Leherb Helmut

Helmut Leherb (Leherbauer) was an Austrian artist, born in Vienna/Austria in 1933 and died in Vienna/Austria in 1997. He is a representative of the Viennese School of Fantastic Realism, which is close to Surrealism. Helmut Leherbauer completed his education at the Hernalser Gymnasium Geblergasse in Vienna in 1951 and studied at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and the Royal Academy of Stockholm (Royal Swedish Academy of Arts) from 1948 to 1954. In 1955 he returned to Vienna to the Academy of Visual Arts in the class of Albert Paris Gütersloh, where he experienced direct confrontation with Surrealism. Gütersloh co-founded the Art Club and is considered the founder of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism. Helmut Leherb thus found access to this circle of artists and organized several exhibitions together with other representatives of this art movement, for example with Anton Lehmden, Rudolf Hausner and Wolfgang Hutter. In 1959 their works were exhibited in the Oberes Belvedere. The central motifs found in many of his paintings are his own person, that of his wife, the painter Lotte Profohs (1934-2012) or his son, Anselm Daniel Leherb. Helmut Leherb also lived in France, Belgium and Italy. In Paris he met André Breton, who called him the "black prince of surrealism". (B.T.)