Edmund Reitter

Austrian sculptor Edmund Reitter was born in Bratislava, nowadays Slovakia, and was trained as a gymnast prior to and during his studies of architecture and sculpture. He won a national gymnastics competition in Bratislava in 1931. Reitter first studied architecture at the Technical University of Bratislava and then learned sculpture at the Academy of Arts in Wien (Vienna) and München. In Wien he became a master student of Fritz Wotruba.

Later Reitter also restored reliefs and sculptures of public buildings. His works showed influences of expressionism, cubism and abstract forms. His sculptures, which often centered on sports figures, were exhibited in galleries all across Europe. His Gymnast on the Bar, a life-size, 173 cm high bronze figure from 1947 earned him the first prize in an all-Austrian competition and was issued in 1948 for the Olympic Games in London at the local Victoria and Albert Museum. Edmund Reitter died in 2005 just one month before his 101st birthday.