By Paul Dunwell, writing for EasyFrame
© Copyright EasyFrame 2019
What this article is about
This article is about the contemporary Austrian artist Rosina Wachtmeister, now aged 80 and reportedly still going strong. She is well known in Central Europe for her bold, impressionistic poster work, which often depicts cats. (She makes cat sculptures too, but please don't let that put you off!) Her art is also sold in the UK and is available through her official site at www.rwlicensing.com.
She creates portraits too. Perhaps most remarkably, a couple of decades ago she published a book in her native German, 'Das Lied von der Liebe' ('Song of Love'), illustrating the Biblical 'Song of Songs'. That Old Testament text, also known as 'The Song of Solomon', is not particularly religious. It is very much about the desire of a man and a woman for each other.
If you looked only at her prints, with their frequent flat colour, you might wrongly conclude that she sees the world in two dimensions. Yet her work as a ceramicist shows an unexpected ability to model in three. She achieves much with flat colour and with mirrored surfaces that demand complex reproduction by printers and finishers. Realism it isn't. But she's got something, and it's commercial.
Early life
Rosina Wachtmeister was born in Vienna in 1939, the first of two daughters of a doctor and his wife, an architect and ceramicist. In 1953 the family moved to Brazil, where Rosina attended a German school. She later studied fine art, sculpture and stage design.
She says she was inspired by the Austrian Friedensreich Hundertwasser, the French-American Niki de Saint Phalle, the Swiss Jean Tinguely, the Hungarian Imre Makovecz, the French Tomi Ungerer and the Italian Afro Basaldella. So she is very international in outlook. She settled long ago in Italy, where she continues to work.
Versatility
Wachtmeister may never be recognised as a great artist. Yet she has been prolific, and much of her work has undoubted merit. It's affordable and varied. She has never rested on her laurels, and takes pride in declaring: “My style changes every time I sit down and paint”. The three images below, which you would not at first expect to be by the same artist, show it.
Her work is accessible and almost ubiquitous, yet its licensing is tightly controlled by her family. They're clearly savvy. Very few contemporary artists have achieved such commercial success in both two and three dimensions. While researching this article I saw her art on jewellery boxes and jigsaw puzzles, duvets and dishes, teacups and trays, rugs and barometers. She probably has more commercial deals than George Lucas ever had for 'Star Wars'. And nothing that bears her name is plastic junk.
Song of Songs
The 'Song of Songs' runs to eight short chapters with very few words. It is the Judaeo-Christian equivalent of the 'Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám', the sensual work attributed to a Persian astronomer-poet of the 11th and 12th centuries. Like the Rubáiyát, it celebrates love and life rather than setting out how and why its readers should worship.
Here's an excerpt that proves the point:
'How beautiful are your feet in their sandals, O prince's daughter! The curve of your thighs is like the curve of a necklace, work of a master hand.
Your navel is a bowl well rounded with no lack of wine, your belly a heap of wheat surrounded with lilies.
Your two breasts are two fawns, twins of a gazelle.
Your neck is an ivory tower. Your eyes, the pools of Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-Rabbim. Your nose, the Tower of Lebanon, sentinel facing Damascus'.
In my opinion this work alone shows that Wachtmeister is hugely underrated, and collectable. Her illustrations make Marc Chagall's efforts look amateurish by comparison. (Remember that one work by Chagall, 'Bestiaire et Musique', recently set a record of over m as the most expensive painting by a Modern Western artist ever sold at auction in Asia.)
It must have been a fascinating diversion for her. I've found no other sign of any religious affiliation, and the lady appears to enjoy her privacy.
Populism
Wachtmeister likes to set icons of domestic life side by side. Cats and musical instruments recur, as do fillers such as sheet music. She favours blues and creams, though there can be few colours she hasn't used. Arguably her work is simplistic, but that perhaps doesn't do it justice. The results are popular and deservedly find a ready audience. So critical snobbery, what I guess she'd call being 'hochnäsig' ('high-nosed'), is perhaps inappropriate.
Ceramics
The focus of this website is two-dimensional art, but it would be an unforgivable oversight to ignore Wachtmeister's work as a ceramicist. She is no doubt responsible for every aspect of some of these creations, though one suspects that, like Damien Hirst, she has a team to do the finishing, if not to manage entire projects.
Conclusion
Rosina Wachtmeister's work will stay popular, and even a print is likely to hold its value. To obtain her work, go to www.rwlicensing.com, where there is a shop selling prints, originals and much more.
If you buy Rosina's prints you'll need them framing. Unless you know your stuff when it comes to picture frames and mounts, it's worth going to experts. EasyFrame is an obvious and affordable supplier, whether you want everything you'd need to do the job yourself or would rather they did it for you. Any good framer will show you a range of solutions and advise on what suits the work and where it will hang.
EasyFrame is on 01234 856 501 and sales@EasyFrame.co.uk, and they'll always chat even if you don't want to buy!