Linde Waber was born in Zwettl in 1940. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and primarily focused on coloured woodcuts under Professors Martin and Melcher, graduating in 1964. In 1970, she received a Japanese State scholarship, studying at the University of Osaka and working for several months in the Kyoto studio of the woodcutter Tetsuo Yoneda. Further travels to France, Italy, England, Brazil, Japan (a second trip in 1972), Africa, China, Oman, Yemen, Azerbaijan and the US continued to nourish her work and stimulate her curiosity.
Her engraving-like tortured lines focus on two main subjects: landscapes and scenes from everyday life. Her images are often replete with tension owing to their use of harsh dark contours that highlight a sense of unease within the mundane. Everyday life has been the driving force behind the artist’s two main sub-oeuvres. The first, begun in 1988, consists of diary-like daily drawings and watercolours that indirectly document her life. The second is her documentary drawings of her visits to her fellow artists’ studios.
Waber has gained recognition throughout her career in the form of numerous prizes, awards and acknowledgements: the Oskar Kokoschka Fund Prize, Salzburg (1961); Austrian Graphic Prize, Krems (1970); Advancement award from the province of Lower Austria (1974); Theodor Körner Prize (1976); Austrian graphics prize (first prize), Krems (1976); Special Prize for Foreigners, ink painting, Metropolitan Museum, Tokyo (1978); Grand Golden Medal of Honour from the Society of Visual Artists in Austria (1983); awarded the title of professor by the Federal President (2002); Jury Prize at the 4th Egyptian International Print Triennial, Cairo (2003); Golden Laurel, Society of Visual Artists Austria (2010); Badge of honour from her home town of Zwettl (2014); Grand Decoration of Honour for services to the province of Lower Austria (2015); Golden Wall, Künstlerhaus, Vienna (2021).
Recent solo exhibitions include: Exhibition of Daily Drawings about Friederike Mayröcker in the Leopold Museum, Atrium, Vienna (2014); Irma Stern Museum, Capetown, South Africa (2015); Arthothek Niederösterreich, Krems (2017); Contemporary Art Austria, Studio Drawings, Comsats Art Gallery, Islamabad (2018); European Parliament, Brussels, Art at EP (2018); Gallery Amart, Vienna: Zeit im Bild (2019).
