Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) and Egon Schiele (1890-1918) are two of the greatest artists Austria produced in the early twentieth century. Although born nearly thirty years apart, both tragically died in 1918 – the same year that the Austro-Hungarian Empire ceased to exist following its defeat in World War I. Over the intervening century, the works of Klimt and Schiele have come to define the fertile creativity that marked the so-called “joyous apocalypse,” an apt term used to connote the waning days of Habsburg rule. This show pays tribute to the groundbreaking achievements of Klimt and Schiele, two masterful artists who are key figures in the collection of the Neue Galerie New York.
Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt
“One of the things that’s still very exciting about Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele is how radical they still appear even today,” says Janis Staggs, the curator of the Neue Galerie’s show Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele: 1918 Centenary. “Even though they died 100 years ago, some of these works are still quite shocking.”
In their work, Klimt and Schiele “explored topics, especially in this #MeToo movement area, that are issues that we’re grappling with today,” Staggs says.
Egon Schiele
Egon Schiele
Egon Schiele
Egon Schiele
Egon Schiele
The show, of around 100 works, gives a broad sweep of the careers of the two Viennese artists and friends, with works such as the Neue Galerie’s star piece, Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907), Schiele’s depiction of a passionate grasp in Freundschaft (friendship, 1913), and personal items including photographs, Klimt’s last diary, postcards from Schiele to his longtime lover and model Wally Neuzil, and Schiele’s death mask.
“We’re only seeing those heady early years and you have to try to imagine, where might he have taken this?” Staggs says of Schiele, who was only 28 when he died in 1918, along with Klimt, during the Spanish influenza epidemic.
[The Art Newspaper]
Gustav Klimt & Egon Schiele: 1918 Centenary
June 28, 2018 – January 21, 2019 / Neue Galerie
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