Wien 1900. Leopold Museum Vienna
Sept 14th 2019
Most illuminating. It took a vast subject – the artistic and intellectual state of Vienna around 1900 – and informed and entertained in a very comprehensible way. The layout was excellent with the cavernous display areas very well used. One of the best aspects of the show was the way that connections were made between the various aspects of intellectual growth and exploration and how they could feed off one another – although this could have been even more explicitly made at times I felt; perhaps that is for a book or the catalogue from the exhibition. Is there one?
There was one area though that while acknowledged, rightly, that I would have been interested in and that was the effect and impact, if any, on those not in the socio-cultural elite that was the focus of the show. Also the elites awareness (or not) of those who provided the machinery of the city that enabled them to live their lives. Were they aware or how aware were they of the vast socio-economic discrepancy? Did they act in any way to help or alleviate t – or were they rather in their own intellectual and social ‘bubble’? While the exhibition did draw attention to the way that many of the movers and shakers were outsiders shaking up the system – painting style, 12-tone music and pushing of harmonic boundaries, a combination of function and beauty for household items (there were some glorious glass items on display that would look perfect in my place!). I suppose the major area was that of architecture and communal living. Of course they were (?) regarded as rough outsiders by the aristocratic crust of the city and so in that sense they may have regraded themselves as (proudly) part of the underbelly. Interesting ideas and would welcome any books etc. that explore these areas. Even so there was an air that this movement (if such can be called) did have a degree of detachment from a significant part of the social world – rather like the Bloomsbury set though not nearly as marked as in that solipsistic little group.
Interesting to see how short Klimt’s life was – and yet the remarkable range and volume of work produced in that period –and at the other end of the spectrum how long Kokoschka lived! With great wells of space in the centre
As I have suggested the environment in which this took place was wonderful – a lavishly extravagant use of space and I was interested to see to what extent it was a mirror of the Momut building adjacent – or, rather, the way THAT building was a mirror of the original Ludwig. I think the interior design was almost identical with great ‘wells’ of space in the centre.
A great show and certainly one I would (necessarily) visit if in the city again while it was still running.
https://www.leopoldmuseum.org/en/exhibitions/107/vienna-1900