NGV Vienna Art and Design - Klimt Schiele Hoffmann Loos

K-Z

k.k. – kaiserlich und königlich (imperial and royal).  Imprimature of the Habsburg Court of Austria-Hungary.

Kleeblatt Gruppe, Das (Cloverleaf Group) – Also called the Trifolium Gruppe. Subset of the Vienna Camera Club formed in 1897 comprising  Heinrich Kühn, Hugo Henneberg and Hans Watzek, who jointly developed techniques  for greater control of tonal and chromatic range, the results of which they exhibited  at the Vienna Secession.

Klimt  Gruppe (Klimt Group) – See the Stilisten

Klimt Kollectiv –  Special monographic exhibition of Klimt’s work held as the Eighteenth Secession  Exhibition, in 1903, featuring eighty works, including the Beethoven frieze, University paintings and portraits of Emilie  Flöge and Hermine Gallia.

Kohn, J & J. – Jacob  and Josef Kohn. Rival company to Gebrüder Thonet in manufacture of bentwood  furniture. The Kohns' production of furniture designed by Gustav Siegel in 1900  won the approval and later cooperation of leading architects such as Wagner,  Loos and Hoffmann.

Kraus, Karl (1874–1936)  – Journalist, satirist and poet. Born into a wealthy Jewish family, Kraus joined Jung  Wien in 1896 but quickly rejected it. An anti-Zionist, in 1899 Kraus renounced  Judaism and in the same year established a polemical paper, Die Fackel and  also wrote for papers such as the Wiener Rundschau.  A charismatic public  lecturer, he denounced historicism, liberalism, ornament and careless  use of language while championing the austere works of Arnold Schoenberg, Adolf  Loos and Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Arts and  Crafts) – Established in 1867. The school came to offer a wide range of  practical subjects taught by leading Secessionist artists and designers. Now Universität für angewandte Kunst (University of Applied Arts). Established in 1867 under the administration of  Rudolf von Eitelberger, Director of the  Austrian Ősterreichsiches Museum für Kunst und Industrie. Housed by 1873 in a  Neo-Renaissance building on Stubenring. Von Eitelberger was succeeded in 1897  by Arthur von Scala, who appointed Secession painter Felician von Myrbach head  of the school in 1899. The School came to offer a wide range of practical  subjects taught by leading Secessionist artists and designers. Re-named in 1948  Akademie für angewandte Kunst (Academy of Applied Arts or MAK).

Künstler  Compagnie (Painters’  Company) – Successful business formed in 1882 by Gustav and Ernst Klimt  and Franz Matsch (1861–1942) to supply decorative paintings and murals for  luxury interiors and public Ringstrasse projects.  The company’s close links with society painter and Imperial favourite, Hans Makart, secured it prestigious commissions following his  death.

Künstlerhaus (Artists’ House) – Exhibition building built in 1868 on Karlspatz in a neo-Renaissance Ringstrasse villa.  Home of the Künstlerhaus-Genossenschaft (Austrian Artists’ Society), also known as the Gesellschaft bildender Künstler Österreichs. The Künstlerhaus was  the only venue for the exhibition of contemporary art in Vienna. A commercial  enterprise, its organisers favoured conservative art.

Künstlerhaus-Genossenschaft (Austrian Artists’ Society) – Private exhibiting society formed in 1861 under  the presidency of architect August Siccard von Siccardsburg, to which most  established artists belonged. Also known as the Gesellschaft bildender Künstler Österreichs. On 22 May 1897 its  committee passed a motion of censure against the artists of the newly formed  Secession led by Gustav Klimt, triggering their resignation.

Künstlerwerkstätten(Artists’ Workshops) –  Workshops created in 1916 by Fritz Wärndorfer and Josef Hoffmann for artists  without studios or means, aimed at creating new markets in the fields of  ceramics, wood and ivory products, endpaper production, lace, enamel work,  embroidery, beadwork, glass, fabric and wallpaper designs.

