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Watch the exhibition video or scroll down to read more about the story behind Crossing Borders: From the Danube to the Humber. You can also use the dropdown to jump to the different sections on this page.

Wachsenberg to Linz

Born in Carinthia in 1931, Alfred Gruber was at school in Wachsenberg, when German troops entered Austria and Adolf Hitler proclaimed Anschluss - a political union of Austria and Germany - in 1938. War was declared the following year. His father was conscripted into the German Army and subsequently captured and held prisoner of war. When he returned home, Austria was under Allied occupation, controlled by the Soviet Union, United States, United Kingdom and France.

In 1948 Gruber secured a place at an art school in Linz. The city was still under Allied occupation. Soviet forces controlled the region north of the River Danube, while the Americans took charge in the south. As the adopted hometown of Adolf Hitler, Linz had been at the centre of political activities during the Nazi regime. In a bid to control all aspects of German society including art, the Nazis promoted traditional or classical art, condemning the work of renowned modern masters like Pablo Picasso as 'degenerate'. Eager to dissociate themselves from the Nazi regime, the new art school at Linz embraced modernism from the outset.

During his time at art school, Gruber befriended the artist, Peter Kubovsky. Born in South Moravia, Kubovsky arrived in Austria as a war refugee. Alongside his studies, Kubovsky took a job at the new art gallery, which showcased the collection of Wolfgang Gurlitt. As an art dealer trading in Nazi plunder, Gurlitt's legacy has since been tainted. Nevertheless, access to the Gurlitt collection of 'degenerate' modern art was invaluable for Kubovsky and Gruber during their formative years.

To Beverley and Back

In the summer of 1962, Dr Schlager brought a visitor to Gruber's studio. Schlager had met the artist Jacqueline Stieger in Crete earlier that year. Although born in England, Stieger was of Swiss parentage, so was pleased to accept Schlager's invitation to visit Basel. Gruber and Stieger felt an instant connection and a relationship followed. They travelled back and forth between her studio in Beverley and Gruber's new purpose-built studio and foundry at Laufen near Basel. While Stieger had studied painting and drawing at art school in Edinburgh, she never studied sculpture. Nevertheless, she had worked in her father's workshop since childhood and was comfortable handling tools, and by 1961 had carved her first abstract sculpture.

Gruber left Albert Schilling's employ in 1961. Although confident with abstraction, he was still searching for a distinctive style. On one of many visits to Laufen, Gruber taught Stieger how to cast in lead. Together they experimented with abstract forms and sculptural processes, like casting lead with wood, resin, glass and bone. They explored the fundamental nature of unusual materials like asphalt, stretching their sculptural possibilities.

In 1966, Gruber and Stieger were invited to stage a joint exhibition at the Galerie Riehentor in Basel. Exhibits included Gruber's interactive sculptures. As the press reported, visitors were encouraged to 'play' with Gruber's 'machines', to create a range of sounds. Comparisons were made to the work of Jean Tinguely - a Swiss artist renowned for kinetic sculpture. However, as the critics observed, while Tinguely's sculptures were assembled from found and used objects, Gruber created handcrafted machines.

A Beginning and an End: Welton, East Yorkshire

Regardless of ongoing success, Gruber and Stieger decided to leave Switzerland and settled in East Yorkshire in November 1969. They acquired an old building at Welton, where they created a workshop, foundry and home. Gruber had been making art jewellery for some time, contributing to the exhibition of jewellery by 'modern masters' at the Galerie d'Art Moderne in Basel in 1968. Fellow contributors included Alexander Calder, Georges Braque and Jean Arp. So, alongside large sculptures, he was now producing distinctive art jewellery.

With an introduction from Beverley-based architect, Richard Swaine, Gruber and Stieger began creating architectural and sacred sculptures for Gillespie, Kidd and Coia -- a Scottish firm renowned for cutting-edge architectural design. Again, at Swaine's instigation, they became involved with a campaign to "Save No. 7". Despite being listed as a building of special architectural interest, the historic warehouse in Hull was threatened with demolition. For countless demonstrators, the building was irreplaceable. It motivated a series of photomontages by Gruber and Swaine. Sadly, despite all protests, the warehouse was demolished.

Gruber was ill when he left Switzerland in 1969 but the nature of his illness was unclear. Arriving in England, investigations were resumed but it wasn't until 1971 that a diagnosis of cancer was confirmed. He died on 16 February 1972. Despite her grief, Stieger forged ahead with an exhibition they had been working on for some time. It opened three weeks later at Park Square Gallery in Leeds when the press declared: 'cancer has robbed us of one of our most forceful and relevant sculptors'.