouraged to do so by Leo Navratil, he drew predominantly according to templates that were provided to him in the Gugging clinic. In a mere 10 years he created some 400 works, before his strength dried up forever. Anton Dobay’s oeuvre was shown comprehensively: on view were more than 120 works from all of the artist’s creative periods, chiefly in 30 x 40 cm format.

Oswald Tschirtner (1920–2007) was presented with his largest formats: canvases of two by six meters, works that he never saw in their entirety during production since he created them only partially rolled out on a small table.  With these works, the artist demonstrates his ability to realize his mostly small-format drawings using pen and ink (14 x 21 cm) in any size with ease.  Another outstanding example of this is the eight meter-high figure on the south façade of the „House of Artists“ in Gugging.