Gustav Rehberger
(1910-1995)
Mr. Rehberger has received international acclaim for his powerful and imaginative paintings and drawings of the human figure and the horse. He is equally known for his religious and apocalyptic themes. As a well-known teacher of art he stresses what he regards as the universal truths of form, movement and expression. His artistic philosophy is a passionate defense of his own drive to present Man as an integral part of Nature.
Gustav Rehberger, is not only a powerful and imaginative painter, but also a master draftsman and a brilliant teacher and demonstrator. Rehberger has a thorough knowledge of composition, of human and animal anatomy and the rare ability to transmit this understanding to his students.
He has a large following at the Arts Students League of New York where he has taught enthusiastic classes for over a decade. His aim, as artist and teacher: the realization in pictorial language of a powerful imagination; his means: a Baroque, driving, whirling movement involving all parts of the composition in a total activity.
Mr. Rehberger is a great improvisor. Out of his inner, creative depths - a seemingly unquenchable well spring- he can harnes exploding forces, pull them together at will into an instantaneous, organized, pictorial tour de force.
Besides teaching Rehberger is a very active painter, draftsman and pastelist who has also had a distringuished career as a designer and illustrator. Born in Austria - where he received his earliest art training- arriving in the United States as a teenager, he continued his art education at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the Art Instruction Schools in Minneapolis.
Rehberger, a prize winning painter, devoted two years to a series of fifty paintings and drawings on the theme of The Spirit of Beethoven in celebration of the composer's Bicentennial in 1970. Subsequently he exhibited these worksat the Wickersham Gallery in New York. Among the enthusiastic reviews in newspapers and art magazines, one critic aptly referred to him as "volcanic expressionist." His latest one man show, also enthusiastically received, was at the Jacques Seligmann Gallery in October, 1977.
Trigg Ison Fine Art is proud to present the original works by Gustav Rehberger.
"Genesis II" Mixed Media and Sand Austrian/American, Signed, 1976 48 x 38 Inches
"Man of Destiny" Oil on Canvas Austrian/American, Signed, 1977 40 x 60 Inches
"Two Friends" Pen and Ink Austrian/American, Signed, c.1940 7 x 8 Inches
"Genesis II" Mixed Media and Sand Austrian/American, Signed, 1976 48 x 38 Inches
For a closer look, please click on a painting below.
Publications
Backstage with Esquire
July 1919
The 7th Anual Audubon Artist Exhibition, one of the most progressive fine art shows in the country today, was held in New York in December. Top award for the "most creative painting" went to Gustav Rehberger. This is the first time the award has been presented to a non-menber. Mr. Rehberger is now preparing his one-man show for a Fall exhibition.
Backstage with Esquire June 1948
Biography
Born:
October 20, 1910 Riedlingsdorf, Austria - 1923 Brought to United States
Education:
1924-1934 Tha Art Institute of Chicago, Scholarship
1926-1928 The Art Instruction Schools of Minneapolis, Scholarship
1927-1929 Carl Schurz High School, Chicago, IL
Selected Awards:
1993 Illinois Academy of Fine Arts: IAFA Awards '93 Nominee
1988 Elected "The 1988 Honoree" to The Hall of Fame, Pastel Society of America
1985 Popular Vote Award, Pastel Society of American ("Approaching Storm" - 64x43)
1984 The Marie Devor Memorial Award, Pastel Society of America ("Valiant Spirit" - 11x14)
1984 Elected a "Master Pastelist" - Pastel Society of America
1984 Knickerbocker Artists' Award ("Wild Spirit")
1982 Appointed Honorary Citizen of Nashville, TN
