Jürgen Messensee

From 1955, Messensee studied with Sergius Pauser at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. In 1973, he joined the Vienna Secession, whose member he remained until the year 2000. Messensee is mostly about the female body or parts as a symbol of the eternally beautiful. His work is characterized by abstract naturalistic illustrations, using ciphers, abbreviations and strokes. In the seventies he created a variety of ceramics and bronze sculptures. After intense study of the art of the Spanish court painter Diego Velázquez in the 80s and 90s, Messensee's interpretation of the "infants", which are shown side by side with those of Velázquez in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Among his solo exhibitions are "Beyond the Oppositions" at the Museum Angerlehner 2014, "Messensee - ZOOM" in the Essl Collection in Klosterneuburg near Vienna 2006, as well as numerous national and international participations in exhibitions. In 1993, Messensee was honored with the Prize of the City of Vienna for Painting and Graphics. In 2003, he was awarded the Austrian Cross for Services Rendered to Science and the Arts, First Class, and in 2007 the Gold Cross of Honor for service to the City of Vienna was awarded to him.