Lotte Profohs

[1] From the third grade of primary school until her graduation Lotte Profohs attended Sacré Coeur am Rennweg in the 3rd district.

Profohs studied at the Academy of Applied Arts from 1949 at the age of 15,[2] where she also met her husband Helmut Leherbauer (Maître) Leherb.

In 2018, the Lotte-Profohs-Weg was named after her in Vienna-Donaustadt (22nd district)[4][5] Lotte Profohs was born in Vienna (Austria).

Her work is in possession of representative state and private collections in Europe and the USA including the Austrian Gallery Vienna-Belvedere, the Graphische Sammlung Albertina, the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Graphic Collection of the Louvre Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in Philadelphia.

The woman on the margins of society, the single mother, prostitution, sexuality, homosexuality, BDSM themes and aging became central components of her work.

In 1957, Lotte Profohs read the first German edition of the novel "Pitié pour les Femmes" by Henry de Montherlant (1895-1972).

Published under the title "Mercy on Women", after the birth of her son Anselm Daniel, she produced approximately 200 drawings on this theme in 1960 and 1961.

The book, with an edition of 2500 copies was deliberately designed to be very simple with the purpose not to distract attention from the pictures and their message.

The cycle illustrated in "Schrecken der Leidenschaft" was called "Die arabesken Träumungen geliebter Gesichter" by the publisher and consists of twelve sheets.

Lotte Profohs also dealt with the subject of emigration before 1989 and began drawing displaced persons years before this exhibition.

[14] In 2000 Telekom Austria printed one of Lotte Profohs’ paintings on one of their prepaid telephone cards.