1894 – Vienna – 1984
Erna Kopriva was born in Vienna in 1894. She studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule between 1914 and 1919 in the sculpture class with Anton Hanak and in the architecture class with Josef Hoffmann. After graduating, she moved seamlessly to the Wiener Werkstätte as a ceramist. Her work was exhibited at the Vienna Art Show in 1920, the World Exhibition in Paris in 1925, and the Exhibition of European Decorative Arts in Leipzig in 1927. In 1928 she left the Wiener Werkstätte and became an assistant teacher and Hoffmann's assistant at the Kunstgewerbeschule. After her forced retirement during the war years, she took over the direction of the master class for fabric printing and wallpaper in 1945 and received the title of professor in 1953. From 1960 onwards, Erna Kopriva continued to work as a freelance artist in her retirement for almost twenty years. She died in Vienna in 1984.