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Gallery owner Heike Curtze passed away on the night of Saturday to Sunday, October 18 at the age of 76. Born in Germany, she was highly successful in promoting Austrian art for more than four decades. In his Viennese gallery he represented great local figures of international renown such as Arnulf Rainer, Christian Ludwig Attersee and Hermann Nitsch.
The gallerist, born on November 6, 1943, started in Cologne in the early 1970s, where she initially assumed the management of the Ariadne gallery. In 1976 he opened his own gallery in Düsseldorf, and in 1978 he finally launched his Viennese gallery Heike Curtze and established himself representing Viennese shareholders. But there was also always room for young art in the galleries of the Seilerstätte.
Trendsetterin
He did not follow a “school” in promoting the next generation, but interested her in “individual artistic positions” that can be qualitatively compared to “Brus, Rainer and Attersee,” he said a few years ago in an interview with the APA. The only things they are not interested in are “smooth surfaces” and “anything that is just decorative.” Christian Ludwig Attersee said in his eulogy at the 2009 OscARTS awards ceremony on the gallery owner: “With a keen eye, Heike Curtze recognizes all innovations in the broad field of visual arts with curiosity and enthusiasm.”
On the art scene, there were numerous expressions of condolences for the death of gallery owner Heike Curtze. She “had not only represented internationally renowned local artists with great intimacy and perseverance, the promotion and placement of young artists was so important to her,” emphasized Secretary of State Andrea Mayer (Greens). “She didn’t follow trends, she set them.”
In 2002, Heike Curtze was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art for his commitment to promoting contemporary Austrian art. For Greens art and culture spokesperson Eva Blimlinger, Curtze was “simply THE owner of the Austrian gallery of the Second Republic.” It was she who anchored Viennese activism internationally. “Without her, Austria would have little importance in the art world. It was she who helped many artists to make international careers and have a presence in the art market.”
Albertina CEO Klaus Albrecht Schröder expressed his condolences on behalf of the museum staff. “There is no doubt that ‘Die Curtze’ is one of the most important and influential gallery owners in Austria in the Second Republic and he was picked up,” Schröder said in a broadcast. Despite the highest level of competence and uncommon professionalism in his tireless commitment to ‘his artists’, Heike Curtze has always been characterized by deep, empathetic humanity and modesty. The art world in Austria is poorer without she”. (apa)
