Renate Bertlmann

“I am happy about my wonderful task to design the Austrian Pavilion in Venice. Radical contents and aesthetics and a willingness to take risks are the main pillars of my artistic work. My visions, which have carried me for fifty years, will therefore also find an authentic expression in this place.”
Renate Bertlmann
www.bertlmann.com

Renate Bertlmann (*1943 in Vienna) studied at the Academy of Arts in Oxford in 1962/63 and subsequently at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna until 1970. After graduating in Painting and Restoration, she was a lecturer at the Department of Conservation and Technology at the Academy until 1982. She lives and works in Vienna.

In her work Bertlmann explores representations of roles and bodies, questioning gender relationships by discussing subjects like pornography, sexuality, violence, Eros, and hierarchy. Her works are particularly characterized by a provocative, ironic approach.

She has been a member of the Vienna Secession since 1993 and a coeditor of the magazine [sic!] – Forum für feministische Gangarten since 1994. In 2007, she received the Prize of the City of Vienna and in 2017, the Grand Austrian State Prize.

Renate Bertlmann is represented by Galerie Steinek www.galerie.steinek.at and Richard Saltoun Gallery www.richardsaltoun.com

© Irina Gavrich

Exhibitions (Selection)

  • 1973 Der Mensch und die Stadt, Künstlerhaus, Vienna
  • 1975 MAGNA Feminismus. Kunst und Kreativität, curated by VALIE EXPORT, Galerie nächst St. Stephan, Vienna
  • 1976 URVAGINA, Galleria Tommaseo, Trieste
  • 1978 Art-Museum des Geldes, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
  • 1981 Fotobiennale Secession, Vienna
  • 1982 Stimmen der Sehnsucht, Galerie Apropos, Lucerne
  • 1983 Andere Avant-Garde, Festival, Brucknerhaus Linz
  • Berührungen, Palais Liechtenstein, Feldkirch
  • 1993 SCHNEEGESTÖBER-FLITTER(S)TÜRME, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna
  • 2008 INTAKT-Pionierinnen (INTAKT. The Female Pioneers), Fotogalerie Wien, Vienna
  • 2009 VIDEORAMA. Kunstclips aus Österreich, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
  • 2010 Donna: Avanguardia Femminista Negli Anni ’70 dalla Sammlung Verbund di Vienna, Gnam, Rome
  • Ich ist ein anderer (I Is Another), Landesmuseum Niederösterreich, St.Pölten
  • 2013 Mujer. La vanguardia feminista de los años ’70. Obras de la Sammlung Verbund, Viena, Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid
  • 2014 Aktionistinnen (Female Actionists), Kunsthalle Krems, Forum Frohner, Krems
  • Burning Down the House, 10th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea
  • Self-Timer Stories, Austrian Cultural Forum New York, Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León
  • WOMAN. The Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s. Works from the Sammlung Verbund Vienna, BOZAR, Brussels
  • 2015 Rabenmütter. Zwischen Kraft und Krise (Mother of the Year. Between Empowerment and Crisis: Images of Motherhood from 1900 to Today), Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz
  • The EY Exhibition. The World Goes Pop, Tate Modern, London
  • Feministische Avantgarde. Kunst der 1970er-Jahre aus der Sammlung Verbund, Wien, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg
  • Die achtziger Jahre (The Eighties), MUSA, Vienna
  • 2016 Renate Bertlmann. Amo Ergo Sum, Sammlung Verbund, Vienna
  • Renate Bertlmann. Two Climaxes, Richard Saltoun Gallery, London
  • 2017 Angst, Fotohof, Salzburg
  • Sex Work: Feminist Art & Radical Politics, Richard Saltoun Gallery, Frieze, London
  • RENATE BERTLMANN – MARIA LASSNIG, Sotheby’s Gallery, London
  • WOMAN. Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s, Sammlung Verbund, mumok, Vienna
  • 2018 Zeig mir deine Wunde, Dom Museum, Wien
  • Die 90er Jahre. Subversive Imaginationen, Wien Museum MUSA, Wien
  • DRAG: Self-portraits and Body Politics, Hayward Gallery, London
  • #It’s You Too, Galerie Steinek, Vienna
  • Flagge zeigen – Farbe bekennen II, WUK, Wien


