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1918 – KLIMT · MOSER · SCHIELE
Collected Beauties
16 February to 21 May 2018
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1918 – KLIMT · MOSER · SCHIELE
Collected Beauties
16 February to 21 May 2018
Gustav Klimt, Kolo Moser and Egon Schiele left a lasting imprint on Vienna’s
art around 1900. The sudden deaths of these world famous exponents of
Viennese modernity in the fateful year 1918 deprived Vienna’s avant-garde
of three of its most outstanding representatives. Taking its cue from the
100th anniversary of the death of these iconic artists, the exhibition at the
LENTOS places on display seventy-six masterpieces, including Two Reclining
Female Nudes, a Klimt drawing that had gone missing for more than fifty
years.
This representative exhibition, staged on both floors of the LENTOS, makes
accessible the most valuable holdings of Linz s municipal museums (LENTOS
and NORDICO) plus those of the Upper Austria State Museum
(Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum), supplemented by works loaned by
private collectors. This is the first time these Upper Austrian artistic treasures
are presented together in one exhibition.
Making art history come alive
The end of World War I saw not only the demise of the German Empire and
the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy but also the end of art as a decorative and
healing force. In the basement of the LENTOS, staged CVs allow visitors to
follow the turbulent lives of Klimt, Moser and Schiele in detail right up to 1918,
the year of their death. This documentation also features the lives of Hellmut
Czerny, Otto Gerstl, Wolfgang Gurlitt and Walther Kastner, whose collections
laid the foundation for the holdings of the Municipal Museums of the City of
Linz and of the Upper Austrian Regional Museum. Recent scientific insights
throw light on hitherto unsolved questions concerning the genesis of world
famous works and the CVs of some of the sitters. Intriguing stories and far-flung networks of relationships unfold in the exhibition, making art history
come alive.
New research results on Bildnis Trude Engel (Portrait Trude Engel)
What awaits visitors on the upper floor of the LENTOS, in addition to a
selection of works of art, are new results of an art technological analysis of
Egon Schiele s famous Bildnis Trude Engel. The painting depicts the daughter of
Dr. Hermann Engel, who, as Schiele s dentist, was prepared to accept pictures
in lieu of payment in cash. The unfinished work apparently failed to please the
sitter, Trude E gel − , a d as atta ked her ith a k ife. At the back, the painting s stab wounds are clearly discernible. They were plastered
over with strips of carboard and touched up in front. The painting s restoration
was arguably undertaken by Schiele himself.
An X-ray photograph reveals a head that was subsequently painted over at the
top of a cone-like structure, which points to an earlier composition rejected by
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the artist. What Schiele did was to recycle an old canvas for this portrait. The
1911 watercolour Mutter mit Kind in rotem Mantel (Mother and child in red
cloak) – the original is on display in the basement – could well have been
meant as a preliminary study. Stylistic characteristics and new findings
resulting from a thorough examination of the painting have led curater and
restorer Andreas Strohhammer to change the ascription of the painting s date
from 1911 to 1913.
Even though Dr. Engel accepted a total of six works by Schiele, he does not
seem to have appreciated him as an artist. He gave away Portrait of Trude
Engel before the war was over. The painting was acquired in 1953 by Wolfgang Gurlitt.
A Klimt drawing that had gone missing for many years is presented at the
LENTOS
The LENTOS is in the happy position to announce that Klimt s drawing Zwei
Liegende (Two Reclining Female Figures), whose whereabouts had been
unaccounted for during a half century, will be placed on display in ithe current
exhibition 1918 – Klimt · Moser · Schiele.
The drawing in question is a product of Klimt s late phase. Leading art historian
and Klimt specialist Alice Strobl cites the characteristic mannerisms in the proportions of the two reclining female figures as evidence that the drawing
belongs to Klimt s last creative phase and dates it to 1916/17. It may well have
been intended to serve as a study for the painting Die Freundinnen (Two
Friends). What is remarkable is the way the two half-naked, sleeping women
subside and almost disappear into eiderdowns, cushions and plaids, which
enhances the white heightening on their bare abdomen and genitalia.
The artist Olga Jäger (1880–1965), who was born in Linz, transferred the
drawing on 11 January 1951 on loan to the Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz,
founded – and directed at that time – by Wolfgang Gurlitt. Vienna s Albertina,
which had been lent the drawing for an exhibition by the Neue Galerie, then under the direction of Walter Kasten, returned it in 1964. In that year, the
drawing disappeared without a trace. In 2016, the Regional Court Linz ordered
the it to pa da ages totalli g € , . The dra i g s mysterious
disappearance is now a criminal case: Walter Kasten s personal assistant, who
retired in 1977 and died in 2017, appears to have illicitly taken possession of
the drawing. In her last will and testament she requested that the drawing be
returned to the City of Linz after her death. Acting on behalf of the deceased, a
lawyer deposited the drawing at the LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz on 15 January
2018.
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Provenance research at the LENTOS
For decades the City of Linz has maintained a critical approach to the National
Socialist era. Provenance research at the LENTOS takes centre stage in the
exhibition in the reading room on the first floor. The holdings of the LENTOS
(and before the advent of the LENTOS, of the Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz) have
been subjected to systematic research since 1998. Research prioritises above
all those paintings in the museum s holdings that were part of the Wolfgang
Gurlitt collection.
So far (2018) thirteen works have been restituted mainly from the LENTOS
collection, including paintings by Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Anton Romako, Emil Nolde and Lovis Corinth.
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PROGRAM
EVENTS
My Buddyhood – Atelier from 0–99
Saturday 3 March, 2–4 pm
Every first Saturday of the month from 2 pm to 4 pm is the LENTOS
Buddyhood-Afternoon. Our Donauatelier offers enough room for all
generations to express themselves creatively. We invite all people interested in
the arts to a mutual exchange of ideas and collaboration, thereby giving insight into the respective current exhibitions.
