Early Life and Artistic Education
Born in Munich, Germany, Josef Steiner began his artistic journey as a child, showing a strong preference for drawing in school. His formal training began at the age of fourteen at the Städtische Gewerbeschule in Munich, where he studied sculpture under Karl Killer and painting under Hans Fleischmann. Following the First World War, he attended the Bayerische Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich, focusing on portraiture, figure studies, landscapes, and animal studies. Seeking a more progressive direction, he moved to Berlin, where he studied at the Akademische Hochschule für die Bildenden Künste. It was there that he became a student of Karl Hofer, who became his most significant teacher and shaped his development in Expressionism and expressive realism.
The Berlin Years and Later Career
During his time in Berlin, Steiner became a member of the Berliner Secession and exhibited alongside prominent artists of the era. His work during this period included:
After being classified as a "degenerate" artist by the NS regime and facing imprisonment, Steiner later returned to Munich. From 1955, he engaged deeply with Präinformel and Informel art, marking an artistic comeback. His later works included modern landscapes and portraits in a post-expressionist style.
