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The Secession Building L'edifici Secession: Un Manifest Avantguardista Vienès
The Secession Building L'edifici Secession: Un Manifest Avantguardista Vienès
A
group of innovative young artists in fin-
© BDA
© MAK
de-siècle Vienna, inspired by Belgian Art
Nouveau, the Munich Secession and other
related movements, banded together to
forge the foundations of a new style. This
initiative would mark a departure from the
aesthetics exemplified by the Gründerzeit
or Historicist palaces lining the city’s Ringstrasse (Vienna’s most
important boulevard), one that aimed at completely merging art and
everyday life.
In 1896, a number of artists who were members of the
Genossenschaft bildender Künstler Wiens (Austria’s principal
artists’ association, headquartered in the Vienna Künstlerhaus),
including Gustav Klimt, Carl Moll, Koloman Moser and Alfred
Roller, decided to part ways with the organisation and build their
own exhibition hall. Within a matter of weeks, the fledgling
group secured both the funds required for the project and a lot
on the corner of Wollzeile and the Stubenring, a section of the
Ringstrasse.
Joseph Maria Olbrich, a student and close collaborator
of Otto Wagner, was chosen to design the building. The group
adopted the name Vereinigung bildender Künstler Österreichs,
Secession (the Vienna Secession) and formally declared its
independence from the Association of Viennese Artists in May
1897. Several of Olbrich’s
In the Secession early plans for the building,
building, geometric which incorporated a number
and stylised figurative of ideas contributed by Klimt,
were reproduced in Der
ornaments prevail Architekt and Deutsche Kunst
und Dekoration. This documentation indicates the architect had
initially intended to incorporate a stylised wrought-iron laurel
tree into the building’s imposing portal. It also reveals that he
Period photo of the Secession building, a few years after being completed stuck to his initial design when the group was denied a building
Foto d’època de l’edifici Secession, pocs anys després de ser construït permit for the Ringstrasse site and the project was moved to an
alternative lot secured by Carl Moll on the Getreidemarkt near
E
the Akademie der bildenden Künste (Academy of Fine Arts).
Olbrich presented his final construction plan by November of that
n la Viena finisecular, un grup de joves artistes pioners decidir separar-se d'aquesta organització i construir la seva pròpia sala
year and the building’s cornerstone was laid on 28 April 1898
inspirats per l'Art Nouveau belga, la Secession muniquesa d'exposicions. El grup es va batejar amb el nom de Vereinigung bildender
by the honorary president of the association, Rudolf von Alt,
i altres moviments similars es van aplegar per forjar els Künstler Österreichs (Unió d’Artistes Austríacs, més coneguda com a
whilst the Secession’s first exhibition was on show. Construction
fonaments d'un nou estil que marcaria un trencament Secession vienesa) i el maig de 1897 va declarar formalment la seva
was completed in a mere six months and the opening ceremony
amb l'estètica que exemplificaven els palaus Gründerzeit, o independència de l'Associació d'Artistes Vienesos. En qüestió de poques
took place in conjunction with the group’s second exhibition.
historicistes, que s'arrengleraven al Ringstrasse de la ciutat, setmanes el nou grup va aconseguir tant el finançament necessari per al
Patrons such as the industrialist Karl Wittgenstein helped pay the
principal bulevard de Viena, i que pretenia una fusió total de projecte com un terreny a la cantonada de Wollzeile i Stubenring, una
building expenses, which totalled 148,000 Gulden.
l'art i la vida quotidiana. zona del Ringstrasse.
Olbrich had paved the way for a radically new way of
El 1896, uns quants artistes que formaven part de l'associació Joseph Maria Olbrich, estudiant i estret col·laborador d'Otto
constructing that the art critic Ludwig Hevesi summed up as a
Genossenschaft bildender Künstler Wiens (la principal associació Wagner, fou l'encarregat de dissenyar l'edifici. Alguns dels plànols inicials
“tangible demonstration of a new possibility”: the stereometric
d'artistes d'Àustria, amb seu a la Künstlerhaus de Viena), entre els quals d'Olbrich per a l'edifici, que incorporaven unes quantes aportacions de
volumes of the Secession building were achieved by means of
es comptaven Gustav Klimt, Carl Moll, Koloman Moser i Alfred Roller, van Klimt, es van reproduir a Der Architekt i a Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration.
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l'Akademie der bildenen Künste (Acadèmia de Belles Arts). Olbrich va
presentar el plànol de construcció
En l'edifici Secession definitiu el mes de novembre
prevalen els ornaments d'aquell any, i el 28 d'abril de
figuratius geomètrics i 1898 el president honorari de
l'associació, Rudolf von Alt, va
estilitzats
col·locar la primera pedra, mentre
estava en marxa la primera exposició de la Secession. Les obres es van
acabar en només sis mesos, i la cerimònia d'inauguració es va celebrar
coincidint amb la segona exposició del grup. Mecenes com l'industrial
Karl Wittgenstein van ajudar a finançar els costos de la construcció, que
van sumar un total de 148.000 Gulden (monedes d'or).
