Poets and intellectuals brushed shoulders in
bustling coffeehouses, young avant-gardists heralded a new era in
social and sexual liberalism, waltzes resounded through the
Ringstrasse, the
Vienna Secession preached: “To every age its art — to every art its freedom;” and tremors warned of looming
political disintegration when the Austrian capital passed into a new century.
Across economics, science, art, and music, Vienna blossomed into a “laboratory of modernity,” one which nurtured some of the greatest artistic innovators—from
Egon Schiele’s unflinching nude portraits to
Gustav Klimt’s decadent
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, from the ornamental seams and glass floors of
Otto Wagner to
Ditha Moser’s calendars adorned in golden deities.
Discover the zeitgeist, the scandals, and the extraordinary protagonists in this introduction to a transformative epoch. Across
painting, sculpture, architecture, and design, we explore all the movers and shakers through
insightful profiles and
crisp double-page reproductions. Marking the centenary of the deaths of some of its brightest talents, this collection joins Vienna in its
2018 celebration of Modernism.
