Franz Schicker

Prof. Franz Schicker was born in either Vöcklabruck or Regau in 1915 and died on February 18, 2010. He led a varied artistic life in Austria as a painter, draughtsman, art educator and art mediator. After the Second World War, he was actively involved in the re-establishment of the Salzkammergut Artists’ Guild in 1946. He held the office of president for a long period from 1955 to 1978 and was awarded the honorary presidency in 1980.

Originally from Rutzenmoos, this artist studied painting from 1936 to 1942 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, where he studied under Lardin. As a realist with cubist influences, he became a prominent pioneer of modernism in the Salzkammergut. In this region, he taught at several schools and created numerous, often monumental commissioned works that can be admired in public spaces.

During his time at the head of the Salzkammergut Artists’ Guild, he organized travelling exhibitions of guild members in the Salzkammergut and coordinated exchange exhibitions with art associations in Austria and Bavaria. One of his major achievements was his significant involvement in the renovation of the historic Kammerhof building in Gmunden, from which the permanent Kammhof Gallery emerged as the guild’s exhibition venue.

During this time, a printing workshop was also established in Gmunden, which served as a place of work as well as a training center and meeting place for artists. In addition to his activities in the Artists’ Guild, Schicker was a member of the Upper Austrian Art Association and the Professional Association of Visual Artists of Upper Austria.