On March 26, 1898, the first exhibition of the Vienna Secession, a group formed by new artists who opposed the domination of the Casa do Artista, was inaugurated in the Austrian capital. and a new style began to take hold in Europe. It flourished from 1890 until World War I and had different names. In France it was called Art Nouveau; in Germany, Jugendstil; in Austria, Secession; in Italy, Liberty and, in England, Modern Style.
One of the main centers of propagation of the new art was Vienna. In the Austrian capital, 19 renowned artists formed the so-called Vienna Secession group, independent of the artistic medium recognized by the State. According to the director of the Austrian Gallery, Gerbert Frodl, this group sought to establish itself in the city without going through the intricacies of Casa do Artista, which dictated the rules in the cultural sector.
On March 26, 1898, the new association of artists, led by Gustav Klimt, Kolo Moser, Joseph Hoffmann and Alfred Roller, laid the cornerstone of its own gallery. The white building with a hemisphere in golden leaves on the dome resembles a planetarium, which exotically stands out from the sumptuous architecture of one of Vienna’s main ring roads. The Secession exhibitions – as the gallery was named – had strong public repercussions and quickly increased the group’s fame.
Opposition to Neo-Baroque Historicism
At that time, neo-baroque historicism still dominated in Vienna, marked by pompous and detailed paintings by the painter Hans Markart. Provocative, the new Secession style (Art Nouveau) valued the decorative and ornamental, determining delicate, sinuous, wavy and always asymmetrical three-dimensional forms. It was an individualist reaction with a romantic content in the face of eclectic trends and academic classicism.
The painting by the Austrian Gustav Klimt (The Kiss), the erotic illustrations by the Englishman Aubrey Beardsley, the lamps, knick-knacks and glass by the French Émile Gallé and René Lalique, the architectural projects by the Belgian Victor Horta, the French Hector Guimard (who designed the exits of the Paris metro) and the architecture of Catalan Antonio Gaudí are the most typical examples of this style.
Art Nouveau – also called “1900 style” – valued the curved line, inspired by the plant world (Belgium, France) or geometry (Scotland, Austria). The common purpose was to put an end to the imitation of styles from the past, replacing them with flowery architecture, which explored craftsmanship, colorful materials and exotic coatings. It was also an attempt to integrate art into social life.
a whole lifestyle
The new style spread to all fields of art. The music slowly extrapolated the limits of tonality. Expressive dance was the name given to the new ballet without shoes. Couturiers freed the women’s wardrobe from the classic corset. Architects of this current built metro stations in European metropolises as elegant as opera houses. The new style also invaded fabric, crystal and jewelry factories. In a few years, Jugendstil became ubiquitous, to the point of being criticized by Jugend magazine – the main mouthpiece of the movement.
One of the outstanding characteristics of Art Nouveau was the fact that it was a “style of artists”, which sought unity and equality of the arts. Intrinsically linked to literature, painting, sculpture, music, the decorative and graphic arts, the movement propagated unexplored aesthetic ideals and, in its final phase, tried to reconcile art with industry. The First World War (1914–1918) brought an end to Art Nouveau, which was succeeded by Art Deco, the Bauhaus style and Expressionism.
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