Visit to the studio

Illustrator looks back: “I was obsessed”

Werner Hölzl brought the figure of the legendary Hanswurst to paper.(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

He designed the legendary Hanswurst poster for Rupertikirtag, Salzburg tarot cards and worked on the history of the Liefering district. Now the gifted illustrator Werner Hölzl is stepping down. A visit to his small but exquisite studio.

His career as a gifted illustrator and graphic designer was shaped by a crude and comical character: "The Hanswurst poster was created in 1977," says Werner Hölzl, looking back on the revival of the Rupertikirtag in Salzburg. For 25 years, the people of Salzburg drew attention to the folk festival with his drawings.

Illustrator designed Salzburg tarot cards
And for Werner Hölzl, one commission followed another over the years: Back in the early 1980s, he designed a provincial exhibition about the Celts. In 2016, his own Salzburg tarot cards were his big hit for the "Salzburg 200 years with Austria" anniversary.

"I'm not really a card person, but then I was obsessed," he laughs today. The top trump card? "The Hanswurst, of course," smiles the illustrator, who has also built up a dense network of archivists, chroniclers and historians over the decades. Hölzl also helped design the chronicle (published in 1997) in his home town of Liefering.

Hölzl designed tarot cards such as this one with the Hanswurst(Bild: Keltenmuseum Hallein)

Hiking trail wandered to Club Liefering
He is already looking for the next project on the bookshelf in his small but exquisite studio and flips open a document. The Liefering cultural trail with 55 display boards in the district, which he set up, has just been handed over to Club Liefering.

His style? "Naturalistic. I can't rush things, I prefer to take my time with the details," says Hölzl. People also like to rely on his sharp pen for family celebrations.