Greta Freist

Background

Greta Freist was born on July 27, 1909, in Weikersdorf in Lower Austria.

Education

Greta Freist studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna at the class of Rudolf Bacher and Rudolf Jettmar.

Career

Already as a young artist, Greta convinced the public with the high quality of her works. During her apprenticeship, Greta Freis met Gottfried Goebel, who became her live-in lover and artist colleague. Together with the writer Heimito von Doderer they lived in a studio in the Hartäckerstraße in Vienna. That place was a meeting point for other artists and writers like Elias Canetti and Otto Basil.

Before the Second World War, her works were shown in the exhibitions of the artist’s association Hagenbund. In 1936 she emigrated to Paris, where she was able to exhibit in the Salon d’Automne and the Salon Indépendants. In 1949 Freist started to make abstract paintings, but later on, she came back to figurative art. Together with Gottfried Goebel she founded the French section of the artist’s association “Art Club” in Paris.

After the Second World War, Greta exhibited some works in the Salon of the Realités Nouvelles in 1954 and 1955. In 1961 the cultural office of Vienna dedicated an exhibition to Greta Freist and as a member of the artist’s association “Der Kreis” she showed her paintings also in the exhibitions. In 1991 the Museum of Lower Austria organized a big solo exhibition of Greta Freist. The artist died in 1993 in Paris.

Achievements

• Greta Freist was highly famous for her paintings "Lady with Roses", "The Dancer", "Nature morte au chapeau", and "Artist's Family."

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Nature morte au chapeau

  • An ordinary man walking with his dogs

  • The Child

  • En voyage

  • La tableau chaud

  • Still-life with shell and image of a saint

  • Untitled

  • L’amour, l’amour

  • Lady with Roses

  • The Siren

  • The Dancer

  • L'éléphant indien

  • Untitled

  • The Cross

  • Artist's Family

Politics

Greta Freist understood herself as an apolitical artist, nevertheless she reflected current events in her paintings.

Views

Greta Freist adhered to the artistic traditions of Magic Realism and Art Informel.

Membership

With Gottfried Goebel, Greta founded the French section of the artist’s association “Art Club.” She was also a member of the artist’s association “Der Kreis.”

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• Her pretty face contained two animal eyes, large and dark, as if two tunnels were leading into it, two tunnels which seemed to be designed glossy inside."
  
  Elias Canetti described Greta Freist as "a deep black, provocatively beautiful person who looked so seductive as an early Indian Yakshini.

Connections

Greta had a live-in lover Gottfried Goebel, also a painter.

tutor:

Rudolf Bacher

tutor:

Rudolf Jettmar

Lover:

Gottfried Goebel

Friend:

Heimito von Doderer

Friend:

Elias Canetti

Friend:

Otto Basil