Robert A. Saurwein, painter and printmaker, was born on July 1, 1907 in Innsbruck, Austria. He attended the Federal Secondary College in Innsbruck, Department of Arts and Crafts, and studied at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart, Germany. Saurwein created a body of color woodcuts but also painted in oil, tempera, and watercolor and made many sketching trips to Italy and Germany. In the early 1930s he was briefly a member of the Innsbruck Secession and the group Der Neue Bund (The New Covenant). Saurwein exhibited with the Innsbruck Secession in 1932 and 1933.

Saurwein’s work was featured in the State art exhibition in Hall in Tirol in 1932 and the following year he had a solo exhibition at the Kunsthandlung Czichna in Innsbruck and was included in the exhibition of the Salzburg Art Association (Künstlerhaus Salzburg). In 1934, he was included in an exhibition in Innsbruck at the Taxishof and the last known exhibition that featured his work was an exhibition of contemporary art at the Taxishof in 1940.

Robert A. Saurwein went missing in action in Serbia in 1942 during World War II.