Walking Man by Fritz Wotruba

Fritz Wotruba was born in Vienna on 23 April 1907 and trained initially as a die engraver. Between 1926 and 1929 he studied sculpture under Anton Hanak and Eugen Steinhof at the Vienna School for the Decorative and Applied Arts. Wotruba began to work in stone, producing his first limestone torso of a man in 1928.

While in exile, Fritz Wotruba met Marino Marini, Germaine Richier and Uli and Dana Becher. In 1945 Wotruba returned to Vienna, where he was given a post at the Vienna Art Academy on Boeckl's recommendation. There Fritz Wotruba taught a master class in sculpture for the rest of his life. Wotruba's "Großer Stehender" ["Large Standing Man"] marks his emancipation from anatomical configuration; thenceforward structural and tectonic considerations would govern his work. While staying in Rome and Paris in 1947, Wotruba met Giacometti, Magnelli and Zadkine, et al, also making friends with the art dealer and publisher Daniel-Henri Kahnweiler.