STADLMAYER (Maria Lucia)

(Vienna, The Artist), 1922.

Original artwork on paper, in pencil and gouache, titled, dated, and signed “Stadlmayer” (382 x 316 mm.)

The Austrian illustrator and textile designer Maria Lucia Stadlmayer (1906-1983) attended from the age of fifteen, from 1921 to 1927, the Vienna School of Applied Arts [Kunstgewerbeschule], first in the class of juvenile art [Jugendkunstklasse] of the Viennese painter of Czech origin Franz Cizek (1865-1946), famous discoverer of Child Art, later in the classes of Viktor Schufinsky, Adolf Böhm, Josef Hoffmann, Erich Mallina and Rudolf von Larisch who encouraged her talent. She was awarded the State Prize in 1927. Shortly after, she shared a studio with her friend and classmate Elsa Engel-Mainfelden (1906-1984); the two artists participated in textile design competitions and won prizes. In 1931, she married the Viennese architect and designer Carl Augustinus Bieber (1903-1996), artistic advisor to the Philips firm in the Netherlands, where the couple settled until 1939.

A talented and recognised designer, the artist designed fabrics for the Wiener Werkstätte for Joh firms. Backhausen & Söhne, Philipp Haas & Söhne, Herrburger & Rhomberg, as well as for several Dutch and Swiss companies. She designed murals for private clients. She also created the costumes for the play’s premiere by Joseph August Lux, “Die hl. Elizabeth”, performed in Vienna in 1931, and pattern designs for the North German wallpaper factory Hölscher & Breimer. In the book field, she illustrated, in 1922, several covers for the Sesam-Verlag publishing house and, in 1924, she signed the text and the remarkable illustrations for one of the four children’s books published by Franz Cizek in the Wiener Jungendkunst-Bilderbücher collection, she also designed the endpapers for three of the volumes.

The artist participated in numerous exhibitions. Several of her creations are in museum collections (MAK, Vienna, and Cooper-Hewitt Museum, United States).

In fine condition.

Ref. Hans v. Ankwicz in Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, (1930-31), 67, pp. 147-150 (avec reproductions de créations textiles) / Susanne Blumesberger, Handbuch des österreichischen Kinder- und Jugendbuchautorinnen, (2014), II, pp. 1087-1088 / Hanna Egger, Österreichische Kinderbücher, Gestern und Heute, Livres d’enfants autrichiens, hier et aujourd’hui, (1987), p. 74 / Friedrich C. Heller, Die bunte Welt, (2008), pp. 371-372 / Ilse Korotin, BiografiA, Lexikon österreichischer Frauen, (2016), III, p. 3132 / Werner J. Schweiger, Wiener Werkstätte, art et artisanat, 1903-1932, (1986), p. 268 / Christoph Thun-Hohenstein et al., Die Frauen der Wiener Werkstätte, Women Artists of the Wiener Werkstätte, (2021), p. 270 / chronik.stadthaag.com / collection.cooperhewitt.com / mak.at