In cooperation with the RegionalCaritas
Registration: Teleservice Center of the City of Linz 0732/7070 (limited number
of participants)
ad issio free, fee for aterials: € per perso , fa ilies: € adults plus children)
Egon Schiele – A closer Look at Trude Engel
Thursday 15 März
Deep Space Live at AEC
7 pm, € admission fee, German only
Guided Tour with the Curator at LENTOS
8 pm, € admission fee, German only
Restorer Andreas Strohhammer tells about the genesis of the Portrait of Trude
Engel by gigapixel photos in Deep Space LIVE of the Ars Electronica Center.
Afterwards guided tour with the curator at the LENTOS.
GUIDED TOURS
Pupblic guided tours
every Tuesday, 4 pm
every Sunday, 4 pm
combined tour through the exhibitions The Collection
and 1918 – Klimt · Moser · Schiele
duration hour, osts € , e lusi e ad issio , German only
Guided tour with the curators
Friday 23 February, 4 pm
with Elisabeth Nowak-Thaller and Brigitte Reutner, German only Ticket: tour fee or Museum Total Ticket
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Flashlight guided tour
3 March, at 4 pm
7 April, at 4 pm
5 May, at 4 pm
in E glish, duratio Mi , € , o ad issio fee
Guided tour for deaf museum visitors
Saturday 3 March, 4 pm
with sign language interpreter
admission and guided tour free for deafs
Expert guided tour: Masterpieces from the donation Kastner
13 March, 4 pm
Expert guided tour with Lothar Schultes, registration requested
REGISTRATION
Teleservice Center of the City of Linz 0732/7070 or [email protected]
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SPONSOR
The LINZ AG seeks to facilitate the experience of art and culture. By doing so, it
makes a significant contribution to improving the quality of life of its clients.
Many of them make use of the cultural facilities on offer in Linz, a city of
culture. Under the motto LINZ AG KulturZeit , the LINZ AG has entered into a
partnership with well-known cultural institutions such as the LENTOS, which
are committed to advancing the region’s cultural development, says LINZ AG s
CEO, DI Erich Haider.
Free admission with a LINZ AG LINIEN ticket
The exhibition receives support from the LINZ AG. Upon production of a
weekly / monthly / annual ticket issued by the LINZ AG LINIEN, the holder gets
free admission to the exhibition 1918 – Klimt · Moser · Schiele from 16
February to 21 May 2018.
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BIOGRAPHY
Gustav Klimt
* 1862 in Baumgarten nr. Vienna, Austria
† i Vie a, Austria
Gustav Klimt was born on 14 July 1862 near Vienna, where he grew up
inpoverty. After primary school and the obligatory spell at secondary school
heattended the Arts and Crafts School of the Imperial-Royal Austrian Museum
of Art and Industry between 1876 and 1883. His brother Ernst (1864–1892)
soon followed him to the Arts and Crafts School, where the two brothers fell in with Franz Matsch (1861–1942). In 1879, the three artists, whose style of work
showed remarkable affinity, set up the Künstler-Compagnie. When Ernst
married Helene Flöge in 1891, Gustav met her sister, Emilie (1874–1952), who
became a friend for life. In 1893, Gustav and Ernst Matsch were awarded the
commission for the ceiling paintings for the lobby of Vienna University. When
Klimt s drafts of the faculty paintings Medizin (Medicine), Philosophie
(Philosophy), Jurisprudenz (Law) and Theologie (Theology) were presented in
1898, Matsch s contribution, Theologie, was accepted, while Klimt s drafts
caused a scandal, which led to the dissolution of the Künstler-Compagnie.
When a group of university professors lodged a protest against Klimt s visionary concept, the artist terminated the contract. In 1900, Philosophie was
awarded the Grand Prix at the World Exhibition in Paris, and Jurisprudenz was
awarded the first prize at the International Art Exhibition in Rome in 1911.
In 1897, a group of forward-looking, progressive artists including Klimt seceded
from the Genossenschaft bildender Künstler Wiens (Viennese Artists s Society,
Künstlerhaus) and founded the Vereinigung bildender Künstler Österreichs
(Secession). Klimt was elected president. In 1905, differences of opinion led to
the resignation of several members, again at Klimt s instigation. In the
following year, the Klimt group founded their own association, the Österreichischer Künstlerbund.
Starting in 1898, Klimt spent the summer of each year in the company of the
Flöges in the Salzkammergut. The dress worn by Emilie in one of the photos, a
so-called Reformkleid (reform dress), was designed by Koloman Moser. His
stays in the Salzkammergut inspired many of Klimt s landscape paintings.
Klimt was in close contact with the Wiener Werkstätte, a design
workshopfounded in 1903. In 1911 Klimt moved his studio, which had until then been located in the Josefstadt, Vienna s 8th district, to the Feldmühlgasse
in Penzing. In the last years of his life he travelled all over Europe, often in the
company of Emilie Flöge and her family. The fruit of this period is a series of
outstanding female portraits and landscape paintings. Having suffered a
stroke, Klimt died on 6 February 1918 and was buried at the Hietzing cemetery.
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BIOGRAPHY
Koloman Moser
* 1868 in Vienna, Austria
† i Vie a, Austria
Koloman Moser was born in Vienna on 30 March 1868. From 1885 to 1893 he
studied at Vienna s Academy of Fine Arts. After his father s death in 1888
Moser was forced to fend for himself, financing his studies with his work as an
illustrator and with drawing lessons. Like Klimt, he attended the Arts and Crafts
School of the Imperial-Royal Austrian Museum of Art and Industry between 1893 and 1895.
In 1896 Moser was received into the Genossenschaft bildender Künstler Wiens
(Künstlerhaus), only to leave again a year later as one of the artists of the Klimt
clique. As a co-founder of the Secession he was in charge of the concept and
realization of the Ver Sacrum magazine. In addition, he was commissioned to
create the façade decoration and the glass window of the Secession building.
In 1900 he was awarded a professorship at the Arts and Crafts School of the
Imperial-Royal Austrian Museum of Art and Industry. Financially independent,
Moser now resided in a villa in the Hohe Warte in Döbling. As a man of many talents, Moser designed exhibitions, stage sets, posters and entire interiors.
Together with industrialist Fritz Waerndorfer (1868–1939) and the architect
and designer Josef Hoffmann (1870–1956) Moser founded the Wiener
Werkstätte in 1903, a workshop that specialized in interior decoration,
furniture, jewellery, objects made of leather, glass and metal, clothes, toys and
book covers.
