Karl Prantl was born in 1923 in Pöttsching, in the eastern Austrian province of Burgenland. After returning from the war, he studied painting with Albert Paris Gütersloh and drawing with Herbert Boeckl at the Academy for fine Arts ‘Schillerplatz’ in Vienna, not sculpture. Nevertheless, Karl Prantl began his first sculptural work in 1950, resulting in large sculptures out of linden wood, as well as a number of smaller works. He joined the artist group "Der Kreis" and travelled to Rome and Greece on art scholarships of the federal art fund of Austria in the following years.

In 1958, he was commissioned by the regional government of Burgenland to create a sculpture “Grenzstein”, a geometrically shaped landmark (260 x 220 x 80 cm) which ...