Honorary Memberships
Since 1767, the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna has awarded honorary memberships to artists or individuals who have rendered outstanding services to the Academy.
A team of authors from the fields of archives and provenance research has been working on this topic since 2022. In this database, as a work in progress, short biographies of the current 629 - mostly male - honorary members have been incorporated.
Various search functions allow research by individual, by award date, by category (artist, patron, scientist, holder of an official position or political function), by gender, or as a full text search. Texts on the conceptualization of honor, the historical development of the award modalities as well as on selected periods shed light on historical and socio-political backgrounds of the membership elections.
Not only the conceptualization of honor has changed over the centuries. Above all, honors or honored persons with a Nazi background and the way they were dealt with must be questioned and re-evaluated. Therefore, persons from whom honorary membership have been withdrawn are not simply deleted from the list, but are marked in gray.
How can I use the database?
The database lists all honorary members of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna from 1767 until today. On the starting page you can see the complete list of honorary members, descending in chronology of the year of awarding.
In addition to a full text search, various other search options are offered. The number of hits is shown in brackets at the bottom left.
Active filters are marked with x. Several filters can be combined with each other. With x Reset in the field at the bottom left all filters can be deleted again.
Search database
Entering in the field allows full text search, e.g. entering a specific name or term. It is also possible to enter parts of a word.
Period
Here you can filter for persons who have been appointed honorary members in a certain period. The division into these periods was done by the authors: It resulted on the one hand from the history of the Academy itself - according to the validity of the respective statutes - and on the other hand due to historical events.
Categories
Allows searching by professions or membership in a particular social group. Several categories can be selected. For example, you can filter honorary members who are architects or academy members.
Keywords
Allows searching by predefined keywords: currently only searching for honorary memberships awarded posthumously.
Gender
Filters the honorary members by gender. The active filter is marked with a dot.
Status
Allows to search for all deprived honorary memberships (Yes/No). The active filter is marked with a dot.
Sorting
Allows the listing of all honorary members according to the award date: chronologically (descending is the default setting) as well as alphabetically sorted by last name.
Sources and literature
In the biographies only short citations of sources and used literature are given. The index with the complete citations can be found under Abbreviations, sources and literature.
Further Texts
A click on the logo of the academy leads you back to the homepage. There you will find further texts on the honorary members.
Further texts
Abbreviations, Sources und Literature
Authors:
ES = Eva Schober
UH = Ulrike Hirhager
CG = Camilla Geißelbrecht
NMG = Nicole-Melanie Goll
LR = Laila Reichenpfader
HR = Hannah Rigler
Archives
UAAbKW = Universitätsarchiv der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien
UAAbKW SProt = Sitzungsprotokolle des akademischen Professorenkollegiums, UAAbKW
UAAbKW VA = Verwaltungsakten, UAAbKW
WStLA Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv
ÖStA = Österreichisches Staatsarchiv
Online reference works
AKL online = Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon – Internationale Künstlerdatenbank – Online (nur für Lizenznehmer)
Austria-Forum
AzW = Architekturzentrum Wien, Architektenlexikon 1770–1945
DBI = Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (Treccani)
NBG = Nouvelle Biographie Générale
NDB Online-Version = Neue Deutsche Biographie
Wikipedia
ÖBL digital = Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon, Online-Edition
Wurzbach BLKÖ = Konstantin von Wurzbach, Biographisches Lexikon des Kaisertums Österreich, 1856–1891
Wienwiki
Literature
Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Mitteilungsblatt Nr. 37 Studienjahr 2022/23, ausgegeben am 2.5.2023
Akademie der bildenden Künste in Wien 1872−1972, Festschrift (Hg. Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien), Wien o.J. (1972)
Bilek, Statistik = Martin Bilek/Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien (Hg.), Die Akademie der bildenden Künste 1967/68 bis 1991/92 − Statistik der Meisterschulen und Institute, Wien 1992
Cortjaens, Katalog = Wolfgang Cortjaens, Katalogteil zu Carte blanche für Anna Reisenbichler. I work too much, work too little. Hg. v. Wolfgang Cortjaens und Julia M. Nauhaus. Kupferstichkabinett der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Wien 2019, S. 44–67
Hamann, Habsburger = Brigitte Hamann (Hg.), Die Habsburger. Ein biographisches Lexikon. Wien 1988
Knofler, 18. Jahrhundert = Monika Knofler, Das fortschrittliche 18. Jahrhundert – Maria Theresias Vorbildfunktion für Künstlerinnen, in: Carte blanche für Anna Reisenbichler. I work too much, work too little. Hg. v. Wolfgang Cortjaens und Julia M. Nauhaus. Kupferstichkabinett der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Wien 2019, S. 17–34
Die k.k. Akademie der bildenden Künste in Wien in den Jahren 1892−1917, hg. Professorenkollegium der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Wien 1917
Klee, Kulturlexikon = Ernst Klee, Kulturlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945. Frankfurt/Main 2007
Monika Knofler, Das visuelle Gedächtnis der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien (Arbeitstitel), unpubliziertes Manuskript
Theodor Lott (Hg.), Bericht über die Studienjahre 1876/77 bis 1891/92. Erstattet aus Anlass der Feier des zweihundertjährigen Bestandes der Akademie, Wien 1892
Carl von Lützow, Geschichte der Kais. Kön. Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Wien 1877
Verena Pawlowsky, Die Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien im Nationalsozialismus, Lehrende, Studierende und Verwaltungspersonal, Wien 2015 und Online-Datenbank
Hans Seiger, Michael Lunardi, Peter Josef Populorum (Hg.), Im Reich der Kunst. Die Wiener Akademie der bildenden Künste und die faschistische Kunstpolitik (= Österreichische Texte zur Gesellschaftskritik Bd. 50), Wien 1990
Wagner, Geschichte = Walter Wagner, Die Geschichte der Akademie der bildenden Künste in Wien, Wien 1967
Weinkopf, Beschreibung = Anton Weinkopf, Beschreibung der k.k. Akademie der bildenden Künste in Wien. 1783 und 1790. Wien 1875
Anja Weiberg/Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien (Hg.), Die Akademie in der Zeitenwende, Wien 2002