Studied in Berlin, Weimar and Paris from 1899 to 1903. From 1905 onwards, Schröder lived in Vienna, from then on maintaining close links with the family of Dr. Hugo Koller. From 1907 to 1911, he periodically cooperates closely with the artist Broncia Koller-Pinell. In 1908, he is welcomed into the famous group around Klimt, which organized the legendary Kunstschau in 1908 and 1909. In 1911, this was followed by a joint exhibition with Broncia Koller-Pinell at the Miethke Gallery, Vienna. Between 1909 and 1914, Schröder traveled to France, Bosnia and Africa.
Relocating to Munich in 1914, Schröder moved into his studio on Adalbertstraße and became a member of the Munich Secession, which exhibited his works in 1923. The same year, an exhibition was also held at the Munich Crystal Palace. In 1925, some of his paintings are shown at the Vienna Künstlerhaus on the occasion of the 6th Kunstschau of the Association of Austrian Artists. The same year, he traveled to Italy and spent an extended period in the artist community Anticoli-Corrado near to Rome. In 1926, his paintings were again shown at the Munich Crystal Palace. Subsequently, from 1927 to 1935, annual exhibitions including his work were held at the Kunstsalon Heller in Munich. He went on his second trip to Africa in 1929, staying mainly in Tunis. In 1936, he was officially deemed degenerate, and in 1937, the National Socialists confiscated his painting “Bay on Majorca”, for which he had been awarded the Albrecht Dürer Prize in 1933. Schröder spent the last years before his death in 1941 in the Tyrol.
Heinrich Schröder is one of the outstanding artists of early 20th century painting. Initially having strong stylistic leanings towards the Vienna Secession, his time in France becomes ever more apparent in his work after 1909. The influence of the Pont Aven School is evident. From 1915 onwards, his cityscapes, e.g. of Rattenberg, are unquestionably Expressionist, comparable to Egon Schiele, Alfons Walde and Nikolaus Prachensky. In the 1920s and 30s, in the course of his frequent travels e.g. to the South of France, Corsica, Majorca, much of Spain, Italy, Bosnia, England and Africa, his work reaches a climax, especially in the depiction of rare, often Mediterranean architectural motifs. “He reads the cityscape, in built-up nature, like a familiar face...... The characteristics and way of life of the population clearly show in the structures - not just a box of bricks to him but an intellectual product of the people.” (Wagner 1937) The shapes of his motifs are developed strongly, his lines impress. Berta Zuckerkandl wrote in 1919: “The landscapes of the South of France and Spain are a revelation to him. In these countries of endless skies, the drama of the horizons captured the painter’s imagination.”
As early as 1990, Kunsthandel Hieke exhibited an overview of this artist, who was little known at the time. In 1993, his work was presented in connection with his artistic friendship with Broncia Koller-Pinell together with some of her works. In 2007/08, the Belvedere showed his works as part of the exhibition “Vienna-Paris, Van Gogh, Cézanne and Austria’s Modernists, 1880 to 1960”, and in 2008, his paintings could be viewed at Belvedere in “Gustav Klimt and the 1908 Kunstschau”. Schröder has by now become a fixed star of Classical Modernism.
Exhibitions (selected):
1908 Kunstschau, Wien
1909 Internationale Kunstschau, Wien
1911 „Schröder, Koller“, Galerie Miethke, Wien
1923 Secession, München
1925 Künstlerhaus, Wien
1926 Glaspalast, München
1927 bis 1935 Kunstsalon Heller, München
1990 Personale, Kunsthandel Hieke, Wien
1993 „Schröder, Koller“, Kunsthandel Hieke, Wien
2007/08 „Wien-Paris, Van Gogh, Cézanne und Österreichs
Moderne 1880 bis 1960“, Belvedere, Wien
2008 „Gustav Klimt und die Kunstschau 1908“ Belvedere, Wien
Works at:
Belvedere, Vienna
Vienna Museum
Albertina, Vienna
Leopold Museum, Vienna
Niederösterreichisches Landesmuseum [Lower Austria Regional Museum], St. Pölten
Bavarian State Collection of Paintings, Munich
