Karl Sterrer, was an Austrian painter and engraver.

Biography

Karl Sterrer was the son of the sculptor Carl Sterrer.

He studied at the Academy of Vienna under August Delug and Griepenkerl. Equally adept at both landscapes and portraits he won the prestigious Prix de Rome

Prix de Rome

The Prix de Rome was a scholarship for arts students, principally of painting, sculpture, and architecture. It was created, initially for painters and sculptors, in 1663 in France during the reign of Louis XIV. It was an annual bursary for promising artists having proved their talents by...

 in 1908. This was followed by many more awards, including the Reichel Prize, in 1919.

Around 1910 Sterrer was one of the first Austrian artists to be intrigued by the beginnings of German Expressionism

German Expressionism

German Expressionism refers to a number of related creative movements beginning in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin, during the 1920s...

. Building upon the deep, dark lines of drypointing, Sterrer began to cut his landscape compositions to their essentials. During the first two decades of the twentieth century, Sterrer worked and traveled extensively in Germany and Austria.

In 1921, he accepted the post of Professor of Fine Arts at the Vienna Academy. Today, examples of Sterrer's original prints and paintings are housed in the collections of the Carnegie Institute

Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh

Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh are four museums that are operated by the Carnegie Institute headquartered in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...

, Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

, the Dresden Gallery and the Austrian Academy in Vienna.