Aurel Iselstöger
1925 - 2008
Aurel Iselstöger was born in 1925 in Zagreb and grew up in Vienna as the son of a diplomat. His extraordinary artistic talent was already apparent at an early age. At age fourteen, he was diagnosed as schizophrenic. During the Nazi period this diagnosis would have very likely have led to castration or euthanasia. It is due to the efforts of his pediatrician Hans Asperger, who sent him off to live with a family in the country side, that he could remain out of sight from the Nazis.
After the war, Iselstöger was admitted to Maria Gugging Regional Hospital in Lower Austria. In the 1950s, his œuvre was discovered by psychiatrist Leo Navratil, who included his work in his subsequent publications. In 1970, he took part in the first exhibition entitled Artists from Gugging under the pseudonym 'Aurel' at Galerie Nächst St. Stephan in Vienna. He remained at the hospital until 1979. Aurel Iselstöger died in 2008 at an old age home in Klosterneuburg.
The Estate of Aurel Iselstöger is now represented by Delmes & Zander.