RICHARD GERSTL (1883-1908)
Erlakogel / Schlafende Griechin (1,575m - 5,167ft)
Austria
The mountain
The Erlakogel (1,575m - 5,167ft) is mountain in Austria also popularly called Schlafende Griechin (the "Sleeping Greek"), as it resembles, from a distance, the silhouette of a sleeping woman with flowing hair. It is located in the Upper Austrian Prealps. After the nearby Traunstein the Erlakogel is the highest mountain on the eastern shore of Lake Traun. From the summit one can have a good view of the Traunstein and the Traunsee as well as on the entire Dead Mountains and the Höllengebirge .
In one of its foothills, the 1411 m high Gasselkogel, is the dripstone richest cave of the Northern Limestone Alps, the Gasselhöhle
The mountain is officially marked and secured. Starting from Rindbach / Ebensee the path goes steeply through the forest to Spitzlsteinalm. After crossing the pasture, continue along serpentine roads and over a rocky ridge to the summit of the Erlakogel. The approximate ascent time is 3 hours.
Richard Gerstl was an Austrian painter and draughtsman known for his expressive psychologically insightful portraits, his lack of critical acclaim during his lifetime, and his affair with the wife of Arnold Schoenberg which led to his suicide.
Early in his life, Gerstl decided to become an artist, much to the dismay of his father.
In 1898, at the age of fifteen, Gerstl was accepted into the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where he studied under the notoriously opinionated and difficult Christian Griepenkerl. Gerstl began to reject the style of the Vienna Secession and what he felt was pretentious art. This eventually prompted his vocal professor to proclaim : "The way you paint, I piss in the snow!"
Frustrated with the lack of acceptance of his non-secessionist painting style, Gerstl continued to paint without any formal guidance for two years, showing in its painting a nearly abstract style, very avant-garde at that time. For the summers of 1900 and 1901, Gerstl studied under the guidance of Simon Hollósy in Nagybánya. Inspired by the more liberal leanings of Heinrich Lefler, Gerstl once again attempted formal education. Unfortunately, his refusal to participate in a procession in honor of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria further ostracized him and led to his departure. Gerstl felt that taking part in such an event was "unworthy of an artist."
Frustrated with the lack of acceptance of his non-secessionist painting style, Gerstl continued to paint without any formal guidance for two years, showing in its painting a nearly abstract style, very avant-garde at that time. For the summers of 1900 and 1901, Gerstl studied under the guidance of Simon Hollósy in Nagybánya. Inspired by the more liberal leanings of Heinrich Lefler, Gerstl once again attempted formal education. Unfortunately, his refusal to participate in a procession in honor of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria further ostracized him and led to his departure. Gerstl felt that taking part in such an event was "unworthy of an artist."
His final exit from Lefler's studio took place in 1908.
In his short career, he did only 60 paintings... but what paintings!
___________________________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau
