Length1h 22m
About this audiobook
"I am not interested in myself as a subject for painting, but in others, particularly women…"Beautiful, sensuous and above all erotic, Gustav Klimt's paintings speak of a world of opulence and leisure, which seems aeons away from the harsh, post-modern environment we live in now. The subjects he treats – allegories, portraits, landscapes and erotic figures – contain virtually no reference to external events, but strive rather to create a world where beauty, above everything else, is dominant. His use of colour and pattern was profoundly influenced by the art of Japan, ancient Egypt, and Byzantium. Ravenne, the flat, two-dimensional perspective of his paintings, and the frequently stylised quality of his images form an oeuvre imbued with a profound sensuality and one where the figure of woman, above all, reigns supreme. Klimt's very first works brought him success at an unusually young age. Gustav, born in 1862, obtained a state grant to study at Kunstgewerbeschule (the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts) at the age of fourteen. His talents as a draughtsman and painter were quickly noticed, and in 1879 he formed the Künstlercompagnie (Artists' Company) with his brother Ernst and another student, Franz Matsch. The latter part of the nineteenth century was a period of great architectural activity in Vienna. In 1857, the Emperor Franz Joseph had ordered the destruction of the fortifications that had surrounded the medieval city centre. The Ringstrasse was the result, a budding new district with magnificent buildings and beautiful parks, all paid for by public expenses. Therefore the young Klimt and his partners had ample opportunities to show off their talents, and they received early commissions to contribute to the decorations for the pageant organised to celebrate the silver wedding anniversary of the Emperor Franz Joseph and the Empress Elisabeth. In 1894, Matsch moved out of their communal studio, and in 1897 Klimt, together with his closest friends, resigned from the Künstlerhausgenossenschaft (the Cooperative Society of Austrian Artists) to form a new movement known as the Secession, of which he was immediately elected president. The Secession was a great success, holding both a first and second exhibition in 1898. The movement made enough money to commission its very own building, designed for it by the architect Joseph Maria Olbrich. Above the entrance was its motto: "To each age its art, to art its freedom." From around 1897 onward, Klimt spent almost every summer on the Attersee with the Flöge family. These were periods of peace and tranquillity in which he produced the landscape paintings constituting almost a quarter of his entire oeuvre. Klimt made sketches for virtually everything he did. Sometimes there were over a hundred drawings for one painting, each showing a different detail – a piece of clothing or jewellery, or a simple gesture. Just how exceptional Gustav Klimt was is perhaps reflected in the fact that he had no predecessors and no real followers. He admired Rodin and Whistler without slavishly copying them, and was admired in turn by the younger Viennese painters Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka, both of whom were greatly influenced by Klimt.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.1 (67)
Includes Goodreads
GenreOther
Length1 hr 22 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateJul 1, 2011
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Klimt
2© Confidential Concepts, worldwide, USA © Parkstone Press International, New York, USA
3Biography
4Munich Succession.
5Ravenne and Florence.
Show all chaptersShow less
6Decorative Arts in Munich.
7virtually no reference to external events, but
8Ravenna, the flat, two-dimensional perspective
91883 oil on canvas, 85 x 117 cm Historisches Museum, Vienna
101884 oil on canvas, 50 x 74 cm Historisches Museum Vienna
11His talents as a draughtsman and painter
12In 1857, the Emperor Franz Joseph had
13Therefore, the young Klimt and his partners
14Elisabeth.
15works, such as Fable, The Idyll, or indeed one
161886-1888 750 x 400 cm Burgtheater, Vienna
17unsuggestive ‘v’ reminiscent of modern-day
181888 Vienna
19Allegory of “Sculpture”
20Portrait of Joseph Pembaur
211890 oil on canvas, 69 x 55 cm Innsbruck, Austria
22the death of his father and brother Ernst in
231890 oil on canvas, 55 x 128.5 cm Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford (Connecticut)
24communal studio, and in 1897 Klimt, together
25both a first and a second exhibition in 1898.
26of paintings for the University of Vienna. The
27series of dignified, formal paintings in classical
28c.1894 oil on wood, 39 x 23 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
29the fact that on its first showing in Paris at the
30The first appearance of the unfinished
311895 Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich
32the two striking female figures at the bottom
331895 oil on canvas, 60 x 44 cm Österreichische Galerie, Vienna
34The naked woman at the top of the picture
35Interestingly though, in the sketch the
36Final drawing for the allegory of “Tragedy”
37women an ideal female type: modern, with a
38Portrait of a Woman
39dark-haired version of Marilyn Monroe.
401897-1898 oil on canvas, 41 x 66 cm Österreichische Galerie, Vienna
41Pallas Athena
421898 Oil on canvas, 75 x 75 cm Historisches Museum, Vienna
431898 oil on canvas, 52 x 65 cm Private collection
44Excess resembles not so much a woman as an
451898 black chalk, pencil, Indian ink, 41 x 10 cm
46much in the same way that modern-day
471898 oil on canvas, 145 x 145 cm Österreichische Galerie, Vienna
48Exhibition wallpaper for “Secession I”
491898 lithograph, 62 x 43 cm Private collection, New York
50This calm response perhaps best typifies
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