Iselstöger, Aurel
Croatia, 1925 - 2008
Aurel Iselstöger was born in 1925 in Zagreb and grew up in Vienna as the son of a diplomat. At age fourteen he was diagnosed as schizophrenic. During the Nazi period he was protected from castration and euthanasia by his pediatrician Hans Asperger, who sent him to live with a family in the countryside. His extraordinary artistic talent was apparent at an early age. In 1945 Iselstöger was admitted to Maria Gugging Psychiatric Clinic in Lower Austria. In the 1950s his œuvre was discovered by the psychiatrist Leo Navratil, who included his work in subsequent publications. In 1970 he took part in the first exhibition of “Artists from Gugging” at Galerie Nächst St. Stephan in Vienna. Iselstöger stayed at the hospital until 1979. In 2008, Aurel Iselstöger died at a home for the elderly in Klosterneuburg.
