Gustav Klimt’s works are on display at the
Pinacotheque de Paris from 12 February to 21 June 2015. Is it a vast exhibition
from the Belvedere Museum in Vienna with over 180 works from Klimt and other
artists of the period of the Vienna Secession.
The exhibition, Au
Temps de Klimt, La Secession a Vienne (In the Time of Klimt, The Vienna
Secession), in partnership with Arthemisia Group and 24 ORE Cultura examines
the period at the start of the twentieth century in Vienna, during the
Secession, and the birth of Expressionism. It was very much a time of Art
Nouveau. Klimt was part of the emerging movement.
It brings together Klimt and other artists, including
works of his brothers Ernst and Georg, but Klimt is the main attraction. He is
the draw card. The Austrian-born Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) was known for his
murals, landscapes, and female figures, as well as his “golden phase” of
gilting (gold leaf), and the influence of Japanese art. The Belvedere
collection illustrates Klimt’s development from his initial attempts at
Historicism to his Secessionist style and Fauve and Schiele influences.
There is a large collection commencing with pieces
such as Male Nude (1880), Portrait of Clara Klimt (1883), Portrait of a Lady
(1897), Portrait of a young woman’s face (1898), Judith and the Head of
Holofernes (1901) – known as Judith I, and Judith II (1909), in which the
narrow vertical perspective is Japanese influenced. My favourite work of the
1890s is Portrait of Marie Breunig (1894), in which Klimt paints her skin in
life-like tones.
However the piece
de resistance is Klimt’s monumental Beethoven Frieze (1902). Originally
painting directly on the wall, it has been reconstructed to scale and shown for
the first time in France. Seeing it on the wall of the exhibit is an
exceptional experience. The frieze is 2.15 metres high (7 feet) and 34.14
metres long (112 feet) in three parts: “The Arts”, “The Paradise Choir” and
“The Embracement” titled after Richard Wagner’s interpretation of Ludwig van
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (1824). It is one of the most played symphonies,
best known for the lyrics “Ode to Joy” – a poem written by Friedrich Schiller
in 1785. It is the depiction of the choir in the central panel that is
striking, especially for Klimt’s ode to redheads.
Other artists’ works, of the Vienna Secession, on
display incude Carl Schuch, Tina Blau, Theodor Hormann, Josef Engelhart, Carl
Moll, Max Kurzwell, Gerhard Stocker, Egon Schiele, and Oskar Kokoschka. The
exhibit also includes antique crafts, such as furniture, jewelry, and ceramics
from artisans of the period, including Adolf Loos, Arthur Strasser, and Josef
Hoffmann.
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