Collections (Selection)

  • mumok Collection, Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna
  • Artothek des Bundes im Belvedere 21, Vienna
  • The Graphic Collection, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
  • MUSA, Contemporary Art Collection of the City of Vienna
  • Sammlung Verbund, Vienna
  • Lower Austrian State Collections, St. Pölten
  • Tyrolean State Museum, Innsbruck
  • The Austrian Photographic Collection, Museum der Moderne Salzburg
  • Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz
  • Neue Galerie Graz
  • Tate Modern, London
  • David Roberts Art Foundation, London
  • Gaia Art Foundation, London
  • Centre Pompidou, Paris
  • Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
  • Muzeum Susch, Switzerland



  • Her works are in numerous private collections throughout the world, e.g., in Brazil, the United States, Spain, France, Turkey, Japan, and Switzerland.


Bibliography (Selection)

  • MAGNA-Feminismus, exhibition catalogue, Galerie nächst St. Stephan, Vienna, 1975
  • Daolio, Roberto, La Performance, La Nuova Editrice, festival catalogue, Bologna, 1977
  • Künstlerinnen International, exhibition catalogue, Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin, 1977
  • ART-Museum des Geldes, exhibition catalogue, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 1978
  • Feministische Kunst International, catalogue Stichting de appel, Amsterdam, 1979
  • Andere Avantgarde, exhibition catalogue, Brucknerhaus Linz, 1983
  • Eiblmayr, Silvia (ed.), Kunst mit Eigen-Sinn, exhibition catalogue, Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna, 1985
  • Bestehend – lebend – gegenwärtig, Katalog zur Ausstellung Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, 1986
  • Gorsen, Peter, Sexualästhetik. Grenzformen der Sinnlichkeit im 20. Jahrhundert, Reinbek, 1987
  • Berger, Renate (ed.), „Und ich sehe nichts, nichts als die Malerei.“ Autobiografische Texte von Künstlerinnen des 18. bis 20. Jahrhunderts, Frankfurt/Main, 1987
  • Bertlmann, Renate, AMO ERGO SUM. Eine trilogische Monografie, Klagenfurt, 1989
  • SCHNEEGESTÖBER-FLITTER(S)TÜRME, exhibition catalogue, Kunsthalle Exnergasse Vienna, Klagenfurt, 1993
  • Werkschau VII, Fotobuch Nr.28/2002, Fotogalerie Wien, Vienna, 2002
  • Mimosen Rosen Herbstzeitlosen. Künstlerinnenpositionen 1945 bis heute, exhibition catalogue, Kunsthalle Krems, 2003
  • Dertnig, Carola; Seibold, Stefanie (eds.), Let’s twist again. Performance in Wien von 1960 bis heute, Vienna, 2006
  • Mostegl, Sabine; Ratzinger, Gudrun (eds.), MATRIX. Geschlechter / Verhältnisse / Revisionen, exhibition catalogue, MUSA Vienna, 2008
  • Schor, Gabriele (ed.), Feministische Avantgarde. Kunst der 1970er-Jahre aus der Sammlung Verbund, New York, 2015
  • Thun-Hohenstein, Felicitas (ed.), Self-Timer Stories, Vienna, 2015
  • Morgan, Jessica (ed.), Burning Down the House. Gwangju Biennale 2014, Bologna, 2014
  • Morgan, Jessica; Schor, Gabriele (eds.), Renate Bertlmann. Works 1969–2016, New York, 2016
  • Renate Bertlmann – Maria Lassnig, Katalog zur Ausstellung, Sotheby’s Gallery, London, 2017
  • Fellner, Sabine; Rollig, Stella (eds.), Die Kraft des Alters, Belvedere, Vienna, 2017