Ludwig H. Jungnickel Tiger um 1930

The German-Austrian painter Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel (Wunsiedel 1881 – 1965 Vienna) already impressed as a young man with his extraordinary talent and initially pursued the career of a church painter. Soon, however, he left the Carinthian monastery, where he had begun his apprenticeship, and continued his training at the Munich and Vienna art academies. Later, he worked for the Wiener Werkstätte, for which he supplied several designs for various objects, primarily fabrics, carpets, and wallpapers. One of his most important assignments was to work on the decoration of the famous Palais Stoclet in Brussels. The most important Austrian artists of the time around 1900 worked on this iconic building, including Gustav Klimt, Josef Hoffmann and Michael Powolny. Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel designed a surrounding wall frieze for the children’s room of the Palais. Jungnickel attained his artistic breakthrough with his so-called stencil spraying techniques. At the international art exhibitions in Amsterdam and Rome in 1911, he received his first awards. From 1924 onwards, Jungnickel was also a member of the “Künstlerhaus”. Today, Jungnickel is best known for his graphic work and his landscape and animal depictions. Like no other Jugendstil painter, he succeeded in capturing the soul and character of the animals he depicted and conveying it to the viewer.