Franz Wacik (1833- 1938)

Franz Wacik was originally a student at the painting school Strehblow. Later on he studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule Wien with Alfred Roller . From 1902 to 1908 he studied painting with Christian Griepenkerl , Franz Rumpler and Heinrich Lefler at the Vienna Art Academy. Wacik devoted himself to book illustration, mainly in children's and youth books. He illustrated mostly in color, works by Hans Christian Andersen , fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm , stories by ETA Hoffmann , Hugo von Hofmannsthal , Clemens Brentano, and also the folk book by Till Eulenspiegel. For the series of books on Austria's Hall of Fame he took on the volumes on Franz Schubert and Franz Grillparzer, for the weekly magazine The Muskete he made hundreds of color illustrations, and also contributed to the Youth Red Cross. His works particularly stand out for the ambitious series Gerlach's Youth Library, again with Andersen's Fairy Tales and illustrations to Baron von Münchhausen.