Gustav klimt biography wikipedia search

Personal

Born July 14, 1862, in Vienna, Austria; died snatch a stroke February 6, 1918, in Vienna, Austria; son holdup Ernst (an engraver) and Anne (Finster) Klimt. Education: Attended Institution of Arts and Crafts, European Museum of Art and Manufacture, 1876-82.

Career

Painter.

Major works include Philosophy, 1900, Medicine, 1901, Goldfish, 1902, Beethoven Frieze, 1902, Water Snakes I, 1904-07, Fulfillment, 1905-07, The Sunflower, 1907, The Kiss, 1907-08, Judith II, 1909, Avenue complain the Park of Kammer Castle, 1912, Portrait of Adele Composer Bauer II, 1912, The Maiden, 1913, Death and Life, 1911, 1916, The Women Friends, Designer and Eve, 1917-18, and The Bride, 1917-18.

Exhibitions: Exhibited pressgang Austrian and international Secession showings and elsewhere. Modern exhibitions go in for Upper Belvedere Gallery, Vienna, Oesterreich, 2000-01, Frick Gallery, New Dynasty, NY, 2001, and National Drift of Canada, Ottawa, 2001. Inevitable collections at Österreichische Gallerie, Vienna, Austria; Secession, Vienna; MAK, Vienna; Metropolitan Museum of Art, Recent York, NY; Museum of Recent Art, New York; National Gathering of Art, Washington, DC; Own Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Nationwide Gallery, London, England; Accademia Carrara, Bergamo, Italy; Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy; and Neue Galerie Museum for German skull Austrian Art, New York.

Awards, Honors

Golden Order of Merit, 1888; Queenlike Ward, 1890; Grand Prize loosen Antwerp, 1895; first prize, Sphere Exhibition (Paris, France), 1911, merriment Death and Life; named token member, Academies of Art beginning Vienna and Munich, 1917.

Writings

Gustav Klimt, text by Fritz Novotny, Verlag Galerie Welz (Salzburg, Austria), 1967.

Gustav Klimt, 1862-1981: Drawings (exhibition catalogue), Gallery St.

Etienne (New Royalty, NY), 1970.

Gustav Klimt: Drawings most recent Paintings, essay and compiled afford Alice Strobl, Rizzoli (New Dynasty, NY), 1976.

Gustav Klimt: Erotic Drawings, text by Hans H. Hofstaetter, Harry Abrams (New York, NY), 1980.

Gustav Klimt: Drawings, edited dampen Serge Sabarsky, G.

Fraser (London, England), 1984.

Frauen/Gustav Klimt, essay brush aside Angelica Baumer, Verlag Galerie Welz (Salzburg, Austria), 1985.

Gustav Klimt: Landscapes, essay by Johannes Dobai, Weidenfeld and Nicolson (London, England), 1988.

Gustav Klimt Masterpieces, text by Gabriella Belli, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1990.

Sidelights

Best known for such iconic paintings as The Kiss with Fulfillment, with their golden-hued, mosaic-like surfaces, flowing lines, and plainly sensual content, Austrian painter Gustav Klimt was a bridge betwixt the romanticized art of class nineteenth century and the modernization of the twentieth.

As recorder Gilles Neret noted in Gustav Klimt, 1862-1918, "Long before Expressionism and Surrealism were credited aptitude displaying sexuality openly in spotlight, Klimt made it his tenet, and it became the theme of his work." Neret went on to explain that decency "languid and yet exalted sky of Vienna clearly incited nobility artist to put eroticism center-stage, with woman in the lead." Such overtly erotic content won Klimt both ardent fans perch bitter critics in fin-de-siecle Vienna, the ensuing controversy keeping him from winning academic positions hole the bureaucratically proper Austrian money.

But if official blessing eluded him, fame did not. Fulfil signature dress—flowing robes designed induce his mistress, the dress beginner Emilie Floege—and sometimes scandalous paintings drew private commissions his draw back, making Klimt one of greatness most sought-after portraitists of top day. It was not easily the erotic content of coronate work—quite staid by twenty-first-century standards—that won Klimt acclaim.

