Both yesterday and today we focused on the response to the Austrian government and social structure under Metternich after the Napoleonic wars. Much of the art reflecting these attitudes are found at both the Belvedere and the Wien Museum.
Metternich was the political minister in Austria during and after the Napoleonic wars, enacting social measures to oppress and suppress revolutionaries. The revolutionary attitudes abundant in France during and after the French Revolution were feared by European rulers, and Metternich in Austria was afraid that the revolutionary spirit would spread to Austria. Thus, he is known for his suppression of democracy, instilling fear of the public and of those one does not know. The almost xenophobic attitudes he created led to a direct artistic response by the social classes, especially the middle class. His suppressive, or reactionary, government lasted until revolutions did begin in 1848.
The class of art which developed from this oppressive regime of Metternich's is referred to as Biedermeier, and was commissioned and purchased largely by the middle class. The Biedermeier style of art reflects the family, domestic unit, performing daily rituals and promoting the traditional gender roles within the family. Women were meant for church, the kitchen, and children; men were the head of the house - men of "modest ambitions and sober pleasures"; young girls were dressed in dressed, bows, and curls; and young boys were always in play (Parsons 195).
However, these traditional roles portrayed in art did not aim at suppressing women and uplifting the man as the dominant male; rather it served to create a familiarity in an era where fear was associated with the outside world and strangers. Scenes were focused on activities within the home, where the family unit was gathered. The paintings of the Biedermeier period exuded a sense of gemutlich, or coziness with comfort and kitsch thrown in. These idyllic scenes portrayed an inner immigration into the safe homes and nature of the middle class and the notion of Biedermeier came to imply both appreciation and respect for "the culture it describes" (Parsons 196). The Wien Museum has a large collection of Biedermeier paintings, as did the Belvedere, portraying the middle class domestic family in traditional familial activities.
However, these traditional roles portrayed in art did not aim at suppressing women and uplifting the man as the dominant male; rather it served to create a familiarity in an era where fear was associated with the outside world and strangers. Scenes were focused on activities within the home, where the family unit was gathered. The paintings of the Biedermeier period exuded a sense of gemutlich, or coziness with comfort and kitsch thrown in. These idyllic scenes portrayed an inner immigration into the safe homes and nature of the middle class and the notion of Biedermeier came to imply both appreciation and respect for "the culture it describes" (Parsons 196). The Wien Museum has a large collection of Biedermeier paintings, as did the Belvedere, portraying the middle class domestic family in traditional familial activities. With the end of Metternich's government due to revolutionaries in 1848, the Biedermeier style was quickly dropped, and nationalism was embraced.
After revolutions broke out in 1848, another art style was embraced under the reign of Emperor Franz Joseph. With the tearing down of the old inner city fortification and with the establishment and growth of a new aristocracy, new attitudes developed. Economic growth, rapid urban development, and universal male suffrage in 1907 all led to a new class of wealthy aristocrats - the Ringstrasse barons - who established factories and created a free labor market, sending traditional guilds and craftsmen into poverty. The ascendency of the new aristocracy was rapid, and they tended to mimic the old aristocracy. Thus, the built large "palais" surrounding and radiating out from the Hofburg (royal court).
Many were built on Herrengasse ('lord's ally') and all were built within the first district. When the old city fortifications were torn down, new space for building was available, and the new aristocracy took hold. The Ringstrasse barons built lavish apartments and palaces where the walls used to stand, thus encircling the first district (hence its name, the Ringstrasse). These new buildings were built in the historicism style, a style which copied history's architecture; neo-classical, neo-renaissance, and neo-gothic buildings were the most prominent to be built.
The Opera house, Parliament, city hall, the Kunsthistorisches, and even the university were all designed and built during this time of historicism. This is the only time within the history of art and architecture where a new style was not made, but rather styles were copied and repeated.
The Opera house, Parliament, city hall, the Kunsthistorisches, and even the university were all designed and built during this time of historicism. This is the only time within the history of art and architecture where a new style was not made, but rather styles were copied and repeated.However, this historicism was rejected by many, most notably the Secessionists. The Secessionists rejected the lack of imagination and the concern for form over function; instead, they embraced the freedom of art, the function of the art, and simplicity. A culture of 'critical modernism' emerged at this time, described by Allan Janik as a "rejection of the conventionalities of both established historicist culture, and also of aestheticist modernism" (Beller 172). Instead of criticizing modernity, or the lack thereof in the historicist style, they criticized the new modernity from within their new art. They "sought to restore an ethical imperative to modern art, rejecting the 'phrases' of convention...Schoenberg put it most succinctly that [music, art, architecture] "should not be an ornament, it should be true" (Beller 172).
The ornate decorum and the pomp and circumstance of the neo-gothic and neo-renaissance was replaced with organic motifs of flowers, trees, and leaves representing art's freedom. This new style started by the Secessionists was called Jugendstil ('new style'), known as art nouveau to many, and is on display at the Secession building. Function was highly valued over its inferior brother, form.
The most famous of the Secessionists was Otto Wagner, who prcolaimed that function itself was decoration. He built the Stadt Bahn stations still seen throughout the city (20 of the original 36 remain). He also designed two apartment facades in 1899 facing the Naschmarkt, complete with green leaves, bright flowers, and gold swirls. 
Gustav Klimst is another Secessionist, whose art work can be seen at the Belvedere and the Wien Museum, and who combined artistic techniques with the art of his goldsmith training. His paintings almost appear to be a precursor to cubism and expressionism due to the lack of clear lines and abstract shapes throughout his works. The Kiss, one of his most popular paintings (picture was not allowed) did appeal to me, unlike most of his other works. There was a tenderness and timidness in it, not found amongst the chaos and harshness of his other works.
Gustav Klimst is another Secessionist, whose art work can be seen at the Belvedere and the Wien Museum, and who combined artistic techniques with the art of his goldsmith training. His paintings almost appear to be a precursor to cubism and expressionism due to the lack of clear lines and abstract shapes throughout his works. The Kiss, one of his most popular paintings (picture was not allowed) did appeal to me, unlike most of his other works. There was a tenderness and timidness in it, not found amongst the chaos and harshness of his other works.Thus, throughout the city along the Ringstrasse and its connecting streets and even walking through the museums, one is able to see the progression from Biedermeier attitudes embracing the cozy familial unit to the historicism of the Ringstrasse era and finally to the modernism and functionality of the Secessionists. This evolving modernity was not only a cultural reflection, but a political reflection as well. Modernization and cultural modernity had "brought forth the notion of popular sovereignty," thus psychologically ending the Habsburg's imperial control over Vienna and Viennese culture. Soon after the notion of popular sovereignty developed, however, the reality of the monarchy's weakening powers was seen, and the populace no longer identified with the identity of the monarchy. Thus, the monarchy was "never able to establish in modern form the authority and legitimacy that it had possessed in the premodern past, and so could not finesse national loyalties" (Beller 193).
With the evolving styles of modernity throughout Vienna, from Biedermeier to Jugendstil to Ringstrasse, there is not only a manifestation of cultural ideals, but there is a prominent reflection of changing political ideals as well found within the art, architecture, and music of each era.
No comments:
Post a Comment