1982 Lever House Award - Pastel Society of America
1981 "Exceptional Merit" - Pastel Society of America
1981 Dr. Leonard Cammer Memorial Award, Pastel Society of America ("Half-draped Nude" -32x22)
1979 Board of Directors Award, Pastel Society of America ("Rendezvous")
1976 "Best Figure" - Tiro A. Segno Foundation Award, Pastel Society of America
1974 Paul Puzinas Memorial Prize for Oil Painting, Allied Artists of America ("Genesis" - 48x38)
1966 Minnie R. Stern Medal for Oil Painting, 24th Anual Exhibition, Audubon Artists ("Apprehension")
1955 National Exhibition of Advertizing & Editorial Art & Design, The Art Directors Club of NYC
1954 National Exhibition of Advertising & Editorial Art & Design, The Art Directors Club of NYC
1948 Most Creative Painting Award for Oil, 7th Annual Exhibition Audubon Artists ("The Deluge")
1942 Exhibition of Advertising Art, Art Directors Club of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago
1938 Society of Typographic Arts, Chicago, IL
1925 Four First Prizes and One Third Prize, Boys Week Exposition at the Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
Selected Solo Shows
1993 Open Studio in Carnegie Hall: Rehberger Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, Innovations (Nov 9-27)
1992 Carnegie Hall Museum Benefit: "The Spirit of Beethoven" (Exhibition & Art & Music Performance)
1992 Pompeii Museum, Monica North Galleries, "The Spirit of the Horse" Saratoga Springs, NY
1991 Snug Harbor Cultural Center (a major solo exhibition & Art & Music Performance) Staten Island, NY
1977 Jacques Seligmann Gallery, NYC
1971 Wickersham Gallery, Paintings and Drawings for Beethoven's Bicentennial, NYV
1967 Illusions One Art Gallery, Englewood, NJ (May 23-May 28, 1967)
1967 The Little Gallery - Wyoming Valley Art League, Wilkes-Barre, PA (Oct. 14-Oct. 28, 1967)
1967 National Arts Club - Expo '67, Montreal Canada
1965 Society of Illustrators, NYC - Fine Art: Paintings & Drawings (Dec. 29- Jan. 15, 1965)
1965 Old Mill Art Center of the Adirondacks, Elizabethtown, NY (July 1965)
1957 Society of Illustrators, NYC - Show arranged by Everywoman's Magazine (Sept. 27-Oct. 16 1957)
1953 Hampshire House, NYC "Metal at Work" for Continental Copper & Steel Industries (Jan. 1953)
1950 Stevens-Gross Galleries, Chicago, IL (Feb. 7-Mar. 5, 1950)
1950 Oshkosh Public Museum, "The Story of Creation" City of Oshkosh, WI (Jan. 1950)
1940 North Canton Library, North Canton, OH
Selected Group Shows
2003 The Old Mill Art Colony 1932-1967 Open House, Elizabethtown, NY
2003 Pastel Society of America at The Butler Institute of American Art, Yountstown, OH
1993 "The League at the Cape" - Provincetown Art Association & Museum, Provincetown, MA
1972-1993 Pastel Society of America, NYC
1984 Knickerbocker Artists, NYC
1979-1990 Hensley Gallery of the Southwest, Taos, NM
1987 Museum Tour of Master Pastelists - Pastel Society of America, NYC
1985 Abelle Gallery, Princeton NJ
1983 The Oldfield Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
1980 American Academy of Taos, NM
1979 Omeara Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1977 "200 Years of American Illustration" New York Historical Society Museum, New York, NY
1969 National Invitational Drawing Exhibition, Oklahoma Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, OK
1964 "Paintings of the Adirondacks" - Old Mill Adirondack Art Center Gallery, Elizabeth Town, NY
1959 Marino Art Galleries, New York, NY (March 20- April 17) "Religious Expressionists"
1955-1981 Allied Artists of America, NYC (1965 Annual Exhibition: "The Adirondacks")
1954 National Society of Painters in Casein, New York, NY
1954, 1955 National Exhibition of Advertising & Editorial Art & Design, The Art Directors Club, New York, NY
1948,1950, 1952, 1956, 1959 National Academy of Design, New York, NY
