#leherb

Faience is a very delicate technique. One works on brittle clay plates, which are coated with “majolica dust”. Since one cannot draw on dust, it was not possible to sketch the huge figures in advance. Leherb paid a high price. The ceramic dust made him incurably ill.

Technically, the works are exceptional, the effect is impressive. Symbolism and world view seem quite naive – even for the hedonistic 80s.

6 walls each 8 x 8 m, 3500 ceramic plates: In the early 1980s, the Austrian artist Maître Leherb created for the Vienna University of Economics and Business the largest faience ever made. No workshop and no expert thought it technically feasible. Today, 40 years later, the building and the works are in a desolate state.

Mixed media with gold paint on cardboard, 62.5 x 67.3 cm