Kunstschau (Art  Show) – Exhibitions staged in 1908 and 1909 by the Österreichischer Künstlerbund (Austrian Artists’ Association)  headed by Gustav Klimt. The first exhibition, coinciding with the sixtieth  anniversary of the emperor’s reign, was conceived as a Gesamtkunstwerk of contemporary Viennese art; the second exhibition  was international in scope, introducing recent German, French, Belgian and  Dutch art.

Kunstwollen (‘The will to art’) – Concept developed by Alois Riegl positing art as an  expressive individual or collective response to the conditions of an age. This  is in opposition to Gottfried Semper’s notion that cultural forms evolve in  direct response to functional needs within societies in combination with  available materials and techniques.

Lobmeyr – Viennese glass manufacturing firm used by  Wiener Werkstätte.

Lueger, Karl (1844–1910) – Mayor of Vienna and founder of the  Christian Social Party. Populist and anti-semitic, Lueger was also a great  moderniser, instrumental in continuing the major building and engineering  projects of Vienna after the crash of 1873. A  supporter of the Secession, he made available the site for their purpose-built  exhibition building on Friedrichstrasse completed in 1898.

Lux, Joseph August (1871–1947) – Catholic modernist  architectural critic, founder and editor of the journal Das Interieur in 1900 and Hohe Warte in 1904, co-founder of the  German Werkbund and author of  biographies on Josef Hoffmann and Otto Wagner.

Makart, Hans (1840–1884) – Painter, designer and decorator  associated with Vienna’s Ringstrasse period and also professor at Akademie der bildenden Künste. The  immensely popular ‘Makartstil’ or Makart style is characterised by a pompous  elegance with erotic overtones. Makart, who  was also Professor at the Vienna  Academy, greatly influenced Gustav and Ernst Klimt and Franz Matsch whom he  later directed as the Künstler  Compagnie in the decorations for the  imperial silver jubilee in 1879. 

MAK see Österreichsiches  Museum für Kunst und Industrie

Malercompagnie see Künstler Compagnie

Meier-Graefe, Julius (1867–1935) – German novelist,  art critic and dealer. Founder of the Art Nouveau magazine Dekorative Kunst in 1897. Dealer for sculptor George Minne.  Conception of the Wiener Werkstätte attributed to Meier-Graefe by Koloman Moser  (though attributed by others to Hermann Bahr).

Muthesius, Hermann (1861–1921) – Berlin architect, diplomat  and author who introduced the Arts and Crafts movement to Germany. A contributing author to Dekorative Kunst, Muthesius wrote on Mackintosh’s Willow Tea Rooms and was a  lifelong advocate of English domestic architecture and garden design.He  was later instrumental in setting up the German Werkbund with its emphasis on  quality, quantity and judicious use of new technologies. A spiritual father of  the Austrian Werkbund and the German Bauhaus.

Myrbach,  Baron Felician von (1853–1940) – Professor of illustration at the Kunstgewerbeschule,  where he served as director between 1899 and 1905. Myrbach and Arthur von Scala  appointed Josef Hoffmann, Alfred Roller, Koloman Moser and Carl Otto  Czeschka to the school’s teaching staff. In 1903 Myrbach became president of  the Vienna Secession, but left in 1905 along with Klimt and his circle.

Naturalisten (Naturalists)  – Also called the ‘Impressionists’. Faction of the Secession led by painter and Hagengesellschaft member Joseph  Englehart favouring traditional approaches to painting. In 1905 they rejected  proposals of the Stilisten for the integration of  applied arts on an equal footing with painting and sculpture. The Naturalisten also protested at the commercial opportunities of the Stilisten via their links with the Wiener Werkstätte and the  Galerie Miethke and the conflicting interests of Carl Moll in his dual role as  Secession President and gallery director. The  dispute led to the schism that ended the original Secession.

Neue Freie Presse (New Free Press) –Founded in 1864. The most literary of the  Viennese daily newspapers, featuring writers such as Theodor Herzl and Julius  Korngold (music). Loos won international recognition through articles published  in the Neue Freie Presse between 1897 and 1899.

