Trude Waehner was raised in a family with a great interest in art; her father was one of the first sponsors of the Vienna Secession. Together with Oskar Kokoschka, Oskar Strnad and Josef Frank, she was one of the pillars of the Austrian Werkbund, and was often to be found amongst the group known as the Wiener Kreis [Vienna Circle] founded by Moritz Schlick in 1929.
The themes of her paintings include figurative motifs, landscapes and still lifes. Her depictions were true to nature, but with Expressionist features. Her paintings have gained fame internationally.
From 1918, Waehner studied at the Vienna Graphic Teaching and Experimental School as well as at the School of Arts and Crafts in Vienna. From 1928 – 1932, she studied at the Bauhaus in Dessau under Paul Klee, also frequenting courses held by Wassily Kandinsky. She nonetheless remained focused on objective themes. “My desire was to fight against impending fascism with all the means available to me, and to also express this in my art.” (Die uns verließen [Those Who Have Left Us]", Austrian Gallery 1980, pp. 202, 203). In 1931, she left for Berlin, maintaining close contact with Klaus and Erika Mann, Berthold Brecht, George Grosz and Otto Dix. As an antifascist, she was forced to flee from Berlin to Vienna in 1933. In 1938, her studio in Vienna was confiscated. Leaving her home country for political reasons, she relocated to America, where she taught at numerous institutions of higher education. She was Director of the Arts Department in New York, awarded a Carnegie scholarship for two years and became an American citizen.
Group exhibitions of her works took place at the Bonestell Gallery in 1943 and 1944, as well as at the Emmerich Gallery in New York and in Stockholm in 1950. She returned to Vienna in 1946 and took legal action against A.P. Güterlsoh and Heimito von Doderer, who had taken possession of her house in the course of the “Aryanization”. In Vienna, her works were exhibited at the Hagenbund shows. In 1947, she moved to Paris, where a group exhibition was held at the Raspail Gallery the same year and later on at M. Bernheim. She subsequently spent most of her time in Provence, where she owned a farm in Dieulefit, interspersed with periods of work in Paris and Vienna. Her last home from 1963 was in Venice. In 1964, she presented her works at La Galerie Zohar in Haifa.
Exhibitions (Selection):
1937 Galerie Würthle, Wien
1940 Galerie Martina Foster Braundl, New York
1943 und 1944 Bonestell Gallery , New York
1947 Galerie Raspail, Paris
1950 Emmerik Gallery, New York/Stockholm
1955 Neue Galerie, Wien
1960 Galerie Motte, Genf
1964 La Galerie Zohar, Haifa.
1966 Albertina, Wien
1980 Belvedere, Wien
2010 Personale, Kunsthandel Hieke, Wien
Works at:
Vienna Museum
Belvedere, Vienna
Albertina, Vienna
Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris
Museo del' Arte Moderna, Bologna
