Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Secession & Art Nouveau
They called it a 'temple for bullfrogs' or a temple for an anarchic art movement. Other un-
flattering names for the Secession building were 'the mausoleum', 'the crematorium' or,
because of the golden filigree dome perched on top, 'the cabbage head'. Others still, ac-
cording to today's Secession association, thought it looked like a cross between a green-
house and an industrial blast furnace.
In 1897, 19 progressive artists broke away from the conservative artistic establishment
of Vienna and formed the Vienna Secession
(Sezession)
movement. In Austria, the move-
ment is synonymous with art nouveau, although its members had a habit of drawing upon
a broad spectrum of styles. Its role models were taken from the contemporary scene in
Berlin and Munich and its proponents' aim had been to shake off historicism - the revival-
ist trend that led to the historic throwbacks built along Vienna's Ringstrasse. At the time,
the Kunstlerhaus (Artists' House) of Vienna was the last word in the arts establishment,
and Secessionists, including Gustav Klimt, Josef Hoffman, Kolo Moser and Joseph M Ol-
brich, distanced themselves from this in order to form their association.
Olbrich, a former student of Otto Wagner, was given the honour of designing an exhibi-
tion centre for the newly formed Secessionists. The 'temple for bullfrogs' was completed
in 1898 and combined sparse functionality with stylistic motifs.
Initially, Klimt, Olbrich and their various colleagues had wanted to build on the Ring-
strasse, but the city authorities baulked at the idea of watering down their revivalist thor-
oughfare with Olbrich's daring design. They agreed, however, to the building being situ-
ated just off it - a temporary building where for 10 years the Secessionists could hold their
exhibitions.
Because art nouveau was essentially an urban movement, the scenes of its greatest acts
were played out in the capitals or large cities: Paris, Brussels, New York, Glasgow, Chica-
go and Vienna. Like the Renaissance and baroque movements before it, Secession broke
down the boundaries between painting and architecture. But it was also a response to the
industrial age (although it used a lot of metaphors from nature), and the new movement
sought to integrate traditional craftsmanship into its philosophy. The British were its role
models for the crafts, and in 1903 Josef Hoffmann and Kolo Moser founded the Wiener
Werkstätte (Vienna Workshop), which worked together with Vienna's School of the Ap-
plied Arts and the Secession movement to promote their ideas.