Neukunstgruppe (New Art  Group) – Artist group founded in 1909 by young rebels from the Academy of Fine Arts  including Egon Schiele, Anton Peschka, Karl Massmann, Anton Faistauer, Franz Wiegele, Rudolf Kalvach, Albert Paris von  Gütersloh and Hans Böhler. Their  manifesto written by Schiele called for the complete autonomy of the  artist. They exhibited at the Gustav Pisko Galerie, Vienna, in December 1909 as  the ‘Neukünstler’.

Neukünstler – see Neukunstgruppe

Neues Wiener Journal (New Vienna Daily) – Daily  Viennese newspaper founded in 1839 with art column by Berta Zuckerkandl.

Nutzstil (functional style) – Otto Wagner’s theory that  outward form should be a natural product of construction and that materials  should be appropriately selected and employed.

Ornament und Verbrechen(Ornament and Crime) — 1908 essay by Adolf Loos translated into English  in 1913 attacking the perceived excess of Art Nouveau design. Borrowing  concepts from Darwin’s theory of evolution, Loos proposed that ‘the evolution of culture is synonymous with the  removal of ornament from objects of daily use’. Arguing that ornament applied  to useful objects inevitably goes out of fashion, rendering the object itself  obsolete he condemned the waste of both object and the time invested in its  making as immoral. Loos further likened surface decoration to tattoos on a  tribesman or criminal, which he denounced as uncivilised and unevolved because  of its origin in a primal erotic impulse. Declaring, however, that ‘all art is  erotic’, he advocated instead the controlled sublimation of the erotic impulse  into the production of utilitarian objects of extreme economy but made from the  best materials and exquisitely finished.

Österreichischer  Künstlerbund (Austrian Artists’  Association) – Group led by Gustav Klimt that formed after the  1905 split from the Secession, which included Josef Hoffmann, Otto Wagner,  Alfred Roller and Carl Moll. Its declared aim was to seek influence beyond  exhibitions through the integration of art with everyday life.

Österreichsiches Museum für Kunst und Industrie (Austrian Museum for Art and Industry) – Established in 1863 by Emperor Franz Josef in emulation of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Through its  director, Rudolf von Eitelberger, the museum is intimately linked to the  ‘Vienna School’ of art history. In 1948 it  was renamed the Österreichisches Museum fűr angewandte Kunst (Austrian Museum of  Applied Arts) or ‘MAK’.

Pisko Galerie – Owned by Gustav Pisko who, in December 1909, held an exhibition of Schiele and fellow  members of the Neukunstgruppe at his  premises in Schwarzenbergplatz.

Reformkleider (reform dress) – Revolutionary dress style that coincided with the Frauenstimmrecht, or  women’s suffrage movement. Based on the principle of freedom from physical  restraint, the fashion rejected corsetry or constricting shapes in favour of  loose, flowing forms. The kaftan was adopted by limited numbers of men in  progressive and artistic circles, such as Gustav Klimt and Hermann Bahr, while  a long gown with empire bust line was popularized by the Schwestern Flöge from  1904 and the Wiener Werkstätte from 1911.

Riegel, Alois (1858–1905) – Austrian art historian, theorist and member of the  influential Vienna School of Art History. In 1886 he was appointed textiles  curator of the Österreichsiches Museum für Kunst und Industrie. One of the most influential  advocates of formalism and the concept ‘Kunstwollen’.

Ringstrasse – Broad street encircling the inner city of Vienna,  built between 1858 and 1913 in the footprint of the recently demolished  medieval city wall. Conceived as a grandiose necklace of public and residential  buildings, with facades emulating Renaissance, Gothic, Roman and Hellenic  architectural styles. Key architects associated with this ‘historicist’ project  are Heinrich von Ferstel, Theophil Hansen, Friedrich Schmidt,  Gottfried Semper, Carl Hasenauer, August von Siccardsburg and a young Otto  Wagner. Rejecting entirely the  Ringstrasse’s dependence on borrowed forms, Adolf Loos in 1898 condemned it as  ‘Potemkin’s Town’. 

Sachlichkeit – Scientific objectivity or ‘realism’. An ideal  shared by functionalist architects Adolf Loos and Otto Wagner in which objects  were created on a non-decorative, purely functional basis, favouring simplicity  and efficiency in regard to materials and processes.

