(St. Martin/Lofer 1887–1930 Vienna) Peonies, signed and dated A. Faistauer 1921, oil on canvas, 76.5 x 47 cm, framed, (K)

Illustrated and listed in: Franz Fuhrmann, Anton Faistauer, 1897–1930, mit einem Werkverzeichnis der Gemälde, published by Residenz, Salzburg 1972, cat. raisonné no. 232

Provenance: Family Ownership, Vienna

... The scope alone of his oeuvre is vast, when you take into account his short life. Faistauer comes across as a restless person, who only found peace when he was working on his art, as someone at odds with himself, who felt personally responsible for ensuring that creation, which was threatening to disintegrate, was reassembled in its entirety.
Not only did he over-reach himself with this ideal, but, far ahead of his time, he wore himself down. He once confessed, “If I worked as hard, despite the appalling circumstances I experienced in a materially impoverished childhood, during the war and in the equally dreadful post-war period, which coincided exactly with my years of development as an artist, it was due to the all-consuming passion that tied me to my painting, to which I was addicted.” It was his conviction that painting does not exist for the painter, but instead conversely that the painter is there to serve painting...
Nikolaus Schaffer, Anton Faistauer, Salzburg Museum Carolino Augusteum, 2005