Adolf Frohner, Abstract Painter, 72

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VIENNA, Austria (AP) Adolf Frohner, a leading Austrian abstract painter
and graphic artist who helped found Vienna's "Actionism" movement in
the 1960s and gained an international following, died Wednesday
[January 24, 2007]. He was 72.

Frohner, who once walled himself in behind brick and mortar for three
days to explore what it meant to be an isolated observer, died suddenly
of natural causes, public broadcaster ORF said. Details of his illness
were not disclosed.

His death came just five days after he ceremoniously broke ground on
the Frohner Forum, a new museum being built in his name in the Danube
River town of Krems, 40 miles west of Vienna, ORF said. It said the
gallery would open later in the year as planned.

Born March 12, 1934, in the province of Lower Austria, Frohner moved to
Vienna in 1952, and two years later was analyzing contemporary works at
the Academy of Fine Art.

In the early 1960s, Frohner turned to Actionism, a movement best known
for his friend and colleague, Hermann Nitsch, who gained notoriety by
painting with animal blood and entrails. The group was criticized at
the time for its violent images of bound and raped women.

"But from this provocation emerged one of the most productive art
movements of postwar Austria," Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer said
Wednesday evening in a statement, hailing Frohner for daring to use art
"as an argument against social realities."

Frohner became a professor at Vienna's prestigious School for Applied
Art in 1975.

Drawing inspiration from Cezanne and Picasso, he earned a reputation
for the images of fleshy female figures he produced in his quest to
explore the human body.

Frohner's works are publicly displayed in Vienna's Museum of Modern
Art, the Albertina Museum, the Belvedere Gallery, and the Essl
Collection on the outskirts of the Austrian capital.

AP