Liverpool: Tate and Klimt

In August, I visited Liverpool as I often do, on business; but this time, I took a day out to visit the city itself, in all its pride as City of Culture.  First port of call was the Tate in Albert Dock, to see the Klimt exhibition.  But first, I had to pass a lightship for sale - the temptation to buy it and moor it in London, on the Thames opposite my office, was quite considerable!

In fact, this was not really an exhibition of Klimt at all, but one about the Vienna Secession, and the vibrant world of art and design in the city in the first decade of the last century.  Imagine, Mahler, Freud, Klimt and countless others in the city at the same time.  So, if you went to see the great blockbuster pictures, Klimt's glamorous and erotic women, you would have been largely disappointed.  Not entirely, as the picture on the left shows - his Judith II (Salome) from 1909, like many of his women combining sexuality with predation, violence, threat.  Other portraits in the exhibition show a softer vision of women - and exceptionally, a man - but the great dramatic portraits of golden patterned beauties are not here.

But there is a very fine series of rooms on the Werkstatte and the Secession, twinned movements in art and design which threw off the shackles of the old even more emphatically than impressionism (to which the Secession gave a warm welcome) and art nouveau - or jugendstil as it became in German.

A particular symbol of the Secession was their own building, the famous "golden cabbage" which you can see in Vienna today, as proud and glorious as ever.  It was opened in 1898  -  with the motto Der Zeit Ihre Kunst; Der Kunst Ihre Freiheit above its doors - To every age, its art; to every art, its freedom.  Personally, I think it sounds better in German.  Here were the famous annual exhibitions, with wonderful posters and challenging art from Klimt, Schiele, Kokoshka and many others - most famously the 14th exhibition in 1902, with Max Klinger's Beethoven statue and Klimt's great frieze.

Above is the colourful portrait of Eugenia Primavesi from 1914, brilliantly patterned and much less threatening than some of Klimt's more famous work.  He also painted a lot of landscapes, wallpaper rich meadows and orchards, flowers rich and symbolic, but with a childlike, impressionistic feel to them as well.  Another part of the exhibition was the wonderful architecture and design - here is a magnificent adjustable armchair by Josef Hoffman, 1908, in beech and mahogany -what a joy in the library that would be.

Below is Klimt's portrait of Rose von Rosthorn-Friedmann from 1901, a glamour portrait recalling Sergeant or Whistler, with a soft palette and still an edgy, sparkling feel to her jewelry and dress.

And another piece of exquisite design, a marvellous silver fruit basket, also by Hoffman, from 1904, and only a foot high - one of a number of very fine smaller pieces for dining table or desk.

And to end with, a 1903 painting called Life Is a Struggle (The Golden Knight) from 1903, which has a stiff, determined knight, upright in the stirrups facing bravely that which was unknown, and which must surely defeat him, but with bravery and commitment.  Apart from the Uchello like harmony of the masses and spaces, look at the exquisite designs - the bridle, the flowery sward, the helmet.  In the end, life was too much of a struggle for Vienna itself, where an empire and a way of life passed in the First World War more completely, more finally, and less regretted, perhaps than anywhere else in Europe.  Klimt died in 1918, sui generis but still influential and entrancing.

 

Comments

[glo]

As my neighbours are still partying VERY loudly, I am stil here scrolling up and down your blog...
Very nice report, a very creative age indeed.

[Harriet]

I went to this last Sunday -- the final day. You have shown images of some of the things I liked best -- I loved the knight on his horse -- wanted ALL the furniture. I also thought the drawings were wonderful. Trouble with Klimt is that some of the better known images have become so familiar it's hard to really appreciate them. But seeing them in the flesh made them come alive again. I thought the frieze downstairs was almost the most impressive -- I loved the way it flowed. When will you be in Liverpool again?