In 1905 Moser left the Secession together with Klimt and others. In the same
year he married Ditha Mautner von Markhof (1883–1969). Differences of opinion with Waerndorfer caused Moser to stop working for the Wiener
Werkstätte and to turn his attention increasingly to painting.
By 1908 Moser was busy designing postal stamps and scenographies and
participated in a great number of exhibitions. In addition, he travelled a great
deal. In 1913 he accompanied one of his sons to a Swiss sanatorium, which
gave him the opportunity to renew his acquaintance with Ferdinand Hodler,
who exerted a powerful artistic influence on him.
On 18 October 1918 he died of jaw sarcoma and was buried in the cemetery a Hietzing.
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BIOGRAPHY
Egon Schiele
* 1890 in Tulln, Austria
† i Vie a, Austria
Egon Schiele was born in Tulln on 12 June 1890. His artistic talent was
alreadyconspicuous when he was still at primary school and he was advised
earlyon to consider a career as an artist. When, in 1906, he enroled at Vienna s
Academy of Fine Arts at the age of 16, he was the youngest student there.His
uncle and guardian Leopold Czihaczek sponsored him for the next fiveyears. Finding the Academy too conservative for his taste, Schiele left theinstitution
prematurely in 1909. In the same year he organised a first exhibition of his
work in Vienna. By 1910, psychologizing aspects and a focus on the body had
become the hallmarks of his work as a painter and draughtsman.
In spring and summer 1910 Schiele stayed for several months in Krumau,
today sČeský Kru lo . After his retur to Vie a his output consisted primarily
in oilportraits. In 1911, his model, Walburga (Wally) Neuzil (1884–1917),
moved inwith him and the couple spent several months in Krumau, where
Schieleconcentrated on urban landscapes. The lovers were ostracized in Krumaubecause of their unconventional relationship. The fact that the artist
madenude drawings of young girls did not help either. The couple moved to
Neulengbach. Having successfully participated in several
internationalexhibitions, Schiele was arrested in Neulengbach in April 1912 on
the chargeof having seduced an under-age girl. Before being finally acquitted,
he spenttwenty-four days in detention, which plunged him into a depression.
Schiele travelled extensively before the outbreak of World War I and tookpart
in several international exhibitions. When war did break out, it did
notimmediately overly affect his, since he was declared unfit for military service.He severed his connection with Wally Neuzil and married Edith Harms
(1893–1918) in 1915. In the same year Schiele was called up and told to
reportfor duty in Prague. He was then stationed near Vienna before being
detailed toMühling near Scheibbs, where at least he had the use of a studio.
In 1917 Schiele returned to Vienna. His works were now being shown
inexhibitions in Amsterdam, Munich, Stockholm and Copenhagen. In 1918,
themain hall at the Secession was given over to his work. On 31 October
1918Egon Schiele passed away, three days after the death of his pregnant
wife.
The Schieles fell victim to the Spanish flue epidemic. Martha Fein took a
photograph of the artist on his deathbed. Schiele was buried at the cemetery
of Ober St. Veit.
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SELECTED WORKS
FIRST FLOOR, ROOM 1
Gustav Klimt
Orchard in the Evening, 1898
Private collection
Klimt used to spend his summer vacation in the Salzkammergut in the
company of the Flöges. Orchard in the evening dates from 1898 and was
painted in St. Agatha, a village located between Bad Goisern and Lake Hallstatt.
The reason for the unusual picture format is probably to be found in Klimt s
use of a rectangular viewfinder , a device the artist describes as follows: […] spent the early morning, the day and the evening looking for motifs for
landscapes to be painted with the help of my viewfinder , a piece of cardboard
with a hole cut out; I found many things or, if you prefer, nothing. The painter
used the viewfinder, a piece of cardboard with a rectangular hole, to channel
his gaze and to carve up the landscape in front of him into framed sections.
What may also have contributed to the unusual format was Klimt s familiarity
with Japanese art.
Koloman Moser
Venus in the Grotto III, 1916
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, Alice Haselböck Collection, acquired in 1979
The goddess Venus is a motif Moser tackled in a series of diverse works
starting in 1914. He usually opted for a grotto as the setting for the figure.
Here she seems to be stepping out of some sort of robe. In terms of art history,
the depiction of Venus or Aphrodite provides artists with an opportunity for a
female nude. Venus, the Roman goddess of Love, was equated with Aphrodite, the Greek goddess, who was awarded the title of paragon of beauty by Paris
when he passed his famous judgment.
Several of Moser s representations of Venus predate this one, which, on the
evidence of a dated study of her hands, was painted in 1916 at the earliest.
It was around this time that Moser was diagnosed with cancer, a disease he
eventually succumbed to in October 1918. The signature was added to the
painting only postumously.
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Koloman Moser
Self-Portrait while Drawing with a Mermaid in the Grotto, 1914
Schütz Fine Art, Vienna
Two paintings by Moser are extant that resemble this one in important
respects: a self-portrait, depicting the artist in light-coloured clothes, seated in
the ruins of a castle, and the picture of a mermaid, executed with even more
care to detail. In Moser s catalogue raisonné the latter goes under the name of
Studie zum Entwurf: Der Künstler (Study for the draft of The Artist). The two
motifs, the artist in the act of drawing and the mermaid, have been joined in the draft painting that is on display here, which in its turn is a study for the
larger painting Der Künstler (The Artist). The whereabouts of this painting are
unaccounted for. What is interesting from a formal point of view are the
painting s colour scheme with its many different shades of green, the figures
decisively drawn contours and the embedding of the female figure in the
organic shape of a grotto.
With this painting, Moser places himself in the long tradition of the self-
portrait of the artist together with a depiction of his model. No clue given by
the artist regarding a possible interpretation has come down to us. The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen could arguably have been a source of
inspiration. In this story, a mermaid falls in love with a young prince. Her love
remains tragically unfulfilled even though she is prepared to lose her voice,
which is a precondition for her becoming a human being.
