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WALTRAUD WEISSENBACH

1919 - 1985

BiographyWaltraut von Weissenbach taught art in the gymnasium (high school) in Spittal, Austria. Spittal is by the Drave River in the province of Carinthia (Karten), called "the Austrian Riveria" because of its mild climate. The valley is surrounded by high mountains on three sides, and there are many beautiful lakes in the province. Wood is one of their main products, and woodcuts are a specialty of Waltraut Weissenbach. She studied at the Academy of fine arts in Vienna from 1943 to 1945, majoring in graphics. At that time she had some trouble because the Nazis put her name on their blacklist because she had bolted the party. However, she was able to return and finish her schooling and get a diploma with her emphasis being in graphic art. Soon her exlibris woodcuts were being sought after by collectors in European countries from the Netherlands to Yugoslavia. In 1948 she began to teach art to help support her family.
An important new phase of her life began in 1960 when she met the missionaries and became a Mormon. In 1962 she came to Salt Lake City, where in 1963 she taught at Skyline high School for one year. Please take note of her picture, "Parade 1962", which she drew while waiting for the floats on the Fourth of July. Then she returned to her work in Austria; but she has made two more visits to our county in 1968 and in 1977.
This year she participated in the 1978 Mormon festival of Arts, where her picture, "Vineyard of Our Lord", was chosen to be purchased for the Brigham Young University Art Collection. It is an allegory from the Bible dressed in the landscape of Burgenland, East Austria, filled with interesting and curious detail which is her delight.
It seems that Waltraut has retained her childhood fascination for strange myths and ancient lore, for all things loved by children, as well as their daily struggles. Her own childhood must have been rich with experience which impressed her deeply. For example, in a letter, she writes of her childhood hide-aways:
"Our only refuge were haysheds high up in the mountains. Sleeping in the hay, seeing the stars, or feeling the snowflakes dancing down between the weather-beaten roof boards, feeling the curious dormouse scurring softly over one's face, knowing that no heavy adult can climb up the timberwall-trembling with cold in the morning and shuddering, thinking of the dangers to which one is exposed like the Wilderer (thieves of game) and murderers hiding in the Alps¿" I did some woodcuts (illustrations to a book) about these queer things."
Waltraut is called "Traudle" by her mother and her close friends. She consciously withdraws from modern styles preferring her own natural heart-touching approach which has roots in the woodcut tradition of her native Austria.

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