Lotte Profhos Biography
Lotte Profohs was born Lieselotte Cäcilie Profohs in Vienna, Austria, in 1934. From a young age she showed an interest in art and attended the Academy of Applied Arts from the age of 15. It was at the academy that she met her future husband, Helmut Leherbauer (Maître) Leher. Profohs was known for her expressionist style, steeped in feminist ideals. By the early 1950s, Profohs' work had gained international recognition, with his pieces acquired by renowned museums such as the Louvre in Paris. His works were often socially critical in nature and created predominantly in black and white.
His interest in marginalized groups and feminist themes strengthened after reading Simone de Beauvoir's novel "Pitié pour les Femmes" in 1957. Profohs was deeply concerned and outraged by the book's misogynistic content and created over 200 drawings on the themes of abortion, homosexuality, isolation, loneliness and sexual violence. These works were intended as a response to the novel, which Profohs renamed "Have mercy on women" (Erbarmen mit den Frauen), which eventually became a plea: "Have mercy on women!" The book, with a circulation of 2500 copies, was deliberately designed to be simple so as not to distract from the images and their message. Women's issues were rarely discussed at that time, and women's oppression was part of everyday life. Profohs was dedicated to making women visible in their struggles and existence. His drawings were created spontaneously, without preliminary sketches, and the idea developed with each stroke of the pen. Profohs sought to make visible excluded and marginalized people, as well as women and their sexuality, which was still a taboo topic in society.
Profohs continued to address the plight of unwanted, displaced and excluded individuals in his last show, titled "Emigrants of Time" (1989), during his lifetime.