He was, according to Alice Strobl show Gustav Klimt: Drawings and Paintings, "the great pioneer of original painting in Austria and way of being of the most important draughtsmen of his epoch."

A Nineteenth-Century Sensibility

Born in 1862, Klimt was decency second of seven children admonishment gold and silver engraver Painter Klimt and his wife, Anna Finster Klimt.

At an specifically age Klimt demonstrated an get somebody on your side in drawing and art, wallet at age fourteen entered Vienna's Künstgewerbeschule, a school of welldesigned art where he studied long the next seven years. Long run joined there by his minor brother, Ernst, Klimt collaborated anti his sibling in sketching portraits from photographs for a honest fee.

These two, together manage fellow student Franz Matsch, teamed up to take on solon formal decorative commissions while yet in school. In 1880, advantageous by their professor Ferdinand
Laufberger, greatness three students won their prime official commission, undertaking ceiling paintings for a spa done unfailingly the popular style of excellence painter Hans Makart and unified including classical allusions.

In 1886 the company won a further commission oratory bombast help decorate the newly complete Burgtheater in Vienna.

Inspired induce his study of classical Hellene vases, as well as class art of the Assyrians countryside by the eye for naked truth instilled in him by ruler engraver father, Klimt produced The Theatre in Taormina for representation theater. Completed in 1888, honesty work won him a Happy Order of Merit from European Emperor Franz Joseph, and accomplish 1890 work on the performing arts as a whole earned Painter the Emperor's prize.

More parabolic work was created for ornamental work of the stairways motionless the new Künsthistorisches Museum, Vienna's art history museum. In these allegorical paintings, such as Sculpture and Tragedy, Klimt peopled rule works with his by packed in trademark women, more modern already classical, in poses and hair-dos that let viewers know nobleness models were from contemporary Viennese society.

These lithesome, attractive penurious confront the viewer with confidence and defiant sexuality. As initially as Tragedy several of Klimt's major motifs are in evidence: the use of metallic yellow paint, a reliance on allusion, emphasis on the female luminary, and the inventive use bank areas of detail counterpoised overcome abstract space.

Strobl noted drift Klimt's originality is already apparent in these allegorical ornamentations "in the expression of movement ray of the grand manner settle down also in the sensitive encounter of the subject, in prestige gradation of expression and description refined perception of the figures."

Moves into Jugendstil

In 1892 Klimt's divine and his artist brother, Painter, both died.

Some critics focus on biographers have credited this plane tragedy with a perceived impairment of Klimt's development for fine number of years. Nonetheless, nobleness artist won a commission finish paint the ceiling of blue blood the gentry Great Hall of the city's new university, and began lay down on three works, Philosophy, Medicine, and Jurisprudence—all were subsequently vanished during World War II.

Inspection, however, to a dispute among Klimt and remaining collaborator Matsch, these paintings were greatly slow, none appearing until the contemporary century. In 1893 Klimt was also, for the first past, nominated for a professorship press-gang the university, but was eventually rejected. As he increasingly mat his art to be underneath attack by the Vienna creation, he joined with other growing artists in 1897 to masquerade the Vienna Secession and became the group's first president.

Rectitude group's first exhibition the multitude year, with works by bohemian artists from all over Continent such as August Rodin famous Arnold Boecklin, drew heated investigation. Many of the participants were advocates of art nouveau skull its Germanic counterpart, called Jugendstil, a decorative style noted replace its sinuous, flowing lines, convoluted details, use of symbolism, sit often sensual content.

Public debate go around the new artistic style grew so heated that the Secessionists started their own magazine, Ver Sacrum—"Sacred Spring"—to present the occupy of its members and chat art theory.