Egon Schiele
Double Portrait (Chief Inspector Heinrich Benesch and His Son Otto), 1913
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, Sammlung Wolfgang Gurlitt, acquired in 1953
Heinrich Benesch (1862–1947) was chief inspector of the Südbahn, Austria s
main southern railway line, and one of Schiele s earliest collectors and patrons.
His art historian son, Otto (1896–1964), eventually became the director of
Vienna s Albertina. As can be seen from preliminary studies and from the
painting itself, Schiele altered the composition repeatedly during the process
of painting and used the father s left arm to introduce a powerful horizontal
element. The artist articulates existing father-son tensions in this double
portrait and emphasizes the two men s different characters.
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Egon Schiele
Portrait of Trude Engel, about 1913
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, Wolfgang Gurlitt Collection, acquired in 1953
The painting depicts the daughter of dentist Dr. Hermann Engel, who, as
Schiele s doctor, was prepared to accept pictures in lieu of payment in cash.
The unfinished work apparently failed to please the sitter, Trude Engel (1899–1992), and was attacked by her with a knife. She was obviously unable to
relate to Schiele s novel, expressionist style. In addition, Schiele seems to have
overstepped the bounds of propriety in his dealings with her. The painting s stab wounds are clearly discernible. At the back, they were plastered over with
strips of cardboard, and at the front they were touched up. The painting s
restoration was arguably undertaken by Schiele himself.
An X-ray photograph reveals a head that was subsequently painted over, at the
top of a cone-like structure, which seems to point to an initial composition that
was subsequently found wanting by the artist. What Schiele did was to recycle
an old canvas for this portrait. The 1911 watercolour Mutter mit Kind in rotem
Mantel (Mother and child in red cloak) – the original is on display in the
basement – could well have been meant as a preliminary study.
Even though the dentist accepted a total of six works by Schiele, he does not
seem to have appreciated him as an artist. He gave away Portrait of Trude
Engel before the war was over.
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SELECTED WORKS
BASEMENT
Gustav Klimt
Woman’s Head, 1917
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, Wolfgang Gurlitt Collection, acquired in 1953
This small painting, which was found in the artist s studio after his death in
1918, is one of his last works. It may be considered a successful example of
elementary pictorial representation. The fact that the canvas remained unfinished contributes to its exquisite charm and makes it unique among
Klimt s many female portraits.
Klimt s Female Head appears timeless and alive. The unfinished aspect of the
painting serves to enhance its expressivity, especially as far as the face is
concerned. In her stark frontality the unknown sitter gives the impression of
being aloof and self-confident at the same time.
Gustav and Ernst Klimt
Allegory (Study for a Lunette of the National Theatre in Rijeka), 1884/85
Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum, Donation Kastner
The flamboyantly decorative style of Vienna s Ringstraße buildings was
continued by brothers Gustav and Ernst Klimt and by Franz Matsch in the
Künstler-Compagnie the three had founded in 1879. One of the Künstler-
Compagnie s early Gesamtkunstwerke or total works of art is the interior
design of the National Theatre (today: Croatian National Theatre Ivan pl. Zajc).
Built in 1883 to 1885 by the famous theatre architects Fellner & Helmer, it
replaced an older building, which, while rich in tradition, no longer met the safety requirements of the day. The sketch on display is the draft for one of the
auditorium s lunette paintings. While the execution is by Ernst Klimt, the work
was probably conceived by his brother, Gustav
Gustav Klimt
Schubert at the Piano (Study), 1898/99
Private collection
This study for the painting Schubert am Klavier (Schubert at the piano) is part of the commission by the Vicepresident of Wiener Musikverein, the
industrialist and art patron Nikolaus von Dumba (1830–1900), of a painting to
be installed above the door of his music room. We see Franz Schubert (1797–1828) playing the piano, surrounded by a group of friends. The painting was
destroyed by fire when Schloss Immendorf burnt down in 1945. The lady at the
far side of the piano resembles Maria Zimmermann, the mother of two of
Klimt s children.
15
Gustav Klimt
Female Semi-Nude, Study for Water Serpents II, c. 1905/06
Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum, Donation Kastner
In the course of his life, Gustav Klimt made several thousand drawings that
demonstrate the creative process. Weiblicher Halbakt is a study in the context
of a large group of female nudes Klimt created in connection with the
reworked version of the painting Wasserschlangen II (Water serpents II). In a few quick strokes Klimt sketches a semi-recumbant woman with a highly
characteristic profile, naked from the waist up. The dynamic of the diagonally
arranged composition and the flowing movement of the drapery seem to
mimic the rhythm of waves. While many of Klimt s nudes are marked by erotic
explicitness, this one is decidedly subtle in its perspective.
Koloman Moser
Female Head in Profile on Checkerboard Patterns (Silvia Koller?), about 1912
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, Donation Dr. Czerny, acquired in 1984
The portrait depicts a girl seen in profile against an ornamental backdrop of
black-outlined rectangles. What is striking, compared with other paintings by
the artist in the exhibition from a later period, is the reduced colour palette
Moser makes use of here.
The sitter is probably Silvia Koller (1898–1966), the daughter of Broncia Koller-
Pinell, a painter belonging to Moser s circle of friends, who played the role of
patron to fellow artists. Like her mother, Silvia Koller was a painter and
received instruction from, among others, Koloman Moser and Carl Hofer. If
one compares this profile with portraits of Silvia painted, say, by her mother or Egon Schiele, there are indisputable physiognomic similarities. In addition, the
outward characteristics are also matched by a photograph of Silvia that has
survived.
Egon Schiele
Portrait Arthur Rössler, 1914
Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum, Donation Kastner
Arthur Rössler was born in Vienna in 1877. He met Schiele at an exhibition in 1909 and was to play an important role as collector, dealer, agent and critic in
Schiele s life right up to the latter s death in 1918. Rössler put together one of
the earliest collections of works by Schiele. Starting as early as the 1920s, he
published several monographs, including Egon Schiele im Gefängnis.
Aufzeichnungen und Zeichnungen (Egon Schiele in prison. Notes and
drawings), in which he created the impression that Schiele himself kept a diary
during his imprisonment in Neulengbach.
