Wien Urania

Hedwig Brecher Eibuschitz

"Urania" refers to the Urania Observatory, an educational institute and public observatory in Vienna named for the Greek goddess muse of astronomy. It was built in 1909 according to the plans of Art Nouveau architect Max Fabiani and was opened in 1910 by Franz Joseph I of Austria.

Located next to the structure in this etching is the Zollamtssteg bridge, a steel arched footbridge that crosses the Danube. It was designed by Martin Paul, and Josef Hackhofer and Friedrich Ohmann were architects. Anton Biró was responsible for the steel construction.

Hedwig Brecher Eibuschitz, painter, printmaker and industrial designer, was born in Vienna on 12 November 1880 to Adolf Abraham and Ludovika Liba Brecher. She was known as Hedy Brecher. Hedwig studied at the Wien Kunstschule für Frauen und Mädchen (Vienna Art School for Women and Girls) when, despite being a leader of the emerging European Modernist movement and the Secession led by Gustav Klimt, Vienna still barred most women and - increasingly - Jews from studying painting or sculpting at its art institutions. Being both a woman and Jewish, much of Hedwig's accomplishments were overlooked, hidden, or ignored until more recently.

The Wien Kunstschulefür Frauen und Mädchen was established in 1897 by Jewish women artists and their Gentile counterparts to offset these disparities. Additionally, the establishement of the Association of Austrian Women Painters, of which Hedwig was a founding member, was established in 1910 to further support this cause.

Further information about Hedwig is limited, though it has been noted that she studied printmaking with Ludwig Michalek and Christian Ludwig Martin, and was on the Executive Committee, Hanging Commission, and and Jury of the Association of Austrian Women Painters. Hedwig Brecher married Leopold Eibuschitz and they raised two daughters. At an unknown date, the Eibuschitz family moved to South Africa, likely to escape Nazi persecution. Hedwig died there in 1959.