Martin Frommelt – biographical notes

Martin Frommelt was born in Liechtenstein in 1933. After finishing school he received a three-year basic training in the visual arts under his uncle, priest, politician and artist Anton Frommelt. From 1952 to 1962 he studied art at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

After completing his studies, he and a group of fellow artists formed an artists' circle in Paris. Their main focus was the integration of art into architecture and into the public space. He avoided the gallery scene and therefore the art market of the 1950s and early 60s. In 1962 he returned to Liechtenstein and to his first own studio.

Successful participation in Arts in the Public Space contests. Arts in the Public Space has always been an area of great interest to him. Amongst other things he has devoted himself to designing the colour scheme of entire building complexes.

In 1970 his first print cycle "The Apocalypse According to John" appeared after almost ten years of work – a series of colour woodcuts relating to transcendental themes.

The second large cycle of printed graphics, "Vähtreb-Viehtrieb" (Cattle Drive) appeared in 1986, after more than eight years' work - a colourful, graphic tale of the hard life of cattle herders in the Alps, done in relief printing.

Ten years later Martin Frommelt presented the colour etching cycle "CREATION - Five Constellations on Genesis" (1989-1999). This is an all-encompassing overview of the forms of our natural environment and the visual cosmological structures, which he presents free of artistic mannerisms.

After this main oeuvre Martin Frommelt devoted himself to the "Spinieu" project, a walk-in sculpture made of concrete with enamel elements, which was opened in 2005. From 2004 to 2007 he created a series of more than 60 large-scale enamel steles. Since then he has been busily engaged with painting once again.

Works by Martin Frommelt can be seen in the following international collections:
Kunsthaus Zürich, Graphic collection ETH Zurich, Albertina in Vienna, Museum Kolumba in Cologne, Germany, National Gallery of Art in Washington, Liechtenstein Art Museum, Mezzanin Foundation for the Arts and in private collections.