Edith Spira

Edith Spira is an artist who works mainly with paintings and drawings. She works and lives both in Vienna and on the island Nøtterøy in Norway. The book concentrates on her 25 years of career. Texts by various authors highlight different aspects of the artist´s work. Reproductions of her artworks make up the bulk of the book. In detail, Brigitte Birbaumer Borchhardt discusses the connection between painting and photography and the philosophy of the horizon in modern landscape painting; Manfred Langapproaches Edith Spira's drawings in a personal and poetic way; beginning with Spira's education and her artistic development, Tone Lyngstad Nyaas discusses the artist's work in the context of the history of arts. She also relates to gender-specific aspects of Edith Spira's work and refers to Edith Spira's use of materials and colour; in her text Marjetica Potrc´ focuses on Edith Spira's cultural heritage: in her view Edith's works combine the (Jewish) non-representational tradition with a "Central- European" storytelling. To complement these texts, the book publishes parts of a conversation between the Norwegian gallerist Kjell Strand and the artist where the working process as well as external influences like travelling, literature and other artists are discussed.

Edith Spira was born in Vienna 1951. She studied at the Universität für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna and the Kunstakademiet i Trondheim, Norway. She moved 1978 to Norway and since 2001 lives and works both in Vienna and in Norway.
She participated in many exibitions in Austria, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. She is representated in public collections in Vienna, St. Pölten, Oslo. Trondeim, Tistrup (Denmark) and Östergotalandslän (Sweden).