Martha Jungwirth was born in Vienna in 1940. She studied art at the University of Applied Arts of Vienna (1956–1963, under Prof. Carl Unger). Years later, she taught in this very institution between 1967 and 1977, before going on to teach at the International Summer Academy in 1991 and the Summer Academy in Berlin in 1992.
Following her graduation, Jungwirth developed an oeuvre supported by various mediums, such as pencil drawings, watercolours, and works in oil and ink. Appreciated by her peers for her unique vernacular, she was the only woman artist among the founders of the loose Wirklichkeiten artists’ collective. This association, however, never diminished the novelty and idiosyncrasy of Jungwirth’s voice, which is ultimately a nonconformist one.
This is largely the result of the artist’s methodological approach to creation. Intuition plays a huge part in her technique, with Jungwirth constantly striking a balance between improvisation and planning, spontaneity and calculation, the conscious and the unconscious, which are all in constant tension in her work. By accepting that the outcome is open and partly out of her hands, she allows her work to be an exercise in constant experimentation. Motion is thus achieved both aesthetically and procedurally. Jungwirth defines its related imagery as that ‘before spoken language’, ‘before memory’ and ‘before the obtrusiveness of objects’.
Recent solo exhibitions of her work have taken place at Galerie Hass, Zurich (2017); Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna (2016); Kalfayan Gallery, Athens (2016); and Kunsthalle Krems, Krems (2014). She has recently participated in a two-person exhibition with Albert Oehlen at Galerie Mezzanin, Geneva (2017), and has been included in group exhibitions at mumok, Vienna, Austria (2016); Kunst der Gegenwart, Klosterneuburg/Vienna, Austria (2016); Rupertinum, Salzburg, Austria (2015); and Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg, Austria (2014).
