Austria, (1874-1954)
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Schweineschlachten
- [Slaughtering pigs]
- (1920), etching
- 6.4 x 9.4 in. (16.3 x 23.8 cm.)
- Private collection
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Schweineschlachten II
- [Slaughtering pigs #2]
- (1922), oil on panel
- Private collection
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Circe
- (1922-24), oil on canvas
- 78.7 x 59.1 in.(200 x 150 cm.)
- Private collection
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Das kleine schwein
- [The little pig]
- (1912), charcoal on paper
- 7.5 x 5.9 in. (19 x 15 cm.)
- Private collection
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Das große schwein
- [The big pig]
- (1920), drypoint on paper
- 7.4 x 5 in. (18.8 x 12.6 cm.)
- Private collection
About the Artist
Richard Müller (1874-1954) was an Austrian painter and etcher who, though considered one of the fathers of modern surrealism, remains relatively unknown.
He was an instructor at the Dresden Academy of Art from 1900 to 1935. Among his students were George Grosz, Max Ackermann, Otto Dix and other surrealists. Müller was expelled from the Academy in 1935 as the Nazis suspected him of “subversive tendencies” in his art and because of his marriage to the American singer Lilian Sanderson who never gave up U.S. citizenship.
Muller’s etchings offered up fantastic, often surreal imagery full of unusual dreamlike to nightmarish encounters of various human forms and a variety of plant and animal forms from the natural world. In his painting Muller showed and obsession with meticulous natural detail in his representations without losing its distinctive surrealistic character. [DES-02/11]