Anton Faistauer

On February 14, 1887, Anton Faistauer was born in St. Martin near Lofer. Faistauer's original interest in writing is guided by his friendship with Albert Paris Gütersloh during his school days in Bolzano. An initial experience is the visit of the Impressionism exhibition in Vienna in 1903, in which Anton Faistauer sees works by Cézanne. In 1905 he visited the painting school Robert Scheffer together with Anton Peschka, later brother-in-law of Egon Schiele. In 1906 Faistauer was admitted to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. After a short period of study with Christian Griepenkerl and Alois Delug, he and his team-mates Egon Schiele, Franz Wiegele and Robin Christian Andersen, founded the "Neukunstgruppe" in 1909 in protest against the conservative teaching firm. Until the beginning of the war Faistauer undertook numerous journeys, to Upper Italy, to Switzerland, and in 1914 to Berlin. In 1915 he moved to Maishofen. In 1919, Faistauer played a key role in the founding of the "Wassermann" association in Salzburg. In 1920 he moved to Salzburg and worked mainly in Vienna and Paris in the following years. Through public commissions, such as the frescoing of the lobby of the Salzburg Festival Hall, Faistauer is widely known. In 1923 he released his publication "Neue Malerei in Österreich". In 1927 he relocated to Vienna, but he retained his apartment in Salzburg. Faistauer dies on 13 February 1930 and is buried in Maishofen.