Hans Pühringer (1875-1970) set designer for the Vienna Opera

Research project P 14274 Hans Pühringer (1875-1970) set designer for the Vienna Opera rincipal investigator: Wolfgang GREISENEGGER 26.6.2000 The project investigates life and work of the hitherto little known Austrian academic painter Hans Pühringer (1875- 1970), scene-and costume designer at the ending times of the Habsburg monarchy. There are nearly no publications about him, encyclopedias dont mention him. But he certainly was well known at - the beginning of our century. At the Vienna Academy he was mentioned as being the best pupil of the master class of Franz von Matsch in 1901. Hans Pühringer exhibited his paintings at an exhibition in Klosterneuburg near Vienna in 1908, which is well known because it was also Egon Schiele`s first public show: whilst the prices for Schiele`s works ranged only between 80 and 90 Kronen, Pühringer demanded 400 to 1000 Kronen. From July 1st 1911 until June 30th 1919 Hans Pühringer was engaged as artistic adviser (director) for settings at the K.K. Hofoper in Vienna. At almost the same time Hans Gregor was director of the Vienna Opera House. Pühringer created scene - and costume designs which were significant for the style of Viennise stage settings. Some of the first performances marked also the style of their presentation history e.g. "Das Mädchen aus dem goldenen Westen", "Jenufa", "Salome". The play bills did not mention the names of the stage designers until 1920. It will be now an important investigation to identify again the settings of Hans Pühringer. Many of them were attributed to other artists, especially to the decoration painter Anton Brioschi. Today monographical scientific researches exist for every stage designer of the "Wiener Oper am Ring" except for Hans Pühringer. More than 400 designs and sketches for stage and costume by Hans Pühringer are kept in the archives of the "Österreichisches Theatermuseum" in Vienna. Many of them are still not catalogued or identified. They prove that Pühringer was the leading artistic designer for nearly 25 stagings of operas and ballets during the directorship of Hans Gregor. Two sketch books, painted diaries from the war, made by Hans Pühringer in 1915/16 are kept in the "Heeresgeschichtliches Museum" (Army Museum) in Vienna. A further four to five hundred objects, all by Hans Pühringer, are to be found in public museums (Klosterneuburg, Niederösterreichisches Landesmuseum/St.Pö1ten, Janacekmuseum/Brünn) and mainly in private collections. Among these are sketch books, studies for the academy, landscape paintings, portraits and many designs for the opera. It is now research work to connect the objects of the museums with those of the private collections in a catalogue raisonee. This investigation will show that Hans Pühringer was, next to Alfred Roller, the leading stage designer of the Vienna Opera House in the first quarter of our century. It will also fill a gap in the history of the Vienna Opera House concerning the years about the first world war and under the directorship of Hans Gregor.

The Project investigated life and work of the hitherto forgotten Austrian academic painter Hans Pühringer (1875- 1970), stage- and costume designer at the Vienna "Hofoper" towards the end of the Habsburg monarchy. Neglected by posterity, the academic and art world,only his date of birth is mentioned in Austrian enziklopedias. This is all the more astonishing, because for more than eight years Hans Pühringer had, besides to Alfred Roller and Heinrich Leffler, a decisive influence on the optical presentation of the "Hofoper". Research in archives, museums, public and private collections made it possible to reconstruct his long life, (more than 95 years), which outlived the Habsburg Monachy and both world wars, and his rich artistic oeuvre which now amounts to some 900 catalogue numbers: Hans Pühringer, born 1875 in Klosterneuburg outside Vienna, entered 1890 the " k.k. Kunstgewerbeschule des k.k. Museums für Kunst und Industrie" ( today University for Applied Arts) and remained there until 1900, finally in the master class for drawing and painting of Franz von Matsch. Pühringer was reportedly his best pupil.In an art exhbition in 1908 in Klosterneuburg Pühringers paintings, priced up to 1000 Crowns, hung next to those of Egon Schiele at only 80 Crowns. This detail shows how much their status differed then and how totally diffeerent it is today. 1911-1918 he was engaged as artistic adviser for settings at the k.k. Hofoper in Vienna and successor to Heinrich Leffler and Alfred Roller, who was to become the creator of the new style of setting at the Vienniese Opera House. Pühringer had less authority than Roller. Probably first engaged for ballet productions and their costumes, he developed more and more importance as creator of scene and costume designs for opera. His name was rarely mentioned by the contemporary press, never on the play bills. Some of his designs were later attributed to the decoration painter Anton Brioschi. The Project succeeded in drawing up the list of Pühringers décor and costume equipments for the "Hofoper" between 1911 and 1918: He created costume and scene designs for 25 ballets and operas. The following are considered the best known stage settings, partly presented with more than 40 repetitions up to 1939, thus leaving their mark on the style of productions in Vienna: the ballets "Nippes" (music Josef Bayer), "Die Jahreszeiten der Liebe" (Franz Schubert), "Des Teufels Großmutter" (Oskar Nedbal), "Die Prinzessin von Tragant" (Oskar Straus), "Wiener Legende" (Raoul Mader) and the operas "Oberst Chabert" (Wolfgang von Waltershausen), "Das Mädchen aus dem Goldenen Westen" (Giacomo Puccini), "Notre Dame" (Franz Schmid), "Mona Lisa" (Max von Schillings), "Jenufa" (Leos Janacek), "Salome" (Richard Strauss). The research on Hans Pühringer and his works was further successful in sceding new light on a dark period of the history of the Vienna opera: Pühringer determined gradually the stage settings of the institute up to the end of World War I. In some cases he marked the history of productions, because his designs were presented on other opera stages. A typical example is Janceks "Jenufa" : Pühringers stage setting reached also the stages of Breslau and New York (Met. 1924, with Jeritza). Pühringer introduced a series of technical and organisational innovations to the department of décor and costume: the stage settings were produced only in the studios of the "Hofoper" and were less expensive by 40 percent, because for instance the materials for costumes were painted instead embroidered. The outbreak of the war in 1914 was radical for the running of the opera house and for Pühringers art production. He was three years on the front. He was not even granted home leave in 1916 to prepare the productions for the coming season. Many painted scenes from the eastern and southern front show dramatically the impact of war on him.On return at the opera house he managed with success in 1917/18 the studios for décor and costumes, which suffered under the lack of collaborators and material. His stage settings for "Jenufa" and "Salome" were acclaimed, but the end of the war and the change of directors caused his retirement from the opera house. He then devoted the rest of his life to painting portraits, landscapes and genre-scenes.