Krenz, Alfred

BORN:
Vienna, Austria, 1899

DIED:
Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa, 1980

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:
1928: first one-man exhibition. 1954: Venice Biennale. 1956: First Quad of SA Art. 1960: Second Quad of SA Art. 1961: São Paulo Biennale.

AWARDS:
1959: Honorary professorship from the Austrian Government. 1967: Awarded the Medal of Honour for Painting by the S.A. Academy.

COLLECTIONS:
Several European Galleries; SA National Gallery; Johannesburg Art Gallery; William Humphreys Gallery; Hester Rupert Museum; Rembrandt Foundation; Schlesinger Organisation.

REFERENCES:

http://www.decsey.com/ak/biblio.htm

Berman, E. 1974. Art & Artists of South Africa. A.A. Balkeme: Cape Town, Rotterdam.

ALFRED FRIEDRICH FRANZ KRENZ attended the “Kunstgewerbeschule” in Vienna before being admitted, in 1918, into the famous Vienna Academy of Arts. Later in Paris he became an admirer of Cézanne, and worked for a while in the studio of Amédée Ozenfant. In 1932 he married in Paris and settled in Vienna, just as Nazi Germany was preparing to engulf the rest of Europe. His family later left Austria during the outbreak of the Second World War and settled in South Africa in 1949 where Krenz continued to work until his death.

For Krenz, it was a new world, full of light and colour, which gave him fresh inspiration. In Cape Town he launched his own art school, which attracted not only young students, but also pupils from all walks of life. He held many one-man shows throughout the country, and participated in numerous group exhibitions.

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