Scala, Arthur von (1845–1909) – Director of the Österreichsiches Museum für Kunst und Industrie. Von Scala was instrumental in  the appointment Otto Wagner, Baron Felician von Myrbach, Koloman Moser, Josef  Hoffmann and Alfred Roller to work in his museum and at the Kunstgewerbeschule.

Schwestern Flöge – Avant-garde women’s  fashion house established in 1904 by Emilie, Helene and Pauline Flöge,  relatives by marriage to Gustav Klimt. Located on the first floor of Casa  Piccola in the Mariahilferstrasse fashion district, with an  interior designed by Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser. Specialising in Reformkleider and Parisian haute  couture, Schwestern  Flöge remained commercially successful until the Anschluss in 1938.

Secession – Vereinigung  bildender Künstler  Österreichs (Association of Austria’s Fine and Graphic Artists). Breakaway movement of artists  from the Künstlerhaus on 3 April  1897. Derived from the Latin phrase secessio plebis (the  withdrawal of the people in times of poor government). Led by Gustav Klimt, the  group, which included members of the Siebener Club and the Hagengesellschaft, simultaneously declared its independence from  the conservative academic teaching of the Akademie der Bildenden Kunst and the similarly conservative  and commercial tendencies of the Künstlerhaus. Klimt was elected its first president. Its highly  successful first exhibition was held at the k.k  Gartenbau-Gesellschaft in March 1898. Fifty-seven thousand people attended, 218  exhibited works were sold and a profit of 7,716 kronen was made, helping to  finance the creation of a purpose-built Secession building in the following  year.

Secession building – The exhibition building of the  Secessionists built in 1898 to the design of Josef Maria Olbrich on a block of  land in Friedrichstrasse near the Karlskirche, made available free of rent for  ten years by the city of Vienna. Built within a year, it featured  movable internal walls while its exterior was a matrix of white cubic units,  with applied golden tracery surmounted by an open metalwork sphere of golden  laurels. Home of Ver Sacrum offices. The building cost 120,000 kronen, a sum raised in part by the artists who  waived their own fees. Karl Wittgenstein was reputed to have  contributed ‘most of the necessary funds singlehanded’, and the Province of  Lower Austria gave 40,000 kronen.

Semper, Gottfried (1803–1879) – German architect,  theorist and political radical of 1848. Semper’s Ringstrasse projects exemplify  his historicist use of Renaissance and classical styles, later unpopular among  modernist designers. Semper nevertheless appealed to modernists for his use of anthropology to prove that architecture  arises from practical needs common to humankind, a functionalist  view influencing Otto Wagner and his followers.

Siebener  Klub (Club of Seven) – the key members of the Stilisten. Founded in 1895 by Josef Hoffmann, the  club, which met at the Café Sperl, included future Secessionists Koloman Moser,  Joseph Maria Olbrich, Max Kurzweil, Otto Wagner and Josef Urban.

Sommerfrische (summer  break) – Austrian tradition of summer holidays in the Salzkammergut, an  area of mountains and lakes beloved by Vienna’s affluent classes. Gustav Klimt,  Carl Moll and their circle regularly met while on Sommerfrische. Klimt summered at Attersee seventeen times between  1900 and 1916.

Stilisten (Stylists) –  Also called the ‘Klimt Gruppe’.  Faction within the Secession centred on Gustav Klimt, oriented to design and  applied arts including Josef Maria Auchentaller, Wilhelm Bernatzik, Adolf Böhm,  Adolf Hölzel, Josef Hoffmann, W. Franz Jäger, Max Kurzweil, Wilhelm List,  Richard Luksch, Franz Metzner, Carl Moll, Emil Orlik, Alfred Roller and Otto  Wagner. The aims of the Stilisten would eventually come into conflict with those of the Naturalisten led by Josef Engelhart.

Studio, The – Influential English periodical of fine and applied art  published from 1893 and edited by Charles Holmes. Said to have  20,000 subscribers in Germany alone. Widely read by Secession members for news  on recent artistic trends in Britain and Europe.

