“A grand master of caricature, a master of contemporary history, an icon of Austrian satire”
St. Pölten (OTS) – On the occasion of the 75th birthday of graphic artist, cartoonist and poet Manfred Deix, the head of the Caricature Museum Gottfried Gusenbauer welcomed numerous guests to the opening of the anniversary exhibition “I love Deix” today, Saturday, including Deix’s wife Marietta, former state governor Erwin Pröll, artist and friend Gottfried Helnwein , cabaret artist Thomas Maurer, many friends, companions and Deix lovers as well as state governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner, who officially opened the exhibition.
“It was a privilege to get to know Manfred Deix personally and every encounter with him was an experience,” recalled the state governor. “Deix was a grand master of caricature, a master of contemporary history, an icon of Austrian satire. He was brilliant, humorous, lively and always focused on people.” He was brutally honest about the nature of Austria in his drawings. She recalled the Deix characters who “even made it into the Duden”, including his “grumpy but brutally honest Mr Austria” and his caricatures in “profil”.
With his caricatures, Deix managed to “hold a mirror up to society, address taboos and relentlessly bring absurdities to light,” said Mikl-Leitner, who emphasized: “Without Manfred Deix, the caricature museum in Krems, which exists today, would not exist. 23 years after its opening, it has more than 7,000 original caricatures in its inventory, including around 1,000 works by Manfred Deix.” At this point she also thanked her predecessor Erwin Pröll and the Deix family, especially her wife Marietta, who played a key role were involved in the planning and implementation of the museum, which was designed by the famous architect and cartoonist Gustav Peichl at Deix’s request.
Finally, the state governor expressed her thanks and appreciation to curator Anna Steinmair, the artistic director of the Caricature Museum Gottfried Gusenbauer and the entire team in Krems and wished everyone “a lot of fun discovering the over 160 works in the anniversary exhibition ‘I love Deix’.”
Deix’s lifelong friend, artist Gottfried Helnwein, looked back on their time together, shared anecdotes and described Deix as an “event of the century and an absolute genius of satirical drawing.” He was one of the most important personalities in Austrian art history, “and not just on that level of high art, but rather he has left his mark on the hearts of all people,” says Helnwein.
Cabaret artist Thomas Maurer also spoke at the opening event, describing Deix as a “chronicler of a spirit of freedom” who “created his works linguistically masterfully and with satirical and malicious precision.” Curator Anna Steinmair also spoke about the exhibition, as did Harald Scheicher, curator of the Werner Berg Museum Bleiburg, about the “Dialog Deix Berg”, an excursion to the anniversary exhibition, as well as the publishing director of Ueberreuter Verlag Birgit Francan, who presented the anniversary volume “Forever Deix”.
The exhibition opening was musically accompanied by guitar virtuoso and Deix’s brother-in-law Mario Berger, who played Deix’s favorite Beach Boys songs.
The anniversary exhibition “I love Deix” shows favorite motifs, bitter highlights and works by Deix that have not been shown for a long time from today until February 2nd. All information online www.karikaturmuseum.at
Questions & Contact:
Office of the Lower Austrian State Government
State Office Directorate/Public Relations
Doris Zöger
02742/9005-13314
presse@noel.gv.at
www.noe.gv.at/presse