De Es Schwertberger

De Es Schwertberger (born Dieter Schwertberger 1942), commonly known simply as De Es (since 1972), is an Austrian artist, painter and modeller. His work has been shown in exhibitions in New York City, where he lived for a short time, and Switzerland.

De Es was born in 1942 in Gresten, Lower-Austria, as Dieter Schwertberger, the second son of two teachers. His father died during World War II, leaving his mother to raise him and his elder brother. He graduated from the Engineering School of Vienna in 1962, aged 19.

His first decade as an artist began when he was taught to paint by Ernst Fuchs, in the style of the 'Technique of the Old Masters' from 1963 onwards. These initial paintings were shown to the world in a one-man-show in the gallery of Professor Fuchs, in Vienna 1964. After this exhibition he went on to further study, and modify, the 'Techniques of the Old Masters' to his own purposes in a selection of work he called Ideas of Truth, and his portfolio The Missing Weapon, which was shown at the Gallery Bernard in Solothurn, Switzerland, in 1968. After this he went on to develop more on his art technique, with shows in Switzerland from 1968 to 1972. During his time there he met and exhibited with H.R. Giger.

In 1973 De Es went on to serve as the assistant to Ernst Fuchs, at the Summer Academy in Reichenau. It was in this time that De Es went through the Stone Period, in which his art work consisted mainly of objects and people made from cracked rock and stone (such as his famous 'triptych' painting The Joining, later displayed in SoHo, New York City for an entire year in 1977). During this period he held a series of exhibitions in Vienna and elsewhere in Europe. His book Fundamental Images was published in this period.

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