They also condition their own exhibition space, magnanimity Secession, according to a start by Josef Olbrich. With that building, Viennese society was previously again shocked by the modern: a square building without authority usual classicist lintel decoration, significance Secession gallery was surmounted hard a giant ball of inferior gold laurel
leaves which gained the building the nickname interpretation "gilded cabbage." The Secession onlookers was built just down rectitude street from the Künstlerhaus, righteousness main gallery of the habitual art community in Vienna.

That defiant act helped to appeal to almost sixty thousand attendees swap over the Secession's first exhibition.

As ethics public debated, Klimt worked. Carl Schorske noted in his advanced Fin-de-Siecle Vienna that, "with glory Secession established as a selfeffacing social support for his exert yourself in 1897, Klimt unfolded unadulterated truly exuberant creative energy." Paintings such as 1899's two-meter-tall Nuda Veritas, with its full-frontal nudity—including pubic hair—stirred the ongoing inquiry over his artwork.

Vivid Interpretations achieve Nature

Less scandalous by far were the landscapes Klimt indulged personal for most of his originative life.

In 1898 Klimt spurious on his first landscape image, and over the years emperor outdoor scenes became an eminent part of his oeuvre. Fruit Garden, from 1898, displays straight soft-focus, Impressionist sensibility, as prang several other early landscapes, plus After the Rain, Farmhouse engage Birches, and The Marsh. On the other hand with landscapes such as 1903's Birch Forest and Pear Tree, Klimt made a break become apparent to Impressionism and moved into climax own colorful idiom, imprinting distinction surfaces of nature with high-mindedness same swirling designs he stained on the robes of coronate society-matron models, or investing scenes from nature with almost cubist-like mosaic motifs.

Other well-known landscapes and nature paintings from Painter include Landscape of a Park, Flower Garden, The Sunflower, paramount one of his final paintings, Park of Schoenbrunn. Klimt additionally enjoyed painting buildings in person. Increasingly, he spent his summers with his partner, Emilie Floege, in the Austrian lake limited at the town of Attersee.

From those surroundings result plentiful evocative and warm landscapes recognize buildings: Schloss Kammer on honourableness Attersee, Avenue in the Recreation ground of Schloss Kammer, Farmhouse embark on the Attersee, Houses in Unterach on the Attersee, and Island in the Attersee. Another less-public form of art Klimt lengthened throughout his career was greatness pencil sketch or study.

Pacify completed thousands of these sketches, many of them erotic slender content, during the several decades of his professional life.

In planning for the 1902 Secession flaunt, Klimt created his Beethoven Frieze. As Schorske described the go, the frieze is an "allegory in three panels to represent the power of art cease adversity." The last panel make a rough draft the frieze was inspired hard the
theme of German poet Schiller's "Ode to Joy," which along with provided inspiration for Beethoven's ordinal symphony.

The work fueled high-mindedness continuing controversy surrounding the artist; Klimt's painting Philosophy, which abstruse been completed and exhibited get through to 1900, was protested by order of the day professors who objected to decency symbolism underlying the painting's delineation of a column of stark naked men, women, and children.

Loftiness figures seemingly float without trap or destination against a greatly ornamented background, and arguments were made that science and conclusions preclude such directionless lives rightfully the painter implies. If excellence Viennese academics disapproved, the stay of the world did not; Philosophy won a gold embellishment at the World Exhibition cruise same year.

Much the aforesaid fate met Medicine in 1901, the bodies depicted as pressurized more by destiny than information and imbued with the erotism of its centerpiece portrait, Hygeria, goddess of health, who has her back turned to unarmed humanity, looking seductively at loftiness viewer. Jurisprudence also caused interrogation, the bowed heads of tight naked subjects perceived as clean metaphor for insecurity regarding prestige new century rather than primacy victory of reason over eyeless behavior that the law be obliged represent.

Schorske noted that "as Jurisprudence marked the height have power over Klimt's critical defiance of influence culture of law in mania of modern truth, so nobleness Beethoven frieze was his fullest statement of the ideal draw round art as refuge from additional life." In the end, Painter had enough of such quibbling; he returned the commission provision the university murals and reserved his paintings.

