1862-1918, Austrian painter, famous representatives of Viennese Art Nouveau

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) already was a renowned artist, Vienna's Ringstrasse with its Mural Art Nouveau crucial had distinct and was co-founder of the Vienna secession, was his "Golden style". Inspired by Byzantine mosaics, he added ornamental surfaces in a golden bed such as aggregate gems. In his image, Klimt describes the way of life of the people, by the shoots adversely affected that finds his salvation in the kiss. The representations of the body have a subtle erotic, however the figures dissolve into ornamental, geometrical colour surfaces. He does not only apply this principle style for his images of pair, but also the portraits of wealthy ladies and the landscape images. This flat style is today synonymous with the intense colour art of Klimt that characterizes his work but only in 1905.

Klimt was understood not only to gold and opulence, he was also a great artist. In the course of his life he produced numerous drawings. Most of the time as preparatory studies for larger works.

The son of an engraver learned his craft at the Vienna School of Applied Arts. Still searching for an independent expression, his early work is marked by the historicism Hans Makart, the artist Prince of the Habsburg monarchy in the late 19th century. A community of artists with his brother Ernst and Franz Matsch making, the young painters have received numerous orders for the design of new buildings on the Ringstrasse. The staircases of the Vienna Burgtheater and the Kunsthistorisches Museum bear witness to the historicist style of this community studios. Like so many young and open-minded artists of the Fin-de-siècle also Gustav Klimt turned off at the end of the 1890s of the academic tradition. In 1897, he founded the "Vienna secession", which he presided in 1905 until his exit as President with other artists. The own exhibition building of the secession is still place and temple for the new young art.

Günter Dietz developed a revolutionary method for the authentic reproduction of images, where not the usual printing inks are used, but the same original colors used by the artist. Depending on the artist's painting technique, up to 180 (!) various paint applications need to be applied in order to achieve a perfect replica of the original that also sensationally reflects the "relief" and pastosity of colour composition.

Here are the examples of  'Couple at the Garden Table' by August Macke:

Similarly, the material of the original carrier, such as reproduction on canvas, paper, wood, copper, parchment is always used.

The result is a perfect, gridless reproduction that comes very close to the original in expressiveness and effect. Even museum specialists often can not distinguish the replica from the original. Therefore, a special security notice must be inserted, which is visible only under X-rays.

The circulation of most of the Dietz replicas is limited, usualy to 950 copies. Each canvas replica is stretched onto a frame as the original, so you can retighten the canvas according to variations in room temperature and humidity. High-quality solid wood strips round off the image of every Dietz replica.

Numerous masterpiece paintings of Rembrandt, Caspar David Friedrich, Claude Monet, Gustav Klimt and various others have been recreated by the Dietz Offizin. Famous modern artists such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall used the method developed by Günter Dietz to have replicas of their works produced.

Press commentaries:

“The Dietz System provides images as good as the originals. What the electronics did with the invention of Hi-Fi and stereo for music playback - here the graphic technology made up for visual art.“ (Die Zeit)

“In theory there is no difference between the original and the Dietz replica. They should not be called reproductions, but facsimiles.“ (Newsweek)

“For art printers all over the world remains unrealizable to this day, what managed only Dietz with the help of printing technology: The perfect reproduction of painted works. “ (Der Spiegel)

Konrad Adenauer at the presentation of Dietz replica of the frieze "To the young St. Peter" (Bundeshaus Bonn)



Günter Dietz (on the left) and Marino Marini

Art Nouveau, known as Jugendstil in Germany, is a term for the art in 1890-1910. The name originates from the Munich-based magazine "Jugend" (Youth) founded in 1896. Internationally, the style is known as Art Nouveau (France), Modern Style (England) or Secession (Austria).

The Art Nouveau conquered all of Europe and there were created countless objects whose spectrum ranges from painting, applied arts to architecture. The Art Nouveau requirement was the artistic creation of everyday objects, that is beauty and practicality should be combined with each other. The desired unit of the artistic ability could only be achieved by individually expressed design, which allowed Art Nouveau to become an early stage of modernity. The essential characteristic of the Art Nouveau is a linear, often asymmetrical ornamentation whose models are to be found particularly in nature and flora.

Major Art Nouveau centers were formed in Munich, Darmstadt, Brussels, Paris and Nancy (Glass Art by Emile Gallé). The Viennese architecture of that time was determined by Otto Wagner and J. Hoffmann. Gustav Klimt created paintings that gave sensual form to the spirit of the Art Nouveau.

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