Sturm, der (The Storm) –First and most significant German Expressionist magazine founded in 1910 in  Berlin by Herwarth Walden, published weekly and then monthly from 1914.Illustrated by OskarKokoschka. In March 1912 Walden opened  a gallery of the same name.

University paintings — Also called the ‘Faculty paintings’. Series of  paintings commissioned in 1894 by the University of Vienna from Gustav Klimt  for the ceiling of its great hall. The vertical canvases dedicated to the  themes of Philosophy, Medicine and Jurisprudence appeared at the Secession in  1900, 1901 and 1903 respectively, where they provoked outraged among critics  and Faculty members for their perceived obscenity. Klimt returned his fees to  the university and the pictures were acquired by his supporters. Stored in  Schloss Immendorf during World War II, they were destroyed in 1945 when the  castle was burned down by retreating German forces.

Vereinigung bildender Künstler Österreichs(Association of Austria’s Fine and Graphic Artists) – see Secession

Ver  Sacrum (Sacred Spring) –short-lived but outstanding journal of the Viennese  Jugendstil movement, produced by Secession members from 1898 to 1903.  First published by Gerlach und Schenck in 1898, then E.A. Seeman of Leipzig  between 1899 and 1900. Ver Sacrum was  intended to disseminateinformation and examples of recent artistic  developments. Unique for its experimental graphic design, illustrations and  advertisements. The journal was monthly until 1899, financed by private backers  paying a premium subscription rate, then bi-monthly from January 1900 ‘in order  to react more quickly to current events’. Self-published from this date, it was  circulated internally to members of the Vienna Secession only.

Vienna School of Art History – A famous and still-influential approach to art history,  emerging in 1850s Vienna that sought to detach art historical judgments from  issues of aesthetic preference and subjective taste by the introduction of  scientific method. According to this method visual forms and functions of  objects should be methodically observed (connoisseurship) and rigorously  analysed in the context of other related cultural phenomena. Pioneered by  Rudolf Eitelberger, professor of Art History at the University of Vienna, and  Director of the Museum of Art and Industry, where he insisted on object-based  teaching, Eitelberger’s influential followers included Franz Wickhoff and Alois  Riegl, who also combined academic careers with object-based curatorial  work.  

Wärndorfer,  Fritz (1868–1939) – Son of a wealthy Jewish textile manufacturer  and enthusiast for modern English and Scottish design, Wärndorfer was an early  patron of Secessionist artists and co-founder and financial backer of the  Wiener Werkstätte. In 1907 Waerndorfer took over the commission for the Cabaret  Fledermaus, following the financial collapse of its first backer. By 1914 Wärndorfer was  himself bankrupted by his support of the Werkstätte and forced to leave for  America.

Wage, Die (The Venture) – Literary journal founded  in 1898 by liberal Jewish journalist Rudolf Lothar. Contributors included Adolf  Loos and Josef Hoffmann.

Werkbund (Work Federation, Austrian) – Collaborative association of 178 artists, designers,  private industries and public institutions formed in 1912 in emulation of the  German Werkbund with the purpose of  demonstrating the potential for collaborations between art and machine  technology. Created during a public meeting headed by Josef Hoffmann and Alfred  Roller at the Ősterreichsiches Museum  für Kunst und Industrie, backers  included Moriz and Hermine Gallia. Josef Hoffmann designed the Austrian Werkbund’s pavilion at the German Werkbund’s Cologne exhibition of  1914.   

Werkbund (Work Federation, German) – Federation of artists, architects, designers and  industrialists founded by Joseph August Lux, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Josef  Hoffmann, Peter Behrens, Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius in Munich in  1907. Influenced by the progressive theories of Hermann Muthesius, the Werkbund aspired to unite artists,  architects and craftsmen with industrial technologies in order to improve  Germany’s competitive footing with England and the USA.

Wiener Allgemeine Zeitung (Vienna General Newspaper)–Liberal daily paper founded in 1880 by Theodor Hertzka and  later run by Julius Szeps. Featured a regular art column by Berta Zuckerkandl,  Secession supporter and sister of Szeps.

