ART NOUVEAU

• 1890- 1914

• Art nouveau is a new style in style in the visual arts and architecture that developed in Europe and North America at the turn of the 19th C

Gustav Klimt 1812 -1918

• criticized for being too sensual and erotic, and his symbolism too deviant. Today his paintings stand out as the more important paintings ever to come out of Vienna.

The Maiden, / 1912 - 13

What elements of design are emphasized in this art period?

• Gustav Klimt came from an improverished life and rose to become an art icon.

• He is renowned Viennese Secession and the art nouveau movement.

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

• "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

• SINISTER BEAUTY:

• The Art of Gustav Klimt

• Gustav Klimt was born July 14, 1862 in Baumgarten, a Viennese suburb.

• Klimt paints a devastating vision of the human condition at the turn of the last century. His images often deal with pain, sex and death. His work drew a storm of criticism.

Allegory of "Sculpture"

• Painted in 1889• Pencil/

watercolour, gold highlights, on card

• 44 x 30cm

Painted in 1902Frieze

• A Kiss for the Whole World

• (detail from the Beethoven Frieze)

Baby

• Painted in 1917/18• Oil on Canvas• 110 x 110cm

• Held in the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC

Apple Tree II

• Painted in 1916

• Oil on Canvas

• 80 x 80cm

Inspiration

• Klimt was inspired by an eclectic scope of influences, including Egyptian, Classical Greek, Byzantine and Medieval styles. His works often utilized symbolic elements to emphasize the freedom of art from traditional culture.

Gustav Klimt. (Austrian, 1862-1918). The Park. 1910 or earlier. Oil on canvas, 43 1/2 x 43 1/2" (110.4 x 110.4 cm). Gertrud A. Mellon Fund

• Gustav Klimt: Judith I, 1901. Oil on canvas with gold plating. 84 x 42 cm. Vienna, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere. Photograph: exhibition catalogue

• Gustav Klimt: Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, 1907. Oil on canvas with gold and silver plating. 138 x 138 cm.

DID You KNOW

• “Art Nouveau was in many ways a response to the Industrial revolution. Some artists welcomed technological progress and embraced the aesthetic possibilities of new materials like cast iron” (A New Style for a New Age)

Other artists of this period include

• Alphonse Mucha was born in 1860 in Ivancice, Moravia, near the Czech Republic)

• Henri Toulouse Lautrec was born in

• Albi, Tarn in the Midi-Pyrénées Region of France,

• (He was a midget)

References

• www.sohoart.com/images/mermaids.jpg, (accessed

December 12, 2007)

• Gustav Klimt- painter Biography and Exhibition

• http://www.cosmopolis.ch/english/cosmo11/klimt.htm, (accessed December 12, 2007)

• A New Style for a New Age• http://www.nga.gov/feature/nouveau/exhibit_i

ntro.shtm, (accessed December 12, 2007)