Foreword

Those who only expect cold and chunky boulders are wrong. The sculptures made by Franz J. Rittmannsberger represent tenderness and elegance as if they were not made of stone but of glass. As soon as you touch and aesthetically comprehend his sculptures, this kind of myth which is concealed in the stones starts to become alive and lets you perceive the infinite dimension of time.
All his works share one central theme, namely the homage of human life.
Franz J. Rittmannsberger works with such an unbelievable aesthesia, which reveals much of his soul, and he impressively knows how to revive apparently dead matter, which lets the observer experience the fusion of female and male principles – a kind of erotic dialogue between the human being and matter.

On the occasion of an exhibition a well-known art critic characterized the works by Franz J. Rittmannsberger in the following way:
“The sculptures by Franz Rittmannsberger have a surface structure which appears to be lifelike, smooth and supple and which you’d like to touch with your hands. Warmth and emotion come from them. You completely forget that these sculptures are made of hard and heavy stone.”

Through his distinctive stylistic elements Franz J. Rittmannsberger is one of the most important contemporary Austrian representatives of classic sculpture.

Didier Morteveille, Gallery in Vienna, Salzburg