Wiener Camera Club (Vienna Camera Club) – Founded in 1867  as the Club der Amateur Photographen in Vienna. Renamed Wiener Camera Club in 1893, at which time it had 277  members. The club’s commitment to controlling the mechanical medium of  photography through craft produced photographs analogous to Impressionist  painting.

Wiener Keramik (Viennese Ceramics) – Ceramics company founded in 1906 by potter Michael Powolny and  painter Berthold Loeffler. In 1907 its sales and distribution were taken over  by the Wiener Werkstätte. As the Wiener Keramik’s original purist and modestly  priced items were soon found to be unmarketable, they were replaced with richly  ornamented and sentimental figurines. Prominently displayed in the Wiener  Werkstätte showrooms these alternative novelty objects were to enjoy commercial  success.

Wiener Kunst im Hause (Viennese Art in the Home) –  Group formed in 1900 of past students of Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser from  the Kunstegewerbeschule. Wiener Kunst im Hause staged displays of contemporary  Austrian-designed domestic items and furnishings at prestigious exhibitions  between 1900 and 1904. Their success encouraged the formation in 1903 of the  Wiener Werkstätte.

Wiener Rundschau Zeitschrift  für Kultur und Kunst (Vienna Review: Newspaper for Culture and Art) – A quarterly  review edited by Constantin Christomanos and Felix Rappaport, running for five  issues between 1896 and 1901, with contributions by critics Karl Kraus, Adolf Loos,  Berta Zuckerkandl and Oscar Wilde.

Wiener Werkstätte – Progressive alliance  of artists and designers founded in 1903 and linked to the Vienna Secession.  Established by Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser with financial backing from  businessman Fritz Wärndorfer. The Werkstätte  aspired to enhance life through functional and decorative objects of  outstanding design and hand-craftsmanship. It further aimed to raise the status  of the craftsman to that of the artist and to orchestrate all artistic  endeavours into a single unity, the Gesamtkunstwerk.  The Werkstätte eventually expanded to include graphics, metalwork, leatherwork,  bookbinding, woodworking, glass, ceramic, painting, dressmaking and textiles  workshops. Although its financial situation was always precarious, the Werkstätte had many national and international retail outlets at  various times and survived until 1932.

Zedlitzhalle – Exhibition venue adapted in 1902 from a market hall by Hagenbund architect Josef Urban.

Zeit, Die (The Times) –Viennese  weekly paper for politics, economics, science and art. Co-founded in 1894 by  the writer Heinrich Kanner, economist Isidore Singer and literary and art  critic Hermann Bahr, who also edited it. Regarded as revolutionary for its  refusal to cater to bourgeois ‘taste’. Die  Zeit’s premises became a meeting place for intellectual such as Hugo von  Hofmannsthal, Arthur Schnitzler, Hermann Hesse, Oscar Wilde, Leo Tolstoy, and  Henrik Ibsen. Adolf Loos published in Die  Zeit. In 1902 die Zeit increases  its distribution to twice daily and in the same yearOtto Wagner designs the façade for its telegraph or dispatch  bureau in Käntnerstrasse 32.

Zuckerkandl, Berta (1864–1945) née Szeps – Art critic who  wrote for the Wiener Allgemeine Zeitung, Dokumente der Frauen and Ver Sacrum. Described  by Karl Kraus as ‘the puppeteer of the Viennese cultural scene’. One of three  chief propagandists for the Secession, along with Hermann Bahr and Ludwig  Hevesi. Born into a family of journalists, her father, Moritz Szeps was  editor-in-chief of the Neues Wiener  Tageblatt and her brother Julius ran the Fremden-Blatt, and Wiener  Allgemeine Zeitung. Zuckerkandl pursued liberal policies, social reform and  stronger relations with France. She held a celebrated weekly salon in the  Palais Lieben-Auspitz at Oppolzergasse 6 on the Ringstrasse. Regular attendees  included Mahler, Klimt, writers of the Jung  Wien group, and members of the science community through her husband Emil  Zuckerkandl, an eminent anatomist.

Zum  blauen Freihaus –  Café-restaurant on Gumpendorferstrasse owned by Leopold Haagen. Meeting place of Secession architects  and designers and Hagenbund members.