GUSTAV KLIMT

and

Art Nouveau

The Study of:

Vienna during the 1890’s

This Austrian Capital was a vital cultural and scientific center.

Interactive map of Austria

Time and Place:

“I have the gift of neither the spoken nor the written word, especially if I have to say something about

myself or my work. Whoever wants to know something about me -as an artist, the only notable thing- ought to look carefully at my pictures and try and see in them what I am and what I want to do."

Gustav Klimt

Austrian painter and illustrator Gustav Klimt, 1862 – 1918.

Founder of the school of painting known as the Vienna Secession,

Works are high-keyed free spirited, symbols of Vienna’s turn of the

century intellectual world.

Top example of ART NOUVEAU.

What is Art Nouveau? (sounds like - art new vO)

art nou·veau –noun

Fine Arts. Means “new art”. This was a movement that developed during the 1890’s. Some characteristics include handmade materials and flat patterns based on stylized plant forms.

Googled Images

Art Nouveau (French for 'new art')

The name 'Art Nouveau' derived from the

name of a shop in Paris, Maison de l'Art

Nouveau, at the time run by Siegfried

Bing, that showcased objects that

followed this approach to design. The

style introduced by Bing was not an

immediate success in Paris but rapidly

spread to Nancy and to

Belgium(especially Brussels) where

Victor Horta and Henry Van de Velde

would make major contributions in the

field of architecture and design.

Inspiration:

Klimt visited Ravenna, Italy, where he

saw early Christian mosaics made from

bits of stone and glass that inspired him

to paint the patterns in his artwork.

Death and Life

Two portraits of Emily Floge

Emily Floge at the age of 17, 1891.

Portrait of Emily Floge, 1902

His earlier work

is a highly

realistic, formal

portrait.

The second

portrait has a

stylized dream-

like quality with a

realistic face.

Adele Bloch-Bauer I 1907

Oil and gold on canvas, 138 x 138; Austrian

Gallery, Vienna

Adele Bloch-Bauer clasping her hands (she had a

deformed finger). Dressed in gold, surrounded by

gold.

In this composition

Klimt incorporated

many design

elements, such as,

complimentary colors

yellow (gold) and

blue and repeated

patterns of shapes.

Portrait of Eugenia

Primavesi

1913-1914

Klimt, Gustav Oil on canvas

140 x 85 cm

Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota

City, Japan

The women in many of

Klimt’s portraits were

the wives of wealthy

Viennese businessmen

and art collectors.

Medicine (Hygieia)

1900 – 07

Format 430 x 300 cm

Technique Oil on canvas

Location Burned in Schlob Immendorf, Austria, 1945

The University of Vienna

rejected Klimt’s Medicine mural

because his mystical, snake

handling priestess did not fit the

University professors’ image of

the physician as a scientist and

healer.

The Kiss

Year 1907 – 08

Format180 x 180 cm

Technique Oil on canvas

Location Vienna, Osterreichische Museum für Angewandte Kunst

Mäda Primavesi

(1903–2000), 1912

Gustav Klimt

(Austrian, 1862–

1918) Gift of André and Clara Mertens,

in memory of her mother, Jenny

Pulitzer Steiner, 1964 (64.148)

In this portrait, the flower in

Mada’s hair and the row of

flowers across her dress link

her with the floral patterns

in the rug and wallpaper.

Klimt’s style became freer

with fewer dense patterns

and hard edges in his later

years.

Hope, II. 1907-08. Gustav Klimt. (Austrian, 1862-1918). Oil,

gold, and platinum on canvas, 43 1/2 x 43 1/2" (110.5 x 110.5 cm). Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder, and Helen Acheson Funds, and Serge Sabarsky

Hope II (See previous slide)

A pregnant woman bows her head and closes her eyes, as if praying for the safety of her child. Peeping out from behind her stomach is death's head, sign of the danger she faces. At her feet, three women with bowed heads raise their hands, presumably also in prayer—although their solemnity might also imply mourning, as if they foresaw the child's fate.

Why, then, the painting's title? Although Klimt himself called this work Vision, he had called an earlier, related painting of a pregnant woman Hope. By association with the earlier work, this one has become known as Hope, II. There is, however, a richness here to balance the women's gravity.

Klimt was among the many artists of his time who were inspired by sources not only within Europe but far beyond it. He lived in Vienna, a crossroads of East and West, and he drew on such sources as Byzantine art, Mycenean metalwork, Persian rugs and miniatures, the mosaics of the Ravenna churches, and Japanese screens. In this painting the woman's gold-patterned robe—drawn flat, as clothes are in Russian icons, although her skin is rounded and dimensional—has an extraordinary decorative beauty. Here, birth, death, and the sensuality of the living exist side by side suspended in equilibrium.

Gustav Klimt

Baby (Cradle), 1917/1918 Gift of Otto and Franciska Kallir with the help of the Carol and Edwin Gaines Fullinwider Fund

1978.

Detail of Baby (Cradle)

The Maiden 1912 - 13

In his landscapes, Klimt left out the human figure. He

preferred to concentrate on the patterns formed by the

plants and flowers.

Why might Beech

Forest I be considered a

“painted mosaic”?

Klimt used small quick

brushstrokes to form a

glittering pattern of

orange and yellow dots,

dashes, and scribbles

that resemble tiles in a

mosaic.

Beech Forest I, 1902

Farm Garden with Sunflower, 1905

Contemporary Mosaic by Laurel True

Tree of Life

There is a vast amount of detail

in this painting.

Notice the “Egyptian eye” sprouting from the branches.

There are triangles, swirls, and circles within circles.

The colors intensify with the flower garden on the ground.

Made from gold and ceramic tiles, exotic woods, glass, and jewels.

Tree symbolizes life cycles. Seedpods and other organic shapes represents creativity and rebirth; the black bird symbolizes death.

Gustav Klimt - Assessment Working with Pattern

Write the questions and answers in your notebook.

1. What kind of city was Vienna during the 1890s?

2. What is Art Nouveau?

3. How does Klimt’s style differ in the two portraits of Emily

Floge?

4. Why did the university of Vienna reject Klimt’s Medicine

mural?

5. What did Klimt see in 1903 that would inspire the patterns in

his artwork?

6. What are some general characteristics of Klimt’s landscapes?

7. Why might Beech Forest I be considered a “painted

mosaic”?

8. What materials did Klimt use to create Tree of Life?

9. What are some of the symbols in the Tree of Life?

10. Who were the women in many of Klimt’s portraits?

11. What elements did Klimt incorporate into paintings such

as Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer?

12. In Portrait of Mada Primavesi, what elements link the

subject with her surroundings?

Tree of Life - 1. You will create your own “Tree of Life”. 2. In pencil, lightly draw your tree of life…swirl

the branches, add patterns (eyes, circles in circles, etc.)

3. Make your tree touch all sides of the paper. 4. Your tree should be symbolic of you and include

visual symbols. 5. Your tree may reflect Art Nouveau or Art Deco

style. (See PPT over 2 styles before drawing). 6. Do not shade your drawing. 7. You will color your design when I return.