The Infeld Collection encompasses what is presumably Austria’s largest collection of Naive Art.  Not only that, but it also includes the marginal areas of this genre that border on Art Brut, Self-Taught Art, as well as Outsider Art.

The focus of this exhibition lay on positions from the country known as Croatia today. An especially large number of “classic” Naive Artists established themselves there, particularly around the influential School of Hlebine. However, works that were created in the Blakans or in other European countries, where independent currents in Naive Art likewise developed in the 20th century, supplemented the show. These also included works by Gugging Artist Fritz Opitz. To complement this, the exhibition placed its focus on the exciting transitions to other stylistic tendencies, represented by singular positions such as those of Ilija Bašičević Bosilj, Sava Sekulić, and Friedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern. The question mark in the exhibition’s title alludes to the difficulty of performing any clear differentiation among these stylistic directions.

Instrument-string manufacturer Peter Infeld and his mother Margaretha Infeld began collecting art in the mid-Sixties. The exhibition was jointly curated by the head of the collection, Dr. Yordanka Weiss.

Artists: 
Ilija Bašičević Bosilj, André Bauchant, Emile Blondel, Camille Bombois, Emerik Feješ, Ivan Generalić, Josip Generalić, Mato Generalić, Krsto Hegedušić, Pál Homonai, Dragutin Drago Jurak, Franjo Klopotan, Mijo Kovačić, Đorđe Kreća, Albina Kudeljnjak, Ivan Lacković-Croata, Branko Lovak, Wano Meliaschwili, Nikifor, Fritz Opitz, Josip Pintarić Puco, Mara Puškarić-Petras, Ivan Rabuzin, Friedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern, Sava Sekulić, Matija Skurjeni, Petar Smajić, Slavko Stolnik, Nada Švegović-Budaj, Jože Tisnikar, Ivan Večenaj-Tišlarov

Curators: Dr. Yordanka Weiss, Prof. Dr. Johann Feilacher