Sean Scully recalls Konrad Oberhuber's intellectual agility and 1999 Albertina print retrospective
In a memorial piece for ARTIBUS ET HISTORIAE, Sean Scully honors Konrad Oberhuber, the late director of Vienna's Albertina and a noted Raphael expert, who passed away in 2007. Oberhuber curated a retrospective of Scully's prints in 1999 alongside Victoria Martino. Scully commends Oberhuber's keen intellect and their conversations about Raphael and modern art, particularly abstraction following the Russian Revolution. He recalls how Oberhuber encouraged him to contribute works on paper to the Albertina, linking Scully's watercolors to 14th-century Italian masters like Cimabue and Duccio. Scully also connects this historical perspective to post-minimalist artists and explores the concept of the 'illuminated body' in relation to Titian and Rembrandt, emphasizing Oberhuber's profound scholarly impact. Dated March 8, 2009, Mooseurach, Germany.
Key facts
- Konrad Oberhuber was the former director of the Albertina in Vienna and a Raphael expert.
- He organized a retrospective of Sean Scully's prints at the Albertina in 1999 with Victoria Martino.
- Oberhuber possessed a flexible intellect that allowed him to engage with both historical and contemporary art.
- He persuaded Scully to donate a sizeable collection of works on paper to the Albertina.
- Oberhuber connected Scully's watercolors to 14th-century Italian painters like Cimabue and Duccio.
- Scully relates historical artistic restraint to post-minimalist painters, including himself.
- Oberhuber's scholarly work on Raphael is widely acknowledged, and he had an 'athletic' interpretive appetite.
- Scully's recollection is part of a forthcoming memorial volume from ARTIBUS ET HISTORIAE in Vienna.
Entities
Artists
- Konrad Oberhuber
- Sean Scully
- Raphael
- Victoria Martino
- Cimabue
- Duccio
- Titian
- Rembrandt
- Goethe
Institutions
- Albertina
- ARTIBUS ET HISTORIAE
Locations
- Vienna
- Austria
- Assisi
- Florence
- Italy
- Siena
- Mooseurach
- Germany