Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel

Jungnickel attended the Munich School of Applied Arts from 1896, but left it only a year later. Two years later he travels to Rome and Naples, where he takes painting lessons with Prof. Marucchi. These lessons inspired him and in 1899 he began to study painting at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. In Vienna he made the acquaintance of artists such as Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffmann. Jungnickel also exhibited at the Vienna Secession, but did not become a member of the artist group. Among others, he works for the Wiener Werkstätte, for which he creates vases, glasses, carpets and wallpaper. Of great importance in this context is the animal frieze he creates for the Palais Stoclet in Brussels. This is Jungnickel he discovers his passion for animal motifs. In 1907 receives an annual ticket with free admission and a painting permit at Schönbrunn Zoo. Supported by the Emperor, Jungnickel produced the famous "Schönbrunn Animal Types" colour woodcuts in 1909. In 1917 he made a further six woodblock prints ("Animals of the Fable"), which were extended two years later by a 24-part colour lithography cycle. In 1930 Jungnickel was awarded the Austrian State Prize for Fine Arts and the Grand Medal of the City of Vienna. In 1939 Jungnickel emigrates to Split, as the National Socialists impose an exhibition ban on him and three years later also confiscate his Vienna studio. The studio, including all the paintings in the depot, fell victim to a bomb attack in 1945 and was destroyed. Even before his return to Austria in 1952, the Albertina Museum in Vienna and the Neue Galerie of the Landesmuseum Joanneum in Graz devoted extensive solo exhibitions to him. In the following years Jungnickel was awarded the title of professor by the Austrian Federal President (1958), the Golden Medal of Honour of the City of Vienna (1961) and honorary membership of the Vienna Künstlerhaus (1964).