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Having fallen on hard times, Rössler was forced to sell several works by Schiele
to the City of Vienna, which granted him a life annuity in return.
Egon Schiele
Leopold Czihaczek, 1908
Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum, Donation Kastner
Schiele s uncle Leopold Czihaczek (1842–1929) was chief inspector of the Imperial-Royal Austrian State Railways. Himself born into a family of Austrian
civil servants, Czihaczek was a member of Vienna s well-to-do upper middle
class. After the early death of Schiele s father in 1902, when Schiele himself
was only twelve, Czihaczek was appointed the boy s co-guardian.
Czihaczek initially provided financial supported to enable Schiele to realize his
ambition of studying at the Academy of Fine Arts. He had several portraits of
himself painted by the artist. In this watercolour, Czihaczek is portrayed in
profile in full figure, seated on a stool. In 1911, an estrangement took place in
Schiele s relation with his uncle. Finding the artist s lifestyle morally reprehensible, Czihaczek resigned from his role as guardian. Schiele repeatedly
wrote to his uncle during the entire rest of his life, seeking to revive the
relationship, but this was to no avail.
Egon Schiele
Female Nude, Back View, 1917
Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum, Donation Kastner
In his Female Nude, Back View, the artist depicts a woman seated on the floor but otherwise totally detached from any spatial context. This posture is a
recurrent feature in Schiele s work from 1913/14 onward both in nudes and in
semi-nudes and, rarely, also in fully dressed models. What the artist found
interesting about this posture is the special perspective and formal tension it
creates. The three-dimensional impression given by the body is enhanced by
the delicately shaded colouration.
Egon Schiele
Male Nude, 1910 Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum, Donation Kastner
By 1910 Egon Schiele was paying increasingly more attention to the nude. The
depiction of the human body was emerging as crucial to his art. At the same
time colouration is beginning to play a key role. The 1910 watercolour
Männlicher Akt (Male Nude) depicts a seated male figure from the left, with
arms bent at the elbows and raised to partly conceal the face. The eyes are
17
closed. A slight twist exposes to view the lean, almost emaciated, angular body
of the subject, who may well have been the artist himself. The torso s dirty
green is in stark contrast with garish tones of red that shade off into darker
hues in the lower part of the picture. Far from being consonant with what we
know from actual nature, this colouration underscores the aggressive presence
of the body.
FEMALE PORTRAITS BY GUSTAV KLIMT
Gustav Klimt
Study for the portrait of Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt, 1916
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, Collection Josef Prohaska, acquired in 1966
Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt, née Lederer (1894–1944), was born in 1894 to the
industrialist couple Serena and August Lederer. In 1921 Elisabeth married
Wolfgang Freiherr von Bachofen-Echt, a member of a dynasty of beer brewers.
After the National Socialists seizure of power her husband divorced her, citing
her Jewish ancestry as reason. A certificate stating that Elisabeth s father was
actually Gustav Klimt enabled her to live in Vienna during the war unmolested by the Nazis.
The study shows Elisabeth in full figure. The way Klimt only hints at eyebrows,
nose and hair line with a few spare strokes invites comparison with the later
painting.
Gustav Klimt
Study for the portrait of Friederike Maria Beer-Monti, 1915
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, Collection Josef Prohaska, acquired in 1966
Friederike Maria Beer (1891–1980) was born in Vienna, where her mother was
the manager of a well-known bar, the Kaiserbar. Between 1918 and 1920
Friederike was employed by the Galerie Nebehay to catalogue the drawings in
Klimt s estate. In the 1920s she married an Italian, Emanuele Monti. The
couple made their home on Capri, where they ran a restaurant, the Kater
Hiddigeigei, which was famously patronized by artists. Her marriage, however,
proved to be of short duration, and in 1931 Beer-Monti moved to New York,
where she opened the Artist s Gallery. She remained in the United States until
her death in 1980.
At the time of the genesis of this painting, Friederike Maria was twenty-three
and in the middle of an affair with the painter Hans Böhler. Böhler let her
choose between a string of pearls and a portrait by Gustav Klimt as a Christmas
present. Beer opted for the portrait.
Gustav Klimt
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Study for the portrait of Sonja Knips, 1898
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, Collection Wolfgang Gurlitt, acquired in 1953
Sonja Knips (1873–1958), born Sophie Amalia Maria Freifrau Potier des
Echelles in Lemberg (today: Lviv), took a great interest in the arts. She was
active as a patron and owned several works by Klimt and one of his sketch
books. In 1896 she married industrialist Anton Knips. Her portrait was the first
of Klimt s numerous portraits of Viennese socialites. In preparing for his
painting, the artist makes sketches in which he confines himself to bare
essentials. Here for instance he only hints at the features of the sitter s face.
Gustav Klimt
Study for the portrait of Margarethe Constance Lieser, 1917/1918
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, Collection Wolfgang Gurlitt, acquired in 1949
Margarethe Constance Lieser (1899–1943/44) was born to an industrialist
couple in Vienna and moved to Hungary after her wedding in 1921. She died in
1943 or 1944 in London.
This study for a portrait the artist did not live to finish depicts Margarethe
Constance Lieser en face. The portrait s frontality is reminiscent of other
portraits by Klimt, such as Bachofen-Echt, Beer-Monti and Zuckerkandl. The
way frontality, expression and hand posture were increasingly becoming
recurring features of Klimt s female portraits is something worth noting.
Gustav Klimt
Study for the portrait of Rose von Rosthorn-Friedmann, 1901
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, Sammlung Wolfgang Gurlitt, erworben 1953
Rose von Rosthorn (1864–1919) was born in Prävali (today s Prevalje in
Slovenia) to a renowned Austrian industrialist dynasty. In 1886 she married
industrialist Ludwig Friedmann. Not only was Rose one of Austria s earliest
female mountaineers, she was also the first woman to climb the Watzmann
Ostwand and the Thurwieserspitze in the Ortler mountain range. During World
War I she volunteered as a nurse for war invalids and succumbed to typhus in
1919. Alma Mahler for one claimed that Rose had been romantically involved
with Klimt.
