Maximilian Melcher

Maximilian Melcher was trained at the Graphische Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt (Institution for Graphic Education and Research) in Wien (Vienna). In 1940, he began his studies of graphic arts at the Academy of Fine Arts, which he had to interrupt during World War II and could not complete until 1952. There, he was a lecturer from 1955, and was appointed professor in 1967. From 1972-76 and from 1984-87, he acted as rector of the academy.

On the occasion of his retirement in 1992, Melcher was honored with a large retrospective. Already in the 1960s he received the Graphic Prize of the City of Wien and the Cultural Prize of the Province of Niederösterreich. Many of his students were among the most important Austrian artists of the 1970s and 1980s. Compared to his teaching activities, Melcher’s own extensive oeuvre of prints and drawings has often been underestimated. The motifs of his prints are mainly self-portraits and landscapes.

Melcher and Johannes Wanke jointly submitted a gouache titled Departure to the Olympics. Later, the two worked together again. In 1955, for example, both created large mosaic pictures of children for apartment buildings on Wien’s Aichholzgasse.