1/internal/media/dispatcher/125934/fullOld Figure1960–1963[Walter Pichler]Walter PichlerWood, Tin, Copper, Mattresses, Sheet In light of the technological innovations and challenges of his time, Walter Pichler, who was trained as a graphic designer, began exploring future forms of living and habitation in the late 1950s. Around the same time, he began creating sculptural works that were not directly tied to his explorations of architecture—such as the sculpture „Old Figure“. The figure’s metallic body was constructed by bending and soldering around a skeletal framework of thin branches. In 1971 Pichler added a mattress to „Old Figur“e and placed it next to his own sleeping area in his Vienna studio. Subsequently, it became a kind of shadow figure for the artist, reflecting his sleep and waking rhythms, as he would set it upright or lay it down in sync with his own body. This close bond, reinforced through ritualized actions, exemplifies the near-symbiotic relationship Pichler had with his sculptures, which he no longer sold from the early 1970s onward.Sculpturehttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/85414/rdf