RUDOLF WACKER
1893 – Bregenz – 1939
The artist’s portrait in his atelier
pencil on tracing paper, 434 x 327 mm
signed and dated Lowe right: RW 26
date: 1926
provenance:
Hans Zanetti, Wolfsrat, 1975;
Hassfurther auction, Vienna, November 29th 2007, lot 14;
private collection, Austria.
exhibited:
Götzis, Rudolf Wacker, Galerie Hämmerle, 1962;
Bregenz, Rudolf Wacker Zeichnungen, Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn und Paxis, 1975, cat. no. 152.
literature:
Otto Sandner, Rudolf Wacker, Zeichnungen; Zeichnen als Befreiung, Neufeld 1975, no. 175.
This expressive self-portrait shows Rudolf Wacker gazing scrutinizingly at himself while painting his likeness in his studio, an interior defined by a window, a bookcase, works of art, a doll, and a religious sculpture. His striking facial expression, combined with a fluid and freely handled line, lend the work an immediate and deeply personal character.
I want to paint people (as well as all things) in such a manner that they appear before beholders ‚as if tangible‘, that they are almost shocked by how lifelike they are. And whether they are personally acquainted with the depicted or not, they must feel; I know this person! The surroundings, the ‚background‘, should relate to the person, Should show them within their environment, should reveal their attitude towards the world.
Self-portraits constitute a significant part of Wacker’s oeuvre. He produced them frequently and consistently throughout his life. A keen and attentive observer, the artist used the genre to convey far more than outward appearance; emotional states and psychological conditions are often central to these works. In this example, the artist’s eyes, eyebrows, and mouth are the most expressive elements. The work invites viewers to consider how Wacker perceived himself and how he may have felt when he confronted his reflection in the mirror in 1926. His face appears subtly contorted, as if deliberately intensified to heighten expression. Does this suggest a sense of uncertainty or unease?
Two objects are clearly discernible in the background of the studio: a doll and a religious wooden sculpture. Both are recurring motifs in Wacker’s work, in which the still life plays a prominent role. The artist described his still lifes as portraits of objects. In Wacker’s oeuvre, dolls often carry an unsettling quality and generate their own psychological tension. Here, his imagery resonates with the Freudian concept of the Unheimliche—that which appears familiar yet simultaneously provokes unease or anxiety. The doll occupies an ambiguous space between life and death, between the human and the object.
Wacker was a prolific and highly active draftsman. This drawing was made during the 1920s, a period in which his painting practice is characterized by an increasingly refined brushwork and a stylistic alignment with the principles of Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity). Notably, this development coincides with a growing freedom and looseness in his drawing technique. Signed and dated, the present work exemplifies the fact that a significant portion of Wacker’s drawings were not merely preparatory studies but works of art in their own right.
Rudolf Wacker at work in his studio, c. 1932
Rudolf Wacker (1893–1939) was an Austrian painter closely associated with the movement of Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity). Born in Bregenz, he initially trained as an apprentice decorative painter before enrolling at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. His artistic development was profoundly shaped by the First World War, during which he was held prisoner of war in Russia from 1915 to 1918. This period of forced isolation had a significant impact on his psychological state which would determine his future life and work.
After the war, Wacker returned to Bregenz, where he lived and worked for most of his life. He became a central figure in the Austrian reception of New Objectivity, developing a highly precise and sober painting style marked by meticulous detail, controlled composition, and a cool, restrained palette. Wacker is best known for his still lifes and portraits, in which everyday objects—often isolated and sharply rendered—acquire an uncanny presence. These works frequently convey a sense of tension, fragility, and existential unease beneath their seemingly neutral surfaces.
During the 1930s, Wacker’s artistic practice became increasingly constrained by the political climate in Austria. Following the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938, his work was classified as degenerate art, and he was barred from exhibiting. Already in fragile health, Wacker died in 1939 at the age of forty-six. Today, his work is regarded as a significant contribution to interwar modernism in Europe, distinguished by its quiet intensity and penetrating examination of material reality and inner experience.