Franz Josef Georg Clemens Maria Leopold Salvator, Prince of Altenburg (15 March 1941 – 18 August 2021) was an Austrian ceramicist and sculptor. He was a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine (Austria-Tuscany branch). He was regarded as a leading modern ceramicist of Austria, and received awards including the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria.
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Life and career
Altenburg was born into the nobility at the Kaiservilla in Bad Ischl, the seventh of nine children of Clemens Salvator, Prince of Altenburg, and his wife Elisabeth, Countess Rességuier de Miremont. He studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Graz, the school of applied arts from 1958 to 1962, with Hans Adametz. He met the ceramicist Gudrun Baudisch-Wittke, with whom he worked in the Hallstätter Keramik workshop from 1962 to 1964. He studied further at the school of ceramics in Faenza. In 1967, he became Meister in Hafnergewerbe (master of ceramics). He took study tours to foreign masters, such as in 1968 to Jean Claude de Crousaz in Geneva. That year, he was granted an atelier (workshop) by Johannes von Hohenberg at the Gmundner Keramik manufacturer, where he worked as a freelance artist until 1993. During this time, he became a member of the Gruppe H, founded by Hohenberg and Baudisch-Wittke, which at a time also included Anton Raidel (1943–2019) and Wolfgang von Wersin. Altenburg was a member of the Kunstforum Salzkammergut. He is regarded as one of the most prominent modern ceramics artists in Austria.