Albert Janesch

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameAlbert•Janesch
Used nameAlbert•Janesch
Born12 June 1889 in Wien (Vienna), Wien (AUT)
Died10 May 1973 in Wien (Vienna), Wien (AUT)
NOC Austria

Biography

Austrian portrait and genre painter Albert Janesch studied in Wien (Vienna) from 1904-12. In 1912 he received the Rome Prize with a corresponding travel grant. During World War I he was an official war artist in Italy and in Orient, as he was during World War II in France, Russia and Greece. Between the wars he worked as a freelance artist and became a member of the Vienna Künstlerhaus in 1919. In 1930 he was appointed professor and attended the exhibitions in München’s (Munich) Deutschem Haus (German House). He painted in a naturalistic, often heroic style with martial elements.

After 1945 Janesch produced murals for the “Iron Room” of the Museum of Military History located in Wien, which he finished in 1954. In spite of his dubious role during the Nazi period, he remained a well-known and highly decorated artist. He was awarded the Golden Laurel of the Vienna Künstlerhaus and, shortly before his death, the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art.

One of his works, Water Sports, was submitted for the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It was a representation of the perfect beauty of a race steeled in battle and sport, inspired not by antiquity or classicism but by the pulsing life of current events. Adolf Hitler took this painting for his private collection. The painting in oil on canvas was created in 1936 in the format 153 x 208 cm. It was presented in 1937 in the Great German Art Exhibition in München and is today in the possession of the German Historical Museum Foundation. It was supplemented in the art exhibition by a series of 10 work drawings in mixed media.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1936 Summer Olympics Art Competitions AUT Albert Janesch
Painting, Drawings And Water Colors, Open (Olympic) AC
Painting, Paintings, Open (Olympic) AC