Michael Neder was born in Vienna, the son of a shoemaker. From 1821 he studied at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. After three years of preliminary studies, he studied history drawing under Carl Gsellhofer from 1824 until 1829. In 1826 he was awarded the gold medal for art by Count Johann Rudolf Czernin and was also highly regarded and praised by Moritz Daffinger and Friedrich Gauermann. In 1831 financial difficulties forced him back into his original profession of shoemaking in which he remained for another three years. Nevertheless, he still contributed almost every year to the annual exhibitions of the Academy until 1846. From 1855 to 1863 he exhibited at the monthly exhibitions of the Austrian Art Association. Johann Michael Neder’s oeuvre differs from the artistic output of his peers and cannot be ascribed to any major movement of his time. Excelling in all the technical aspects of his craft, he chose his own unique style of painting. He was an observer of his time and the people around him and his works evoke the life of ordinary folk in the Viennese suburbs, farmers, wine-growers and the like, depicted in their daily chores and amusements. Through his paintings, Neder shows us his view of the world, which goes beyond the optical reality, features abstract forms, a reduced spectrum of colours and space and is often overstated. Neder does not aim to impart a moral message, his paintings are neither affected nor sentimental, but rather touch us at an emotional level.
Literature
Michael Neder. 1807 - 1882, Galerie Welz, Vienna 1940; K.Hareiter, Michael Neder, Vienna 1948, with Lit.; Exhibition-Catalogue Michael Neder: Ohne Kompromisse, Agnes Husslein-Arco (Herausgeber), Sabine Grabner, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna 2013; Lexica: Wurzbach, Thieme-Becker, Müller-Singer, Bénézit, Boetticher, Busse Nr. 57625