Through September 21 there is a special exhibit at the Leopold Museum in Vienna, Austria featuring a large body of work by Austrian artist Josef Maria Auchentaller. The exhibit is titled “Josef Maria Auchentaller – Jugendstil Pur!” (Pure Art Nouveau!) and displays about 300 works of art nouveau drawings, paintings, designs and jewelry, as well as photographs.
Auchentaller was part of the Vienna Secession (an artist revolt against the established art market), along with Gustav Klimt and others. This artist’s work is largely in the hands of his family and this exhibit features a lot of his works not previously shown to the public.
I am including a few images here that you might not find through the Internet. It was interesting to see this artist’s work after having seen Alphonse Mucha in Prague many years ago. Auchentaller’s works of the female figure and the jewelry designs are similar to Mr. Mucha’s, but there is definitely a distinctive voice at work. Still, I enjoyed the exploration of patterns that Art Nouveau brought to us.
This last image is a portrait in another area of the Leopold Museum that I just found irresistible. The translated title is “Man With Fur Cap (My Brother The Animal)” and was painted in 1923 by Albert Birkle. Enjoy . . .
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1 comment:
Man with Fur Cap captures a personality. I think that's what art is all about -- communicating some intangible quality, not only a rendering of the physical form.
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