Olbrich havia obert el camí cap a una forma de construcció
radicalment innovadora, que el crític d'art Ludwig Hevesi va resumir
com una “demostració tangible d'una nova possibilitat": els volums
estereomètrics de l'edifici Secession s'aconseguien mitjançant
combinacions de formes simples i s'emfatitzaven amb les superfícies
planes de les façanes, que presentaven una ornamentació moderada
consistent en motius delicats tallats directament sobre la superfície
d'estuc blanc. El llorer de ferro forjat que Olbrich havia concebut en
els primers esborranys com a element decoratiu per al portal havia
Above and top: two sketches made by Joseph Maria Olbrich in 1897 for the Secession building, when it was to be built on the
Ringstrasse. Published in Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, No 3, 1898−1899
Pie de foto inglés
A dalt i més amunt: dos dibuixos de l’edifici Secession fets per Joseph Maria Olbrich el 1897, quan es pensava construir-lo al Ringstrasse.
Publicats a Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, num. 3, 1898-1899 Peu de foto Català
Singular Singular
combinations of simple forms and enhanced by the flat planes of architectural element that would provide a visual connection with the
its façades, whose sparing ornamentation consists of delicate motifs dome of the baroque Karlskirche, an architectural feature dominating
cut directly into their white stucco surface. The wrought-iron laurel the nearby Karlsplatz that he had studied in great detail.
tree Olbrich had conceived in his first drafts as a decorative element The overall edifice is marked by simple, clean lines, a concept
for the building’s recessed portal had evolved into a wrought-iron that goes back to Otto Wagner’s station buildings for Vienna’s
sphere of gilded leaves crowning the central part of the building, Stadtbahn, the city’s public train system, a project on which Olbrich
which locals quickly dubbed the Krauthappel, an Austrian expression had collaborated. The Stadtbahn buildings also provided a precedent
meaning “cabbage head”. This element is framed by four corner for the clear subordination of Secessionist ornamentation to the severe
pillars and placed conspicuously above a massive architrave on ordering principles of architectural forms. In the case of the Secession
the building’s main façade that bears the motto devised by the building, geometric and stylised figurative ornaments prevail.
movement’s defender Ludwig Hevesi: “Der Zeit ihre Kunst. Der Kunst The architect’s decision not to hide or attempt to dissimulate
ihre Freiheit” (To each age its art; to art its freedom). the glazed tent roof of the exhibition rooms, designed to provide
The central, openwork dome (originally illuminated by an even, daylight illumination, provoked sceptics such as Carl
interior electric lighting fixture) can be traced back to earlier designs Schreder, the art critic of the Austrian newspaper Deutsches
by Otto Wagner in which he had studied such a motif and which Volksblatt, to compare the building to a greenhouse. However, the
Olbrich had subsequently taken up in a number of sketches. Its opinions of Schreder and other critics who remonstrated against
inclusion reflects Olbrich’s preoccupation with incorporating an what they perceived as a “hodgepodge of freely interpreted styles
Two details of the building’s famous cupola, dubbed Krauthappel or “cabbage head” by the Viennese. Left, as seen from inside; right, close-up of the gilded laurel leaves
Pie de foto inglés Dos aspectes de la famosa cúpula de l’edifici, que rep el malnom popular de Krauthappel o “cap de col”. Esquerra, vista des de dins; dreta, detall de les fulles de llorer daurades
Singular Singular
© Ver Sacrum
la part central de l'edifici i que els habitants locals ràpidament van
batejar amb el sobrenom de Krauthappel, una expressió austríaca que
significa “cap de col". Aquest element es troba emmarcat per quatre pilars
i està situat de manera molt visible damunt un arquitrau massís sobre
Lorem © Ipsum
la façana principal de l'edifici, en la qual s'hi llegeix el lema ideat pel
defensor del moviment Ludwig Hevesi, “Der Zeit ihre Kunst. Der Kunst
ihre Freiheit" (“A cada temps el seu art, a cada art la seva llibertat").
Es pot rastrejar l'origen de la cúpula central, calada (originàriament
Exhibition room in the building’s basement, showing Gustav Klimt’s Beethoven frieze, presented at the fourteenth Secession exhibition (1902)
© BDA Bettina Neubauer
Sala d’exposicions al soterrani de l’edifici, amb el fris Beethoven presentat per Gustav Klimt a la 14a Exposició de la Secession (1902)
1899 image of the foyer, with the circular stained-glass window based on a design
by Koloman Moser, published in the Secession magazine Ver Sacrum and architectural forms”, were countered by the views of writers Böhm. Josef Hoffmann was responsible for the decoration and
Foto de 1899 del vestíbul d’entrada, amb la finestra de vitrall feta seguint un disseny de such as Hermann Bahr, who considered the building a temple of furnishings of the basement office created for the editorial team of
Koloman Moser. Imatge publicada a la revista de la Secession Ver Sacrum
art that provided a “refuge from the plight of everyday life into the association’s magazine cum manifesto Ver Sacrum.
the eternity of art”. Apart from brief hiatuses during periods of war, the building
Although the most striking element of the main entrance has continued to serve as the headquarters of the Vienna Secession
La decisió de l'autor de no amagar o intentar dissimular la coberta hall was once a large stained-glass window, the Archangel of Art, to the present day. Due to the sober configuration of its exhibition
vidriada de dos aiguavessos de les sales d'exposició, dissenyades per based on a design by Kolo Moser that has since been lost, the space halls, designed to facilitate flexible use, the Secession building is
proporcionar una llum natural homogènia, va fer que alguns escèptics still features its original stucco relief decoration designed by Adolf regarded as the prototype of the modern exhibition space.
com Carl Schreder, el crític d'art del diari austríac Deutsches Voksblatt,
comparessin l'edifici amb un hivernacle. Això no obstant, les opinions
www.secession.at
de Schreder i d'altres crítics que van manifestar la seva desaprovació
davant el que consideraven un “calaix de sastre d'una interpretació lliure