Gustav Klimt
Study for the portrait of Margarethe Stonborough-Wittgenstein, 1904
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, Collection Wolfgang Gurlitt, acquired in 1953
Margarethe Stonborough-Wittgenstein (1882–1958), born in Vienna in 1882 as
the daughter of industrialist and steel magnate Karl Wittgenstein and his wife
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Leopoldine, was the sister of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein and the
pianist Paul Wittgenstein. In 1905 she married American industrialist Jerome
Stonborough. The couple then moved to Berlin.
In Berlin she had the interior of her apartment designed by Josef Hoffmann
and Koloman Moser. By 1907 she lived alternately in one of her domiciles in
Berlin, New York, Paris, in Austria, e.g. in the Villa Toskana in Gmunden, and
in Switzerland. After the death of her husband in 1938 she played a key role
in contriving Sigmund Freud s flight from the National Socialist regime. Being
Jewish herself, she, too, was soon forced to leave Austria. After the war she returned to Vienna, where she died in 1958.
The actual painting, which was commissioned by her parents as a wedding
gift, depicts her standing upright in a central position, outlined in fleeting fine
lines. The painting can now be seen in Munich s Neue Pinakothek. The sketch
documents Klimt s interest in the texture of the material of the dress worn by
Margarethe.
Gustav Klimt
Study for the portrait of Amalie Zuckerkandl, 1914
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, Collection Wolfgang Gurlitt, acquired in 1953
Amalie Zuckerkandl (1869–1942) was born as Miriam Amalie Schlesinger
to the family of a playwright in Vienna. In 1895 she married urologist Otto
Zuckerkandl. During World War I Zuckerkandl was stationed in a hospital in
Lemberg, today s Lviv, where his wife worked as a nurse. In 1917 the couple
returned to Vienna. They were divorced in 1919. In 1942 Amalie and her
daughter were deported by the Nazis and murdered.
What is striking in the portrait is the black lace neckband tied into a bow, an
accessory which contributes to Amalie s characterisation and is already hinted
at in the study. Klimt began work on the studies for the painting as early as
1914. In the end, death prevented him from putting the final touches to the
painting.
MADONNA
Koloman Moser
Madonna, c. 1916
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, on permanent loan from Collection Doron
In a Christian context, the pictorial type of the Madonna is part of the
traditional veneration of the saints. In his depiction of the Madonna, Koloman
Moser adheres to the Byzantine type of the Madonna Hodegetria, with Mary
pointing to Jesus as the source of salvation. Draped in a blue cape, Mary
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carries her child on her left arm. The backdrop of pink clouds, a staple of
Western iconography, conveys the heavenly location of the figures. Moser s
representation of mother and child generates the aura of a sacred devotional
picture.
Egon Schiele
Mother and Child in Red Cloak, 1911
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, Collection Josef Prohaska, acquired in 1966
Mother with Children, Flanked by Toys and Ornaments, 1913
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, Linzer Kulturverein, acquired in 1966
In this watercolour Schiele, too, makes reference to the Hodegetria type. In
conjunction with the blue priming and the figures clothes, the fragmented
ornamental structure of the backdrop against which mother and child are seen
creates a multilayered staggered arrangement. The stark frontality of the
figures enhances the rigidity of their facial expression. The mother s blood red
cloak frames the doomed child, lending the picture an accusatorial quality.
With their deathly pale flesh tones and wide open eyes mother and child seem to have come face to face with Death. In around 1915 Schiele designed a
handbag with another mother-and-child group. Now two children flank the
seated mother. The addition of a second child and of children s toys at the
sides enables the artist to underline the secular nature of this version of the
mother-and-child motif. This design probably served as a preparatory study for
Schiele s 1917 painting Mutter mit zwei Kindern III (Mother with two children
III), now at Vienna s Belvedere. While in the watercolour the group of figures is
left to fend for themselves as best they can in view of a distracting admixture
of small-scale motifs, the final stage of the painting, which incorporates
repeated overpaintings, features an almost monochrome brown background, which makes the composition emerge even clearer. Compared to the 1911
watercolour, the handbag design is much less dramatic. It fore-grounds more
subtle reflections on life and deathrather than the sheer fear of death.
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THE COLLECTOR HELLMUT CZERNY
Hellmut Czerny started practising as a notary public in Carinthia s Lavanttal in
1968. His decision as an art collector to focus on graphics was based on
financial considerations. Already in the 1970s he repeatedly donated works to
public museums, starting with the Kärntner Landesgalerie in Klagenfurt
(today s Museum Moderner Kunst Kärnten [Carinthian Museum of Modern
Art]). In 1982 a large part of Czerny s collection went to the Neue Galerie der
Stadt Linz (today s LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz). All in all, eight Austrian
museums reaped the benefit of Czerny s largesse in the form of substantial donations. In 1993, 1997 and 2002 comprehensive exhibitions were organised
by the Neue Galerie Linz and the Neue Galerie Graz. Czerny and his wife, Norli,
are now based in Graz. On the occasion of his 80th birthday in 2010, Graz s
Galerie Lendl paid homage to the collector in style.
I began by collecting works on paper, initially by local Styrian and Carinthian
artists. This was soon expanded to all of Austria. These artists were later joined
by international artists, all from the 20th century. The collection kept on
growing all the time, and the same was of course true of my commitment. My
activities as a collector moved increasingly centre stage in my life – and, in one way or another, the works in my possession had become part of my
personality. Then, in an impromptu decision, I divided my entire collection
among several Austrian museums. Hellmut Czerny
THE COLLECTOR OTTO GERSTL
Gerstl was born in Linz in 1893. As a law student in Vienna he attended
lectures in art history and began to collect graphics. While in Vienna, he struck
up an acquaintance with Klemens Brosch. Having obtained his law doctorate at the end of World War I, he started to work in his father s law firm in Linz. At
the same time, he was beginning to make a name for himself as an art
collector and art expert.
