The Viennese Secession. Victoria Charles
Чтение книги онлайн.
Читать онлайн книгу The Viennese Secession - Victoria Charles страница 5
Название: The Viennese Secession
Автор: Victoria Charles
Издательство: Parkstone International Publishing
Жанр: Иностранные языки
Серия: Art of Century
isbn: 978-1-78310-394-2
isbn:
However, it was not only the difference in artistic conception that led to the argument. At the same time it was a struggle for power, influence and economic advantages; a struggle that also led to Secession-like movements in the USA and Japan. Despite all differences, the Munich artists agreed on one issue: the necessity of a shared artistic house, like the Paint-Box in Düsseldorf that was built several decades prior, in 1848.
Since the artists could not finance such a project – the creation of a monumental and representative temple of art – on their own, they had to find solvent sponsors. With the help of Franz von Lenbach, who already had wealthy clientele, architect Gabriel von Seidl (1848–1913) and painter Otto Seitz (1846–1912), the direly needed funding could be accumulated.
Hugo von Habermann, Self-portrait with Palette, 1893.
Oil on canvas, 91 × 109 cm.
Permanent loan from the Munich Secession, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich.
The most important role in the construction of the building, however, was held by the publisher of Münchner Neuesten Nachrichten and well-known patron of the arts, Georg Hirth (1841–1916). Most likely it was his influence that made the municipality of Munich provide a building plot in the centre of the city, in the prestigious Kreuzviertel. The cornerstone for the building was laid on the 3 July 1893 and the construction of the Neo-Renaissance building began shortly afterwards. In 1900, seven years later, the building was inaugurated by the Prince Regent of Bavaria, Luitpold (1821–1912), who was an art enthusiast himself. Having a reputation for being a progressive thinker, from 1903 onwards he also allowed women to study at Bavarian universities.
It was Berlin, however, that “won the race” for the first Secession exhibition in Germany; an accomplishment that the city of Frankfurt, always having been a city of the arts, would have liked to achieve. Nevertheless, it was Munich that was the navel of the German art world for now. The exhibitions attracted several well-known artists: Paul Klee came to Munich in October of 1900 from Switzerland, Wassily Kandinsky travelled from Moscow to Munich to attend the classes held by Franz von Stuck, while Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso also came to express their enthusiasm for the movement and its exhibitions.
Franz von Stuck, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse and the Rhine, 1907.
Oil on wood, 123 × 103 cm.
Hessian House Foundation, Schlossmuseum, Darmstadt.
Franz von Stuck, The Guardian of Paradise, 1889.
Oil on canvas.
Museum Villa Stuck, Munich.
The Artists of the Munich Secession
The most important members of the Secession were, to mention a few, the first president of the movement, painter and sculptor Bruno Piglhein (1848–1894), as well as the painter, art-pedagogue, and teacher Ludwig von Herterich (1856–1932), who ultimately could never satisfy the high hopes that he had raised with his paintings Johanna Stegen and Ulrich von Hutten.
Franz von Stuck, one of the three “princes of painting of Munich”, a title he shared with Franz von Lenbach and Friedrich August von Kaulbach (1850–1920), was also a part of the group. Earlier, he made a name for himself as a gifted sculptor – which rightfully earned him the honour to be called one of the brightest and most talented artists that Munich could offer. Inspired by the opulent brutality of the baroque painters, by Arnold Böcklin’s (1827–1901) usage of intense colours, and by the rigid beauty of ancient sculptures, he developed his very own style of painting. Highly adaptable, he could apply his style strictly or freely to whatever motive he was painting: fantastical scenes, portraits, landscapes, or still-lifes. The grandeur of his style shows itself best in paintings such as Fangspiel (Faun und Nymphe) (Game of Tag – Faun and Nymph) (c. 1904), Kampf um eine Frau (Fight over a Woman) (1905), or Salome (1906).
Fritz von Uhde, who was the pioneer and trailblazer of the idea of plein air-painting in Munich, was also part of the group. Initially he was more famous for the controversial discussion that he regularly caused with his deeply emotional paintings that propagated a social interpretation of Christianity. Later he caught the attention of Munich’s art scene with his masterful solutions for technical composition problems in paintings. Since he approached the problems with a truly religious sentiment, the products were equal parts impressive and sentimental: Let the Children Come to Me (1884), Christ with the Peasants (1886), The Last Supper (1886) and Holy Night (1889). Beyond that, he also painted in a way that proved he possessed a keen gift for the observation of nature and the reality around him. Some apt examples are Bavarian Drummers (1883), The Nursery (1889), The Picture-Book (1889), and Darning (1890). Since Fritz von Uhde was also exhibiting with the Viennese Secession, Ludwig Hevesi reviewed his work as well:
Fritz von Uhde will also be among the celebrated. His grand Last Supper – which is preceded by its reputation from Munich – is one of his main, no, maybe his strongest achievement yet. […] In any case it is the most important of the master. Uhde returns to the light air of poetry from his beginnings, to those grave yet unspoken emotions which create an impression of the taboo. From this subtle poetry of the imponderable he moves towards tangible greatness […].
In later years, Uhde got tempted by the example of other artists to start using larger formats for his paintings. At the end of his life, Uhde was creating the most vivid and artistic paintings of his career. Interior scenes and landscapes that showed that he continously evolved in his style and had finally reaced the pinnacle of his mastery of painting. Rightfully he can be called one of the most important artists of the early 20th century.
Other artists that should be mentioned in this enumeration are painter Hans Thoma (1839–1924), Lovis Corinth (1858–1925), the Berlin impressionist Max Liebermann (1847–1935) and Hugo von Habermann (1849–1929), first vice-president, then president of the Secession. Some artists from Berlin joined the Secession in Munich as well, among others, portraitist Reinhold Lepsius, (1857–1922), Max Kruse, husband of the “Queen of Dolls”[4] Käthe Kruse (1854–1942), as well as Walter Leistikow (1865–1908), who later would create the Berliner Secession.
Yet, this group could not fulfil all expectations and did not remain a united body. They split into smaller groups several times, the most prominent being the Neue Secession from 1913. The Secession in Munich was dissolved in 1938 by the National Socialists during one of their “cultural cleansings”.
Franz von Stuck, Poster draft for the First International Exhibition of Art, “Homage to painting”, at the Glaspalast (detail), 1899.
Mixed technique on cardboard.
Museum Villa Stuck, Munich.
Franz von Stuck, The Sin, 1893.
Oil on canvas, 95 × 60 cm.
Neue Pinakothek, Munich.
Fritz von Uhde, Ascension (drawing), СКАЧАТЬ