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.

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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Art Déco

Ceramic product made from kaolin, quartz and feldspar.

Porcelain is formed by turning or pressing. Figural representations are cast. Complex molds have to be cast in sections and then "applied". After molding, the pieces are dried and "burnt" at about 900 °C. After that, the glaze is applied and fired at temperatures between 1,240 °C and 1,445 °C. In major manufactures, the porcelain is painted by hand with each color separately and has to be burned in compliance with narrow temperature tolerances.

The porcelain was invented in China and became widespread in Europe in the 16th century. The first European porcelain factory was founded in Meissen in 1710.

Other famous European porcelain factories are Fürstenberg, Höchst, Schwarzburger Werkstätten, Lladró, Nymphenburg, KPM, Augarten, Sèvres, Limoges, Royal Copenhagen, Worcester. Individual factories label their products with the porcelain brands that serve to identify their origin.

Related links:
Schwarzburg Workshops of the Porcelain Art
Lladró