The occupational ban enforced by the National Socialists after Austria s
Anschluss left Gerstl no choice but to emigrate to Chicago via London in 1939
together with his mother. Since he could not obtain an export licence for his
collection, he left it at the Linzer Landesmuseum. In 1947, having become an
American citizen in the meantime, Gerstl laid claim to his collection and
received it back in the following year. Gerstl returned to Linz in 1952. He donated a first part of his substantive graphics collection, comprising drawings
by Moritz von Schwind, Gustav Klimt, Klemens Brosch and Koloman
Moser, to the Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum in 1959, with the rest
following after Gerstl s death in 1974.
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THE ART DEALER WOLFGANG GURLITT
Wolfgang Gurlitt, the founder of the Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz, was born in
Berlin in 1888 as the son of Fritz Gurlitt, art dealer by appointment to the
Imperial Court. He was the cousin of art historian and art dealer Hildebrand
Gurlitt, who in his turn was the father of Cornelius Gurlitt, whose highly
controversial collection is currently on display in Bonn and Berne.
At his Berlin gallery, Wolfgang Gurlitt presented Secession and expressionist
artists, Edvard Munch and Austrian artists such as Oskar Kokoschka, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Alfred Kubin. He was a lifelong friend of both Kubin
and Kokoschka. Rampant inflation caused Gurlitt s gallery to go through a bad
patch financially after 1925. Even though he was decidedly not in the Nazi
regime s good books, Gurlitt tried to get in on the trade with looted art, an
undertaking for which his excellent Jewish contacts proved helpful. Gurlitt s
apartment and his gallery in Berlin were destroyed in a bomb raid in 1943,
along with all his business records. This is why much in the art dealer s life has
remained a mystery to this day.
In November 1946 he handed over parts of his own art collection to Linz s town council on loan. The first special exhibition, dedicated to Kubin, took
place in June 1947, and was followed by an Oskar Kokoschka exhibition in
1951, again organised by Gurlitt himself. In 1953 84 paintings and 33 graphics
that make up the core holdings of today s LENTOS Kunstmuseum were
acquired by the City of Linz from Wolfgang Gurlitt.
Having founded the Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz, Wolfgang Gurlitt stayed on as
its director until 1956. Differences of opinion with Linz s city council made him
finally move to Munich, where he became active again as a gallerist. He died in
1965.
THE COLLECTOR WALTHER KASTNER
Born in Gmunden in 1902 with roots in Oberneukirchen on his father s side,
Kastner initially followed courses in art history, German studies and psychology
at the University of Vienna. He left without a degree to become a bank clerk
with the Bank für Oberösterreich und Salzburg in Bad Ischl, Vienna and
Salzburg. When he was laid off because of the global economic crisis, he
studied law in Innsbruck. Having graduated in record time, he began his career at the Ministry of Finance in 1930 as an expert in company law. The earliest
feathers in his cap as a collector were graphics by Kubin, Corinth, Liebermann,
Beckmann and Fronius.
In 1938, Kastner was detailed to the Österreichische Kontrollbank, where his
remit included the aryanisation of Jewish businesses. In 1942 he became a
member (later, chairman) of the Board of Directors of Semperit AG. His NSDAP
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membership – he joined the party in the autumn of 1943 – made him the
target of attacks by the media until after his death.
After World War II, Kastner took on the role of advisor to Austria s Ministers of
Finance. In a different field, he represented Jewish entrepreneurs, pressing
their restitution claims. Having lost his art collection in the chaos created by
the war, he started over again in 1949 by at first acquiring works by Austrian
painters of the 19th and 20th centuries before moving on to Dutch and
medieval art. In 1975, when he decided to make a donation of his collection to
the Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum, it comprised 323 works, including paintings and drawings by Klimt and Schiele.
By the time of Kastner s death in 1994, the donation numbered 500 items and
was continually being increased thanks to the activities of Kastner s second
wife, Franziska. Today the Kastner donation comprises approximately 1,600
items.
PROVENANCE RESEARCH
FIRST FLOOR, READING ROOM
Provenance research is the scientific study of the origins and the changing
conditions of ownership of a given work of art and of other cultural or archival
objects in museums, libraries and archives or in the arts and antiquities trade.
The aim is complete documentation.
Provenance, from lat. provenire, to come forth, to come into being: a record of
the ultimate derivation and passage of an item through its various owners
(Oxford English Dictionary).
Provenance research in the museums of the City of Linz
The City of Linz has been committed for decades to a critical attitude towards
the National Socialist era and has initiated numerous projects in the fields of
research, publications and exhibitions. Consonant with Austria s federal
museums, which are in the process of screening their holdings for artworks
looted by the National Socialists, as mandated by the 1998 Art Restitution Act,
the holdings of Linz s municipal collections are being rigorously checked for
their provenance.
The holdings of the LENTOS and of its predecesor institution, the Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz, have been undergoing systematic provenance checks since
1998. In 1999 the City of Linz published a first comprehensive report covering
the Wolfgang Gurlitt collection, the historical core of the museum s holdings.
This report was compiled by the director of the City Archives, Walter Schuster.
In 2007, a working group of provenance research was formed, headed by the
directors of Linz s municipal museums Stella Rollig (until 2016) and Hemma
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Schmutz (from 2017) and including Elisabeth Nowak-Thaller (Deputy Director),
Gernot Barounig (Commerical Director), Walter Schuster (Archive of the City of
Linz) and provenance researcher Vanessa-Maria Voigt, who works for
museums and other public institutions.
RESTITUTION
Inheriting Wolfgang Gurlitt s collection has created a situation for the LENTOS
that is highly ambivalent. It is both an asset and a liability. To this day, Gurlitt s role as an art dealer during World War II has continued to give rise to
controversy: while one side sees in him the saviour of degenerate art, who
repeatedly came to the rescue of persecuted Jewish collectors by purchasing
works of art from them, others consider him to have been a mere hanger-on of
the illicit National Socialist regime who exploited legal loopholes to his own
advantage.
The restitution of Gustav Klimt’s Ria Munk
The painting was begun presumably in 1917 and is one of Klimt s unfinished
works. It is one of three – the precise number is disputed among researchers –
posthumous portraits of Ria Munk, who committed suicide at the age of
twenty-four in 1911. The portrait was commissioned by Ria s mother, Aranka
Munk, who was on friendly terms with Klimt. Aranka, the sister of Serena
Lederer, one of Klimt s most notable sponsors, moved to Bad Aussee in 1938.