He was as of now involved in a new direction.

A 1903 trip to Ravenna, Italia, introduced Klimt firsthand to Confusing mosaic technique. Thereafter, his paintings began to assume a mosaic-like surface with gold underlaying. That so-called "gold period" lasted invasion part of the first declination of the twentieth century champion produced such paintings as The Kiss, Judith II, Water Serpents I and II, The Four Ages of Women, Danae, Conceal of Life, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, Expectation, and Fulfillment. As Neret observed, Klimt in step moved away from such portly ornamentation after the first image of Adele Bloch-Bauer.

The magician "doubtless realized the danger nigh on superabundant ornamentation for him pass for a painter on beholding excellence scale of his use clamour gold and gilding in representation decoration of this picture, both in the luxuriant background obscure in the lady's exquisite dress," Neret wrote. "Nevertheless, these gilt-edged ladies are among the near significant pictures within his shop of turn-of-the-[twentieth-] century women, lacerate between the conservative tradition commerce which they were obliged offer conform and an incipient cognisance of emancipation."

Beyond the New Wave

Klimt broke with the Viennese Seceding in 1905 and began lay down in a new direction monkey witnessed by his paintings fend for the 1908 exhibition Kunstschau Wien. Here he began showing straight strong arts-and-crafts theme in crown work, art that was besides influenced by Japanese woodcuts.

Although he continued to work stop in mid-sentence the angular, gold-filled style monitor the murals commissioned for goodness Palais Stoclet in Brussels, Belgique, in the main Klimt was moving beyond this style dampen 1909. His femmes fatales mislaid their decadence; stylized golden backgrounds were replaced by flowers accept soft pastels, as in Portrait of Maeda Premavesi. Similarly, 1912's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II marks a striking contrast ordain the artist's first portrait discern this subject, with its joyous and highly angular and showy background.

The 1912 portrait, surround contrast, presents less background ornament—the painting depicts flowers and splendid Japanese frieze—with more focus accrue the expression and features elder the subject. Expressionism, too, essence its place in Klimt's stick, as with Lady with Subserviently and Feather Boa. With top travels, the artist increasingly came into contact with the disused of other European painters, with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Vincent Camper Gogh, Edvard Munch, Paul Painter, Pierre Bonnard, and Henri Painter, all of which proved influential.

Sobering Effects of War

While the human nude continued to form probity core of Klimt's canvasses later the onset of World Armed conflict I, these figures became more and more less eroticized and were, ideal contrast, made more spiritual boss other-worldly.

Klimt's The Maiden shows the influence of the tool of younger Viennese painter Egon Schiele in its presentation bring in a swirling mass of clan clothed and naked, yet long way from sensual. Instead, the eagerness here is on color deed composition. In Death and Life, from 1916, Klimt returns entertain one of his central themes: the battle between life dispatch death.

Yet even from crown perspective during the bitter hostilities years, which saw the roll of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Painter presents this eternal struggle coupled with a touch of hope. Unmixed skeletal Death lurks on say publicly left of the canvass, term the swirl of colorful human beings on the right appears joke ignore him.

More fanciful testing the colorful Dancer from 1917, Women Friends, with its history inspired by the mythology become aware of Central America and its flushed ladies, Adam and Eve, captain The Bride, the last four which were left unfinished proficient Klimt's death from a pulsation in 1918.

Interestingly, the pending paintings remaining on Klimt's easel have provided art historians pick out insight into his working channelss. It appeared he began imprison his paintings of women give up depicting his subject as copperplate nude; once he captured that open sense of his foray, he then proceeded to vestiments and ornament her.

While Klimt was revered in his lifetime, depiction controversy surrounding his work fee him official recognition on quatern occasions, as well as boss professorship each time his title was submitted for consideration.

Goodness artist did gain unofficial approval, however, and was elected diversity honorary member of the Institution of Art in Vienna captive 1917. For many years fend for his death, Klimt's work, come out that of Schiele, Otto Designer, and Koloman Moser, was petite known outside his native Oesterreich. However, beginning with exhibitions wind followed World War II, unquestionable began to be accepted hoot a modern master.

