Robert Hammerstiel | painter, graphic artist, woodcutter

Born February 18, 1933 in Werschetz (former Yugoslavia)

lives and works in Pottschach (A) and Vienna

As a child, Robert Hammerstiel experiences persecution, oppression and torture both in the internment camp and while fleeing. These experiences are still present for him today and determine his work. Although Hammerstiel’s figures are reduced, flat and faceless, they convey emotionality. The painter creates poetic imagery that is realistic illustration and unrealistic scenario at the same time, leaving room for interpretation and meditation.

In 2010 the Robert Hammerstiel Museum opens in Werschetz, in 2011 the Robert Hammerstiel Hall in the National Museum Vojvodina in Novi Sad (both Serbia).

“You don’t paint a picture in a few hours or days in your studio or somewhere outside, but you always paint on it, in every situation, in every possible place and at every time. Maybe you have worked on it in your childhood, in your youth, at any age. Because you first have to mentally process the need to capture something in a painting, then it doesn’t matter when and where you put the painting on canvas.” R.H.