In 1941, all her belongings were confiscated by the National Socialists; she
herself as deported a d urdered i the Łódź ghetto. Whether this particular
portrait of Ria is identical with the one that was confiscated by the Nazis in
Aranka s house in Bad Aussee was considered to be doubtful for a long time. What decided the matter was the deposition of the grandson of a member of
the Munk villa s staff, who testified that he had seen the painting at the house
as a nine-year old boy.
It is unclear how the painting became part of the collection of the Berlin art
dealer Wolfgang Gurlitt, who was also a resident of Bad Aussee and sold the
painting to the City of Linz in 1956.
The LENTOS restituted the portrait to the heirs of Aranka Munk in 2009. Sold
for ore tha € illio i at a au tion organised by Christie s of London, it is now located at the Lewis Collection in Cambridge.
The restitution of Egon Schiele’s Krumauer Landschaft (Stadt am Fluss)
The southern Bohemian town Krumau, today s Český Kru lo , was the
birthplace of Schiele s mother and the artist resided there repeatedly for
months at a time. He painted a bird s eye view of the ancient town with its
characteristic houses and the river Vltava. Upon completion, Krumauer
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Landschaft was purchased directly from the artist by one of his patrons, Jenny
Steiner, who gave it as a gift to her daughter Daisy Hellmann (1890–1977). In
1938 the painting was confiscated by the Gestapo and sold by auction at
Vienna s Dorotheum in 1942. It was bought by Wolfgang Gurlitt through the
Galerie St. Lucas. In 1953, Gurlitt sold Krumauer Landschaft to the City of Linz
for ATS 21,120. Daisy Hellmann had filed a claim to have the painting
restituted as early as 1948 and 1949, but her claim was dismissed. The reason
cited for this decision was that Wolfgang Gurlitt had no way of knowing in
1942 that this was a work of art that had been looted by the National
Socialists. In 2003, the LENTOS forwarded the painting to Vienna s Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien to hand it over to Daisy Hellmann s heirs. The
community of heirs had it sold by Sotheby s for ore tha € illio . Si e
then the painting has been in private possession.
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PRESS IMAGES
Press Images are available for download at www.lentos.at/presse
Free use of press images only in conjunction with the relevant
exhibition.
Egon Schiele, Female Nude, Back View, 1917
Upper Austrian State Museum
(Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum)
Egon Schiele, Portrait of Trude Engel,
about 1913
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz
Gustav Klimt, Two Reclining Female
Nudes, about 1916/17
photo: Reinhard Haider
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Egon Schiele, Male Nude (Self-Portrait), 1912
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz
Egon Schiele, Male Nude, 1910
Upper Austrian State Museum
(Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum)
Egon Schiele, Mother and Child in Red
Cloak, 1911
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz
Gustav Klimt, Wo a ʼs Head, 1917
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz
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Gustav Klimt, Female Nude, about 1916
Upper Austrian State Museum
(Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum)
Gustav Klimt, Reading or Singing
Woman, about 1907
NORDICO Stadtmuseum Linz
Gustav Klimt, Schubert at the Piano
(Study, 1896 Private Collection
Koloman Moser, Bathers, about 1911
Private Collection, Vienna
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Koloman Moser
Self-Portrait while Drawing with a
Mermaid in the Grotto, 1914
Schütz Fine Art, Vienna
Koloman Moser, Venus in the Grotto III,
1916
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz
Gustav Klimt, about 1916
Archive LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz
Egon Schiele
Egon Schiele in front of the painting
Woodland Prayer, 1915
Photo: Johannes Fischer, Albertina
Wien
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Koloman Moser
at young age, 1890, IMAGNO
Brandstätter Images
Trude Engel, about 1915
Archive LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz
X-ray photograph of Portrait of Trude
Engel, Detail with over painted head of an earlier composition, 2018
photo: Stefanie Jahn
Belvedere, Wien
Portrait of Trude Engel in the x-ray
facility of Belvedere Vienna, 2018
photo: Andreas Strohhammer
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exhibition view
1918 – Klimt · Moser · Schiele, LENTOS
Kunstmuseum Linz, 2018 photo: maschekS.
exhibition view
1918 – Klimt · Moser · Schiele, LENTOS
Kunstmuseum Linz, 2018 photo: maschekS.
exhibition view
1918 – Klimt · Moser · Schiele, LENTOS
Kunstmuseum Linz, 2018
photo: maschekS.
exhibition view 1918 – Klimt · Moser · Schiele, Back view
of the painting Portrait of Trude Engel,
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, 2018
photo: maschekS.
exhibition view
1918 – Klimt · Moser · Schiele, LENTOS
Kunstmuseum Linz, 2018
photo: maschekS.
exhibition view
1918 – Klimt · Moser · Schiele, LENTOS
Kunstmuseum Linz, 2018
photo: maschekS.
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Exhibition Title 1918 – Klimt · Moser · Schiele
Collected Beauties
Exhibition Period 16 February to 21 May 2018
Opening Thursday, 15 February, 7 pm
Press Conference Thursday, 15 February, 10 am
Exhibition Venue Lower Floor, First Floor, Reading Room
Curators Elisabeth Nowak-Thaller
Brigitte Reutner
Andreas Strohhammer
Exhibits 76 paintings and graphics by Gustav Klimt (32
works), Koloman Moser (11 works) and Egon
Schiele (31 works) from the collections of the
LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, NORDICO
Stadtmuseum Linz, Upper Austria State Museum and private property
Display and Nicole Six and Paul Petritsch
Exhibition Architektur with thanks to AZW (Architekturzentrum Wien)
Opening Hours Tue–Sun 10 am to 6 pm, Thur 10 am to 9 pm, Mon
closed (except 2.4. und 21.5.2018)
Open on public holiday 1.4., 1.5., 10.5. and
20.5.2018
Admission € , o essio s €
Press Contact Clarissa Ujvari
Tel. +43(0)732/7070-3603
Ernst-Koref-Promenade 1
4020 Linz
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