Vienna secession
A no style, style
The Vienna secession started in 1897 and began modern art in Austria. The first president and founder of this movement was Gustav Klimt. The movement was made up of painters, sculptors and architects. The movement was based equally on philosophy and aesthetic. What made this movement very unique was that there was no 1 style to the art produced by the various artists during this movement. The Vienna secession had a quote that summarises the intention of the movement, being “to every age its art, to every artist its freedom.” The artists were concerned with the possibility of art outside of academic control and tradition making it a modernist movement. The movement was created with the intention to form a new style of art which made little reference to historical influence. The Vienna secession ‘style’ was exhibited in a magazine called “ver sacrum”. The magazine exhibited highly decorative works as was representative of the movement. This includes a decorative vein running through the Vienna secession’s architecture, which often had a linear ornamental (whiplash) decorative style although because there was no set style to characterise the movement other artists and architects made use of a simpler approach like Wagner, the “pioneer of modernism”. (The Art Story, 2019).
An exhibition building known as “the secession” was built, designed by Joseph Maria Olbrich. ‘The secession’ is an icon of the movement. Many artists showed influence by movements and artists from previous movements, such as the art nouveau, arts and crafts movements. (The Art Story, 2019).
Figure 1 – The Kiss by Gustav Klimt (1907-1908), (My Modern Met ,2019).
Figure 1 is a painting by Gustav Klimt named the kiss. Gustav’s painting shows a man and a woman in a loving embrace in a field of flowers near a cliff. The painting is embellished with gold leaf as many of his works were. The painting is very decorative as many from this period were, both geometric and organic shapes are used in the decorative robes. He makes use of symbolism. The woman’s face is the focal point. (My Modern Met ,2019).
Figure 2 – Passing/posing By Kehinde Wiley 2003, print of a painting (76.2 x 76.2 x 4.44 cm.) (Artnet.com, 2019).
In figure 2 Kehinde Wiley has used a very decorative style similarly to Gustave Klimt in figure 1. The use of whiplash curls are common in the Vienna succession because it was influenced by previous art movements. The expensive golden decorative look is similar to that of Gustave Klimt’s lavish looking designs and like figure 1 the focal point is the face of the figure. Kehinde Wiley has painted the figure in hyper realism to affectively portray an expression similar to that of Klimt’s semi realistic figure’s facial expression in figure 1. Figure 2 is therefore a modern painting influenced by the Vienna secession movement.
References
Artnet.com. (2019). Passing/Posing by Kehinde Wiley on artnet Auctions. [online] Available at: https://www.artnet.com/auctions/artists/kehinde-wiley/passingposing-12 [Accessed 18 Oct. 2019].
My Modern Met. (2019). The Story Behind Gustav Klimt's Shimmering Symbolist Painting 'The Kiss'. [online] Available at: https://mymodernmet.com/the-kiss-gustav-klimt/ [Accessed 18 Oct. 2019].
