Secession Viennese

The Sécession Viennese ( Sezessionsstil or German Wiener Secession in ) is current Art nouveau which had runs in Austria, more particularly with Vienna, of 1892 with 1906.

This current of the Art nouveau is vegetable and a little more “geometrical” that the Art nouveau in France and Belgium.

History

The Secession begins in Germany in 1892 and is at its beginnings mainly pictorial.

A group being formed around Fritz von Uhde, Wilhelm Trübner, Franz von Stuck and Arnold Böcklin refuses the conformism little by little installed in the artistic designs of the time. This group will crystallize around the review Jugend (which will give in Germany the name of Jugendstil to its current of the Art nouveau) then around the review Pan appeared thereafter. The Secession also develops by the shape of a grouping of architects and plastics technicians created in 1897 by Josef Olbrich, Josef Hoffmann and Gustav Klimt which will be the president under the name of Secessionsstil .

The Secession Viennese was officially founded in Vienna in 1897 within the framework of the Association of the artists plastics technicians of Austria the purpose of which was of:

to join together the force creative of this country;
to found contacts with the foreign artists;
to preach an international exchange of the ideas;
to fight against the nationalist dash of the European countries;
to renew the Applied arts;
to create a total Art;
to oppose a new true artistic expression to the art soiled of the living rooms official Viennese.

In order to achieve their goal, they will create their own space of exposure, the Palais of the Secession, within Josef Maria Olbrich.

For these young artists, art must be at the origin of a new design of the existence. The literary critic Hermann Bahr thus defines the objective of the Secession in the first number of the review Ver Sacrum : “our art is not a combat of the modern artists against the old ones but the promotion of arts against the hawkers who are made pass for artists and who have a commercial interest not to let art open out. The trade or art, such is the stake of our Secession. It is not a question of an esthetic debate but of a confrontation between two frames of mind. ”

At this same time, artistic poles are created in various towns of Germany, in particular with Munich, Berlin and especially with Darmstadt. The German Jugendstil does not come from only one point and the exchanges of ideas between these various poles contributed to its development.

The voice of the movement was done thanks to several reviews:

the principal review Die Jugend ( Youth ) preaches the new ideas on architecture, the drawing and decoration. The name “Jugendstil” comes from this review.
the review most representative and the official body of the Secession Viennese is Ver Sacrum founded in 1897. Its publication stops in 1903.
Of other reviews took part in the rise of the current such as Pan , Simplicissimus …

In 1902, certain artists thinking that Ver Sacrum is too cosmopolitan and that it could support a foreign artistic “invasion” preventing the emergence of the artistic identity Viennese, will create the foundation of the Wiener Hagenbud.

Tables like “the Judith” of Klimt or “the Sin” of Von Stuck at the time will be regarded as a crime against artistic creation.

First scission

In 1903, creation by Moser and Hoffmann of a new association, the Wiener Werkstätte ( workshops Viennese ) was a crucial factor of this revival. It was the gathering place of the applied arts. It is where the applied arts Viennese found their identity clean.

Second scission

In 1905, a conflict bursts between artists secessionists “naturalists” (to include/understand “academists”) and artists like Gustav Klimt, Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser. The latter wished more to be associated with the naturalists because the latter rejected the concept of total work of art.

Sources of inspirations

The art nouveau was created thanks to several influences. The movement Symboliste allowed a new reading of the thought of the time, in particular thanks to the rise of the Psychanalyse of Sigmund Freud.

The Japanese print is an art that nothing attaches to the European styles of the past. Modern decorative art will draw from this cultural universe much of its forces.

The Secession and Jugendstil will be also inspired by the English movement Arts & Crafts and by the decorative reasons Gothic.

Graphic characteristics

This style is characterized by:

of the organic forms and the representation of topics like fish, the birds and the vegetation;
of the stylized floral compositions;
an abundance of curves;
a strong relation between the text and the image;
an absence of prospect and, with it, an absence of time.

The posters of the Secession will employ a mixture of the graphic languages drawn from the Illustration, the Décoration and the Typographie. A clear distribution of the text and image had as a final requirement the legibility of the text. The text autonomous, is sometimes registered in a cartouche, but always in correspondence with the decorative elements. They will be posters for exposures, plays, books, but seldom for the publicity of industrial products.

In 1907, the Wiener Werkstätte decorate, according to the plans of Hoffmann, the cabaret-theater Die Eledermus ( the bat ). Its graphic design represents one of the tops of the Secession Viennese.

The typography

The Secession and Jugendstil have a clean typography. The characters of the most representative police force (that of Eckmann) are defined by a feature penmanship, an organic and fluid aspect. The influence of the Gothic characters is essential in the typography of this current.

This typography was regarded at the time as illegible (by the public). The independent publisher Insel Verlag plays with the creation of the review “Insel” (1899) a crucial role in the rise of the new typography. Taking as a starting point the English research, it leads to very free creations, representative of the identity secessionist. Behrens and Mr. Leitcher created characters of the same type as those of Eckmann (of the Fonderie Rudhard).

Principal artists

Gustav Klimt, painter and engraver, is the principal founder of the Secession Viennese. In 1897, it Co-founds the Secession and the review Ver Sacrum . He is president of the Secession and director of exposure to the palate of the Secession until 1905. Its topics are most often of naked women, allegories of the ancient myths and images related to the psychoanalysis of Freud.

Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956) made studies of architecture in Vienna. After its studies, it goes on a journey in Italy which inspired it much, which with given him a clear, geometrical and ornamented style. It was one of the creator of the Secession. Its principal work is the Palais Stoclet with Brussels.

Otto Eckmann (1865-1902) is painter and engraver. It is one of principal representing of floral Jugendstil. He collaborated in the reviews Pan and Jugend. In 1899 Eckmann created for the Rudhard foundry an alphabet which became the traditional block letter of Jugendstil. It inspired all later typographical research.

Josef Maria Olbrich (1867-1908) is one of the founder of the art nouveau. He was architect. He was professor and member of the colony of artist in Darmstadt. It is a general-purpose artist who puts in harmony architecture and art by using various materials which give to its works all their artistic value. Its most important works are in Darmstadt

Koloman Moser (1868-1918) made its studies with the fine arts of Vienna to become painter and designer. It is one of the founders of the Secession but especially of Wiener Werkstatte. It is the scenographer of most of the Sécessionniste exposures.

Also let us mention Oskar Kokoschka, Egon Schiele, Adolf Loos, Leo Putz, František Bílek, etc

Works

The architectural masterpiece of this artistic current is probably the Palais Stoclet builds with Brussels about 1906 by Hoffmann and the Wiener Werkstätte (see above).

Some remarkable works are visible with the palate of the View-point, with Vienna:

Gustav Klimt : the Kiss (1907);
Gustav Klimt : Judith I (1901);
Egon Schiele : Der Rainerbub (1910)
Oskar Kokoschka: Bildnis of Malers Karl Moll (1913)
Koloman Moser: Self-portrait (1916)

See too

municipal House of Prague

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