| The Leopold Museum houses perhaps the most important collection of modern Austrian art in the world. It is, as much as it can be, the foremost representation of Austrian art. For example, the Leopold holds the largest Egon Schiele collection in the world and major works by Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokschka, Richard Gersti, Albin Egger-Lienz and both paintings and prints by Herbert Boeckl. Viewing the works here begs the interesting question: what does the Leopold Museum say about Austrian art in general? |  |
Heart Of the Leopold – Jamie Curtlydee
The Leopold Museum houses perhaps the most important collection of modern Austrian art in the world. It is, as much as it can be, the foremost representation of Austrian art. For example, the Leopold holds the largest Egon Schiele collection in the world and major works by Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokschka, Richard Gersti, Albin Egger-Lienz and both paintings and prints by Herbert Boeckl. Viewing the works here begs the interesting question: what does the Leopold Museum say about Austrian art in general?
The collection’s core of Austrian art rests in the first half of the 20th century, including key paintings and drawings by Schiele and Klimt. These works show the gradual transformation from Jugendsil, the Art Nouveau movement in Austria, to Expressionism. Major Austrian works from the 19th and 20th centuries illustrate history.
Schiele and Klimt are iconic Austrian painters who put Austria on the map. Often thought of as Klimt’s predestined successor, Schiele died before he could assume rightful position of the title. He has, nonetheless, been talked about over the decades as Klimt’s protégé. Klimt, the Austrian Symbolist painter, focused his post-impressionist talent on murals, sketches and paintings with his primary subject matter being the female body. Schiele, a major figurative painter and best known for his controversial images displaying the female form, died at a young age and epitomizes the popular image of the tortured artist.
The Leopold collection also includes significant artistic works from the turn of the century by Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos, Josef Hoffman, Koloman Moser and Dagobert Peche. Interestingly, original objects from Africa and Oceania as well as ancient Chinese and Japanese works of art round out the exhibition.
At the beginning of 2007, the Leopold Museum held a temporary exhibition: “German Expressionists with Masterworks from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection.” This proved an interesting selection to include in and amongst the Schieles, Klimts and other Austrian artistic strong-arms. Approximately 130 works, including 50 oil paintings and 80 drawings, prints and watercolors, and several sculptures, were on view. Displaying works of a high artistic standard, the various groups and directions within Expressionism were shown side by side.
The exhibition’s ultimate aim was to illustrate the development of Expressionism in Germany in its entire breadth, from Der Blaue Reiter Almanac to paintings by Franz Marc and Alexj Von Jawlensky, to the impressions and improvisations of Wassily Kadinsky. These big names covered the interior walls of the museum and encouraged the viewer to ask: what does it say, if anything, about Austrian art? What does it say about the sympathies of Austrian art, as exhibited by one of the foremost leading art museums in the country’s capital?
The range of elements making up Expressionism presented by the Leopold included the work of the Brücke artists, also displayed in a comprehensive selection of high quality works. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner occupied a prominent position with numerous works as well. These included his most well-known portrait, Fränzi in Front of a Carved Chair, as well as his key works of graphic art.
In the “Metropolis” section of the exhibition, the Leopold demonstrated the significance of this pictorial theme. “Metropolis” began with Kirchner’s Berlin street scenes. The exhibition slowly divulged the underbelly of what pieced German Expressionism together as a torrid and tangled source of cultural and historical inspiration. The Leopold tells us more about other important sections of the exhibition, saying, “The growing criticism of the social hardships that followed the First World War is manifested in the penetrating artworks of George Grosz and Otta Dix, whereby Grosz’ painting, Street Scene (Kurfürstendamm), from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, is of central significance.”
How does this spread of famous movements within German Expressionism lead us back to Austrian art? Collector, founder and museological director of the museum Professor Rudolf Leopold answers: “The collector’s guiding principle has always been to uncover items that have been overlooked. This philosophy also characterizes the special exhibition program. In addition to exhibitions dealing with particular features of Austrian art history, comparisons of artistic positions often shed light upon new aspects of the collection.”
In general, the Leopold Museum houses a representation of Austrian art that is becoming ever more defined.
