Arnold Jacob Clementschitsch was a landscape and genre painter, graphic artist and writer. He is revered as one of the leading representatives of classical modernism in Austria.

In 1908, at 21, Clementschitsch gave up an early career in banking to begin formal art studies at the Graphische Lehr und Versuchsanstalt (Vienna Graphic College and Research Institute). His teachers were Hubert Landa, Erwin Puchinger and Josef Eugen Hörwarter. In 1909, Clementschitsch continued his studies at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and at the Wiener Kunstgewerbeschule (Vienna School of Arts & Crafts) as a student of Alois Delug and Bertholt Löffler. From 1911 to 1915, he studied at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts*, attending the art classes of Angelo Jank, and writing and book design classes with Emil Preetorius and Paul Renner at Schule für Illustrationen und Buchgewerbe (School for Illustration and Book Trade).

Clementschitsch went on study trips to Germany, Italy and France and participated in the war from 1915 to 1918. In 1918, he moved back home to Villach, and in 1920 participated in the Vienna Secession* exhibition. By the mid- twenties, Clementschitsch had established his own style influenced by German expressionism*. His impasto* paintings were dominated by remarkably intensive colors and a certain lyricism*. First and foremost, Clementschitsch wanted to depict motion. His post-impressionist* period was followed by a reduced form of expressive style, consisting mainly of street scenes, landscapes and portraits.

In 1928 he showed his work at the World's Fair in Barcelona, and in 1932 at the Venice Biennale*. He became the Director of the Institute of Fine Arts at Klagenfeld in 1935. In 1945 he founded the Institute of Fine Arts of Carinthia (Austria's southernmost region), and in 1947, he was awarded a full professorship. In 1963 he was awarded the Grand Austrian State Prize.

His famous paintings include Tanzpaare auf dem Eis'(Dancers on the Ice), from 1918; a portrait of fellow artist Herbert Boeckl in 1925; Am Lido (At the Lido) from 1941; and Früher Abend in der Kärntnerstraße (Early Evening at Kaertner Street), from 1957.

His literary publications were Wege und Irrwege eines Malers (Ways and Errors of an Artist), and Rhythm and Rhymes.

Museums:
Museum of Modern Art Carinthia, Klagerfurt
The Leopold Museum, Vienna
The Belvedere Museum, Vienna
Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien, Vienna

Source:
Galerie Magnet, Galerie Wienpoulter, German Wikipedia and Arcadja.com



* For more in-depth information about these terms and others, see AskART.com Glossary http://www.askart.com/AskART/lists/Art_Definition.aspx