Franz Kernbeis was the youngest of seven children. He worked on his parents' farm until his late teens when he first started to show signs of mental illness. From the age of twenty he became a permanent resident in psychiatric homes. It was at the Gugging psychiatric hospital near Vienna, that Dr Leo Navratil first encouraged his interest in drawing. Kernbeis usually makes pictures of solitary objects, figures and animals. He begins by drawing an outline which he then fills in with pencils or crayons.

Franz Kernbeis undated
© House of Artists - Maria Gugging
Photo credit: John Cass

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