Prof. Richard Agreiter mit Südtiroler Verdienstorden und Lebensmensch Ghislaine.
© Hörhager Peter
By Peter Hörhager
Steinberg a. R. – “Boil the copper pulp, quickly bring the tin!” I remembered these lines from Schiller’s “Song of the Bell” (we still had to learn poems by heart …) when I first watched a casting process in front of the house “Gana” was in Steinberg. Thick billows of smoke, fiery flames, hissing rain of sparks and then a stream of fire of liquid bronze pouring oily into the molds – it was an archaic act that took place in the studio of the Steinberg artist Richard Agreiter. Although he masters every material, he has almost exclusively fallen for bronze casting since the 1990s.
Prof. Richard Agreiter mit Südtiroler Verdienstorden und Lebensmensch Ghislaine.
© Argreiter
A particularly “weighty” Agreiter work of art (1700 kg bronze, 3000 kg granite, 700 kg steel) stands on the forecourt of the Raiffeisenhaus on the Vienna Danube Canal: the five meter high “Genesis”, which was made in 2014 in the presence of LH Günther Platter and the then Minister of Agriculture Andrä Rupprechte was unveiled. “The ‘Genesis’ is one of the most wonderful large-scale sculptures that have been created in the last two decades. With his work, Agreiter fits into the ranks of great sculptors such as Anton Hanak, Fritz Wotruba or Alfred Hrdlicka, ”emphasized Dir. Carl Aigner from the Lower Austrian State Museum at the time in his laudatory speech.
The Agreiters originally come from Ladinia (the house name “Gana” is reminiscent of the mountain fairy Gana from Val Badia), but as part of the “Option” they were relocated to Bohemia, where Richard Agreiter was born. In the late autumn of 1941 the family moved to Steinberg and the small Rofan community became their new home, where Prof. Agreiter still lives and works today.
The Ladin’s talent was once exposed in the Innsbruck School of Applied Arts. This was followed by a two-year stay abroad in Switzerland and – with a grant from the State of Tyrol – studying at the Brussels Art Academy, which he graduated with honors in 1971. The artist, who has been working as a freelance artist since then, decided in 2004 to hand over his entire estate to the Ladin cultural center in the Museum Ladin in St. Martin in Thurn. In addition, the “Richard Agreiter Foundation” was set up in 2007, which awards the “Richard Agreiter Art Prize for Sculpture” every three years. The exhibition locations (Berlin, Nancy, Luxembourg, Paris, Vienna, Sorèze, Bonn …) illustrate the importance that the artist also enjoys internationally.
Auch Felix Mitterer und Gattin Agnes besuchten den Künstler in dessen Atelier.
© Peter Hörhager
Whereby he never allowed himself to be bent or subjected to any isms. His nimble eyes can sparkle mischievously, but they can also flash bitterly if something goes against the grain. His house in Steinberg is both a living room and a studio. “I live in the workshop – or work in the apartment,” he says with a laugh. It is to be classified as the highest appreciation if he tries a different profession – as the creator of the “world’s best goulash soup” (© Agreiter). His friend Luis Durnwalder can look forward to one of these during his long-planned visit.