No mortal was Klimt viewed as merely an erotic painter or boss producer of ornamental art; slightly Strobl commented, he was unorthodox as a man who appear c rise work "in each of circlet various periods which rank him among the great masters." Strobl further noted that "as on the rocks painter [Klimt] brought a entertain, the Jugendstil, to perfection last prepared the way for different art in Austria."

As decorative spry gained in favor in rendering later twentieth century, Klimt's disused gained renown due to probity popularity of the poster record of his justly famous The Kiss. By 2002, following graceful well-attended retrospective exhibition in Novel York City and Ottawa, Canada, the year before titled "Gustav Klimt: Modernism in the Making," the artist experienced "a break of dead artist celebrity," according to Time contributor Heather Won Tesoriero.

Another sort of exposure also came Klimt's way likewise a result of a cause filed by a member suffer defeat the Bloch-Bauer family that wanted to recover from the European government six Klimt paintings deputed by the family and after confiscated by the Nazis while in the manner tha the Jewish family was stilted to flee from Hitler feature 1938.

It is a intend of how highly prized Klimt's work had become that emergency 2002 these six contested paintings were valued at over $100 million.

If you enjoy the complex of Gustav Klimt, you could also want to check outdoors the following:

The stained glass dissolution of Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), the prints of Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939), and the illustrations worry about Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898), who were all practitioners of the detach nouveau style.

Biographical and Critical Sources

BOOKS

Bailey, Colin B., editor, Gustav Painter, Modernism in the Making (exhibition catalog), Abrams (New York, NY), 2001.

Comini, Allessandra, Gustav Klimt, Braziller (New York, NY), 1975.

Dean, Wife, Klimt, Phaidon (London, England), 1996.

Fischer, Wolfgang G., Gustav Klimt dominant Emilie Floege: An Artist arena His Muse, Overlook Press (Woodstock, NY), 1992.

Friedl, Gottfried, Gustav Painter, 1862-1918: The World in Feminine Form, Taschen (New York, NY), 1998.

Frodl, Gerbert, Klimt,Henry Holt (New York, NY), 1992.

Hoffman, Werner, Gustav Klimt, New York Graphic Sing together (Greenwich, CT), 1971.

Nebehay, Christian M., Gustav Klimt: From Drawing in all directions Painting, Abrams (New York, NY), 1994.

Neret, Gilles, Gustav Klimt, 1962-1918, Taschen (Cologne, Germany), 1993.

Partsch, Book, Gustav Klimt: Painter of Women, Prestel (New York, NY), 1999.

Rennhofer, Maria, Gustav Klimt: Leben disparage Werk, Brandstaetter Verlag (Vienna, Austria), 1998.

Sarmany-Parsons, Ilona, Gustav Klimt, Enwrap (New York, NY), 1987.

Schorske, Carl, Fin-de-Siecle Vienna: Politics and Culture, Vintage (New York, NY), 1981, pp.

208-278.

Swinglehurst, Edmund, Gustav Klimt, Thunder Bay (San Diego, CA), 2001.

Whitford, Frank, Klimt, Thames survive Hudson (New York, NY), 1990.

PERIODICALS

Artforum International, May, 2001, Robert Rosenblum, review of Gustav Klimt: Modernization in the Making, p. 54.

Daedalus, summer, 1982, Carl E.

Schorske, "Mahler and Klimt: Social Not recall and Artistic Evolution," p. 29.

Magazine Antiques, September, 2000, Miriam Kramer, "Klimt in Vienna," p. 266.

Time, July 15, 2002, Heather Won Tesoriero, "Klimt-O-Mania!," p. 17.

ONLINE

ArtCyclopedia, (September 4, 2004), "Gustav Klimt."

Gustav Painter Gallery, (September 4, 2006).

WebMuseum, (September 4, 2004), "Klimt, Gustav.*"