1947, 1949, 1951, 1954, 1959, 1966 Audubon Artists, New York, NY
American Water Color Society, New York, NY
1946 American Exhibition Watercolors & Drawings, Art Institute of Chicago ("Horse on Gesso")
1943 Works by Artists of Chicago & Vicinity, Art Instittute of Chicago ("There will always be Light")
1942 Exhibition by Artists of Chicago & Vicinity, Art Institute of Chicago ("Reclining Nude" on loan)
1942 Exhibition of Advertising Art, Art Directors Club of Chicago ("Beethovia")
1941 Annual Exhibition of Watercolors by American Artists, Art Institute of Chicago ("Beethovia")
1938 The Society of Typographic Arts, Chicago, IL
World War II Paintings Shown At
1943 The Art Institute of Chicago - "Art in War": The Fort Custer Army Illustrators (July 8-Oct 10)
"After Fifteen Miles", "Infiltration Course", "Enemy's Trench"
1945 The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (July 4-Sept. 4)
1945 The National Gallery, London, England
Commissions
1986 Gustav Rehberger was invited by the city of Bonn, West Germany to do his famed Beethoven performance, correlating art and music for the XXXII Internationales Beethovenfest, Bonn, September 7-29, 1986. Rehberger's performance was done to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in the outdoor Marktplatz of Bonn on September 13, 1986. (Photograph of the 4x6 pastel painting in the digital archives of the Beethoven-Haus, Bonn)
1980 "Sigmund Freud" for Robert A. Becker, president of the Beethoven Society
1979 "Beethoven" for the Beethoven Society
1976 "Arab Warrior on Horseback" for the Saudi Research & Development Company
1965 Portrait of "Mama" Kutsher, Kutscher's Country Club, Monticello, NY
1943 Mural for St. Paul's Ev. Lutheran Church (Renamed The Sunny Mt. Zion Church) Chicago, IL
1942 Two World War II Murals (25 Ft. Sq.) Union Station, Chicago, IL
Selected Solo Shows
Instructor:
1972-1993 The Art Students League of New York
1969-1974 American Art School, New York, NY
1964-1966 Old Mill Art Center of the Adirondacks, Elizabethtown, NY
1963-1965 The Painters Studio, New York, NY
Visiting Instructor:
1985 Scottsdale Artists School, Scottsdale, AZ
1983 Scottsdale Artists School, Scottsdale, AZ
1983 The Artisans Studio-Gallery, Dallas, TX
1982 The Artisans Studio-Gallery, Dallas, TX
1981 The Artisans Studio-Gallery, Dallas, TX
1967 Artist-in-Residence at Kutscher's Country Club, Monticello, NY
Slide Lectures & Demonstrations:
The Art Students League of New York - "Ten Lectures on Drawing the Human Figure" - 1974-1991
Allied Artists of America, Inc. at the National Arts Club, NYC (painting demonstration in acrylic) 1991
Scottsdale Arists School, Scottsdale, AZ 1983,1984
Community Arts Association, Inc. Allendale, NJ 1982
Watkins Institute, Nashville, TN 1982
Pastel Society of America, NYC - Figure Demonstration in pastel from life -1981
Ridgewood Art Institute, Ridgewood, NJ 1981
The Society of Illustrators, NYC - 1979 "Volcanic Expressionist" Drawing Demonstration
Audubon Artists, New York, NY
Bergen Museum of Art and Science, Paramus, NJ "The Human Form" 1976
New Rochelle Art Association, New Rochelle, NY 1976
The Little Gallery, Wyoming Valley Art League, Wilkes-Barre, PA "The Spirit of Form & Movement" 1967
Long Beach Art Association, Long Beach, NY - "Form, Movement and Color" 1966
Old Mill Art Center of the Adirondacks, Elizabetown, NY - "The Spirit of Form & Movement" 1964
Tabor Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, PA "The Spirit of Form & Movement" 1964
Member Of:
The Art Students League of New York
Pastel Society of America, New York, NY (One of the founders and first Vice President, Designed Original Logo at the first meeting - logo was used from 1973 until 2005, member of the Advisory Board.) 1973
American Academy of Taos, New Mexico 1980
Allied Artists of America, New York, NY 1972
Audubon Artists, NYC 1953
