Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000) Austrian/New Zealand, 1972 Olympics Poster. An eye-dazzling, jaw-dropping burst of colors and shapes celebrating the 1972 Summer Olympics in Berlin, titled at bottom "Olympische Spiele München 1972." The screen print in colors with metallic embossing curiously goes against the artist's professed hatred of straight lines, but utilizes them brilliantly to add to the dizzying crowded effect, symbolizing both the closeness and alienation of the historic international games. On the right side printed below the Olympic rings symbol and a spiral shape are the words "Edition Olympia 1972 GmbH 1971." Above that are embossed letters including the phrase "this poster is not signed" and a stamped number of 1377/3999. 

Overall Size: 41 x 25 7/8 in. 

Sight Size: 40 x 25 in. 

Frame Thickness: 1 in. 

Friedrich Stowasser (better known by his pseudonym Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser) was a visionary Austrian artist and architect famous for his vibrant, organic style and his rejection of straight lines, born in Vienna, Austria on December 15th, 1928. After surviving the Nazi era by posing as a Christian, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and traveled extensively to gain artistic inspiration, heavily influenced by the Vienna Secessionists and the French painter Rene Bro. He held his first exhibition in Vienna in 1952 and gained international fame for imaginative architectural works like the Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna, which features undulating floors and “tree tenants,” as well as becoming a passionate environmentalist who advocated for human-friendly design, “window rights,” and self-sufficiency, eventually emigrating to New Zealand to live in harmony with nature. His diverse creative legacy includes numerous postage stamps, coins, posters, paintings, and the iconic Koru flag, a proposal for a new New Zealand national symbol based on Māori tradition. He died at sea on board the Queen Elizabeth 2 on February 19th, 2000, and since then his work has continued to be celebrated at the Hundertwasser Art Centre in Whangārei, with his contributions to sustainable and conservationist artistic philosophy unparalleled in the 20th Century.

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