Gustav Klimt
“I am not interested in myself as a subject for painting, but in others, particularly women…”Beautiful, sensuous and above all erotic, Gustav Klimt’s paintings speak of a world of opulence and leisure, which seems aeons away from the harsh, post-modern environment we live in now. The subjects he treats – allegories, portraits, landscapes and erotic figures – contain virtually no reference to external events, but strive rather to create a world where beauty, above everything else, is dominant. His use of colour and pattern was profoundly influenced by the art of Japan, ancient Egypt, and Byzantium. Ravenne, the flat, two-dimensional perspective of his paintings, and the frequently stylised quality of his images form an oeuvre imbued with a profound sensuality and one where the figure of woman, above all, reigns supreme. Klimt’s very first works brought him success at an unusually young age. Gustav, born in 1862, obtained a state grant to study at Kunstgewerbeschule (the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts) at the age of fourteen. His talents as a draughtsman and painter were quickly noticed, and in 1879 he formed the Künstlercompagnie (Artists’ Company) with his brother Ernst and another student, Franz Matsch. The latter part of the nineteenth century was a period of great architectural activity in Vienna. In 1857, the Emperor Franz Joseph had ordered the destruction of the fortifications that had surrounded the medieval city centre. The Ringstrasse was the result, a budding new district with magnificent buildings and beautiful parks, all paid for by public expenses. Therefore the young Klimt and his partners had ample opportunities to show off their talents, and they received early commissions to contribute to the decorations for the pageant organised to celebrate the silver wedding anniversary of the Emperor Franz Joseph and the Empress Elisabeth. In 1894, Matsch moved out of their communal studio, and in 1897 Klimt, together with his closest friends, resigned from the Künstlerhausgenossenschaft (the Cooperative Society of Austrian Artists) to form a new movement known as the Secession, of which he was immediately elected president. The Secession was a great success, holding both a first and second exhibition in 1898. The movement made enough money to commission its very own building, designed for it by the architect Joseph Maria Olbrich. Above the entrance was its motto: “To each age its art, to art its freedom.” From around 1897 onward, Klimt spent almost every summer on the Attersee with the Flöge family. These were periods of peace and tranquillity in which he produced the landscape paintings constituting almost a quarter of his entire oeuvre. Klimt made sketches for virtually everything he did. Sometimes there were over a hundred drawings for one painting, each showing a different detail – a piece of clothing or jewellery, or a simple gesture. Just how exceptional Gustav Klimt was is perhaps reflected in the fact that he had no predecessors and no real followers. He admired Rodin and Whistler without slavishly copying them, and was admired in turn by the younger Viennese painters Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka, both of whom were greatly influenced by Klimt.
Читать Gustav Klimt онлайн беплатно
© Confidential Concepts, worldwide, USA
© Parkstone Press International, New York, USA
The Viennese Secession
Eight Years of Secession (March 1897 – June 1905)[1]
Criticism – Polemic Pamphlet – Chronicle
by Ludwig Hevesi, Vienna 1906
Gnawing Sorrow (detail from second panel of The Beethoven Frieze), 1902.
Casin on plaster, height: 220 cm.
Secession, Vienna.
The city council has, in recent days, in a moment of epiphany, made the decision to grant the Vereinigung bildender Künstler Österreichs (Association of Visual Artists in Austria) a piece of property for the construction of an art exhibition center on the corner of the Wollzeile in Vienna.[2] The conditions, however, for this grant still need mitigation. This is what the Viennese would call a “Wiener Lokalnachricht” (a local headline) but compared to all the other headlines that have been published in the papers over the last years, this announcement is of tremendous importance. A magic word has been spoken which shall break the chains and raise the dead from their graves: an urban expansion is on the horizon that shall rejuvenate Vienna’s art scene. As a city of the arts, Vienna, this formidable little town shall finally become Great Vienna, truly a New Vienna. The citizens of Vienna themselves are going to be surprised by the news since all the conspirators behind this project have been untiringly working in deepest silence in their metaphorical mountain retreat. The time of planning is finally over; today action speaks louder than words, for this courageous venture is already secured, both artistically and financially, at least for the next decade.
It was a group of young artists with strong and fresh blood running through their veins whose determination set this movement in motion; it is the most consistent movement in Vienna ever since the fiery temperament and genius of Hans Makart set the world of art on fire. This movement holds great promise; it might follow in the footsteps of all the other great art movements: The “Vereinigung der XI” in Berlin who exhibit their art in Schulte’s art gallery or it might even be a Secession just as in Munich, Paris and other art capitals all over the world. It could be an exodus to the Holy Mountain; one part movement of opposition, one part new creation, an “Anti-Salon” which will – by nature – always be a salon for the rejected.
At the same time, however, these bold, young Austrians are considerate patriots. They want to be neither frondeurs[3] nor Watergeuzen[4] and even less do they want to wage a guerilla war against the Academy and the Künstlerhaus. It is not the urge to rebel against their elders that is driving them forward. They are not out to offend anyone or to celebrate themselves. No, their goal is to elevate the traditional, classical Austrian art to a modern, international level. The artists themselves put their intention into the following words:
The Death of Juliet, 1886.
Black pencil with white highlights, 27.6 × 42.4 cm.
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna.
Man’s Head Lying Down (painting from the ceiling of the Imperial Venetian Theatre), 1886–1888.
Black chalk, white highlights, 28 × 43 cm.
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna.
“A band of young artists has, driven by an ideal and an unshakeable faith in Vienna’s artistic future, undeterred by any obstacle – founded an association of visual artists for Austria. With the help of several true friends of the arts and supporters who are willing to make sacrifices and disregard material hardship, they want to follow their calling and be artistically active.”
Despite their non-confrontational intentions, the V.b.K.Ö is still a “warlike” association because they wanted to fight the lack of ideas and the artistic phlegm in today’s art scene. This goal is not to be reached by arguing polemically but by aiming for purely artistic ideals and educating the “eye”, the art perception of the masses so that they can better understand the living, ever-evolving nature of art. This better alternative will thus become an enemy of everything that was only “good” so far and, naturally, even more hostile towards the “bad”.
This task requires immense endurance, for the public has to be broken of it’s tolerance for bad art. The “bad” has simply to be made impossible by silencing the demand for it. The necessity for a new renaissance in the arts is evidenced by the presence of quite a few famous names – which are beyond any suspicion of being youthful upstarts – that are joining the ranks of the movement. Grandmaster Rudolf Alt was asked to act as honorary president. Which accusation could there be that is not disproved by his presence? Quite a few academic professors are joining the ranks of the artists: Myslbek, Hellmer, Julian Falat, Hynais. Among our young members are Engelhart and Moll, whose determination is the stuff of legends; Bernatzik, Bacher, Klimt, Krämer, Knüpfer, Mayreder, Ottenfeld, Stöhr, Jettel and Dei have also joined the group.[5]
Artists from all of Europe are sending their regards and cheering their colleagues on; New-Munich and New-Berlin are standing shoulder to shoulder with New-Vienna. Stuck, Marr, Herterich, Dettmann, KuehI, Dill and many more, even some Parisian masters, have joined the group as “non-residential members”. A youth association is international by concept and cannot be anything other than international; youth organizations all over the world share the same goal: to celebrate life to the fullest.
