CHRONOLOGY
Siegfried Koller was born March 21, 1908, at Frauenburg near Unzmarkt
in the Province of Styria, Austria, and died June 24, 1979, in
Semmering,
Lower
Austria.
1926 Graduated from Knittelfeld high school with additional
credits in music for his
voice and cello studies.
1927-1932 Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, studied painting under Professor Ferdinand
Andri. Vienna Technical University, Institute of Mathematics and Descriptive
Geometry, received his teaching credentials and worked as assistant to
Professor Krupa. During this period he also studied architecture
under Professor
Hermann
Grom-Rottmayr and continued his music and voice studies at the Vienna Conservatory
for Music.
1933 Joined the Austrian “Volunteer Work Program” and became
district leader (Landesfuehrer) for the province of Salzburg.
1938–1945 Served in the German Corps of Engineers and later in the
military in Poland, France and on the Russian front. Watercolor and pencil
sketches
of the German military advances into France and the Ukraine originated during
this turbulent
period.
1945 Escaped from Russian captivity and flight through Hungary and Czechoslovakia
back home to Carinthia and then on to Obertraun Upper Austria.
1946 Discharged from military service by the U.S. Army Command.
1947 His landscapes and portraits shape the beginning of his postwar civilian
artistic career. His works are featured in exhibitions in Gmunden, Wels
and Linz.
1948 Divorced and moved to Semmering, Lower Austria.
1949 Designed the “Fatima Chapel” at Maria Schutz in Semmering.
1950 Progress sketches and pencil drawings of the Semmering railroad tunnel
construction.
1951–1952 Exhibitions are held in Ried, Freistadt, Wels and Schaerding
in Upper Austria.
1952–1953 Designed and created the architectural plans for the parish
church in Ternitz, Lower Austria.
1953–1957 Designed and executed major restorations of churches,
art objects and furnishings of a number of chapels and shrines in Maria Schutz,
Sonnwendstein Chapel (concrete glass windows and altar) Semmering, Schottwien
and Gloggnitz.
1957–1979 The design and installation of mosaics and murals becomes
the focal point of his artistic activity during this period. More than 30
mosaics and murals are created for public and private buildings in Vienna
and in the surrounding towns
in Lower and Upper Austria and in his native Styria (Judenburg). This
prolific creative period is interrupted by his sudden and unexpected
death during
the event planning for the 125th
anniversary celebration of the opening of the Semmering Railroad.
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