Gertie Fröhlich (29 June 1930 – 17 May 2020) was a Czechoslovak-born Austrian painter, graphic designer and the initiator of the Galerie nächst St. Stephan in Vienna.
Rising anti-German sentiment spurred on by the Fascist occupation of Czechoslovakia and the Beneš decrees led Fröhlich and her family to flee the country in 1944.
As Professor at the Academy and President of the Art-Club, Gütersloh influenced many emerging postwar Viennese artists and became known as the spiritual father of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism.
Her roster for the exhibition included herself as well as artists Johannes Avramidis, Wander Bertoni, Mareile Boog, Johannes Fruhmann, Elfi Glanner, Jakob Laub, Anton Lehmden, Josef Mikl, Kurt Moldovan, Josef Pilhofer, Markus Prachensky, Arnulf Rainer, Slavi Soueek, Carl Unger, Franziska Wibmer, Wolfgang Hollegha, Walter Eckert, Grete Yppen, Hans Staudacher, Clarisse Schrack, and Norbert Drexel.
After this show, the Informel painters Wolfgang Hollegha, Josef Mikl, Markus Prachensky, and Arnulf Rainer decided to form a group eponymously tied with the gallery, "Die Gruppe St. Stephan" [The Saint Stephen's Group], and for the next decade dominated the Viennese art scene along with its namesake, the Galerie Sankt Stephan.
Although Mauer is credited as the harbinger of the Viennese postwar avant-garde, it was Gertie Fröhlich who initiated the transformation of the relatively conservative, Catholic-minded gallery into the experimental space that is lauded today.
In New York, Fröhlich lived in the legendary Chelsea Hotel and worked for Holt, Rinehart & Winston publishing house in the graphics department for typography and layout.
The result is a dreamy, surreal image composed of soft, gentle, short lines that instill a feeling of movement in the form to complement its transformative content.
Fröhlich chose to portray each female protagonist's moment of metamorphosis in each of the other pieces (Andromeda, Daphne, Arethusa, and Argus and Io).
In 1977, the Katholische Bildungshaus [Catholic Education House] in the Aigen district of Salzburg paid Fröhlich 40,000 shillings to design and produce a tapestry for their interiors.
Inspired by Matthew 6:25-34, Fröhlich designed two tapestries entitled "Lilien auf dem Feld" [Lilies in the Field] and "Vögel des Himmels" [Birds of the Sky].
Through sheer talent, Fröhlich raised a new applied art medium, Christmas cookies – traditionally associated with women and the domestic sphere – to a level where they could be sold and be the foundation of a lucrative business.
In 1980, architect Luigi Blau [de] introduced Fröhlich to Andrew Demmer, who asked her to be his graphic designer during the expansion of his grandfather's coffee company into the field of tea.
In 1969, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the museum's opening, a celebration was organized, which included a film marathon and an exhibition of Fröhlich's posters.
[9] In addition to her paintings, that have been shown in numerous prominent galleries in Austria, her graphic design left its mark on the Austrian Film Museum.
[10] In 2005, Fröhlich's close friend and advocate John Sailer organized a retrospective of her film posters at his co-owned exhibition space, Galerie Ulysses.
The director interviews over 20 artists, friends, former collaborators and art historians whose recollections unveil the themes and the controversy surrounding Gertie Fröhlich's status as an artist, amongst them Peter Kubelka, Rudolf Polanszky [de], Elisabeth Samsonov, Barbara Steffen, Peter Pakesch, Julia Jarrett, Steven Pollock, Barbara Coudenhove Kalerghi and John Sailer, uncovering her influence on the post-war Vienna avant-garde starting in her early 20s.
As the film unfolds, these contradictions come to a head: Is the existence of the most important Austrian post-war gallery, Galerie (nächst) St. Stephan, indebted to Gertie Fröhlich, or was she merely the good spirit and secretary?
Was her retelling of Greek myths an analogy for her vision of a refreshed matriarchal psyche - a position of equal significance to manifestations and deterritorialization of the body by Austria’s feminist artists?