Walter Koschatzky was born on 17 August 1921 in Graz. He attended high school and the military college Liebenau near Graz. Between 1940 and 1945 he performed military service before going on to study art history, history and philosophy at the University of Graz. From 1956 he headed the “Neue Galerie” at the Landesmuseum Joanneum in Graz. In 1961, he was appointed Director of the Graphic Collection Albertina in Vienna, a position he held for 25 years. During this time, he gained broad respect for his academic research and 210 exhibitions of ancient and modern art in the Albertina itself. Other exhibitions organized in Austria and abroad helped establish the collection’s global reputation. Walter Koschatzky lectured at the universities of Vienna and Salzburg, was a member of many international committees and served as a juror at major graphic biennials e.g. in Ljubljana, Varna, Cracow and Puerto Rico. He published numerous books on the art of graphics, the art of watercolors, the art of drawing, Rudolf von Alt, and Albrecht Dürer's landscape watercolors, and also made art films for the Austrian Broadcasting Network - ORF (Telemuseum, Rudolf von Alt, The Century of Austrian Watercolor, Thomas Ender). Walter Koschatzky died on 9 May 2003 in Vienna.

In addition to the promotion of young artists through the Koschatzky Art-Award, the Rotary Club Wien-Albertina set up a legally dependent fund with effect from October 1st, 2011, from which a scholarship of at least 6,000.00 € per year according to established guidelines is awarded. This scholarship is called "Koschatzky Art-Award Scholarship" (KA scholarship) and is awarded to young, aspiring artists who have got into financial hardship through no fault of their own.

You can find more information about the scholarship and how it is awarded here.

Thomas May

Konrad Anders