Lily Orcutt

Week 6 Study Questions

Peter Vergo Art in Vienna 1898 – 1918 (Oxford: Phaidon, 1981), 18 – 85

What were the “Secessionist” seceding from?
Akademie der Bilden Kuenst and Kunstlerhaus genussenshaf. These were the two
principle bodies of art in Vienna. They were very restrictive in the art they chose to
support and didn’t approve of international art and were very traditional and commercial
in their taste preferences.

What type of styles did their works encompass?

Jugenstile was among the most influential (Art Nuveau) focused in a modernist and
natural style. Incompassing mediums from graphic art to paintings, to typographers and
architects.

How did they see th relationship between life and art?

They viewed art as a means to awaken the an inner desire within man, that lies
“dormant”. They thought art should be a natural product of life and that it needed to be
relevant to the time – a reflection of life.

Why did Klimt’s University paintings cause such a scandal?

They were seen as pornographic and didn’t fit the style of the university which was not as
risqué for the time.

Why did the Secession devote an entire exhibit to the topic of Beethoven?
They wanted to create a tribute to Beethoven who, like the secessionist was very forward
thinking for his time. Music was also the highest form of art as seen by the secessionist so
they wanted to agknowledge that also.

What might the musician of Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze (called “Poetry”) represent?
It represented the fulfillment of yearning and desire. The eyes of the musician are closed
which is a statement towards the Dioynisian way of dreaming and realizing and then
since it is represented in art it also represents the Appolonian aspect of communicating
the realization through that means.

Look through the artworks in this chapter. What types of themes and figures seem most
prominent? Why?
There is a lot of nudity, particularly in females – potentially seems like recognition of
what is natural in terms of human life and reproduction. Art is becoming more
anatomically correct.