Secession (Vienna)

Secession (Vienna)
Name	Vienna Secession
Native name	Wiener Secession
Caption	Secession Building (1898), exhibition hall for the Wiener Secession
Years active	1897–present
Country	Austria
Location	Vienna
Major figures	Gustav Klimt; Koloman Moser; Josef Hoffmann; Otto Wagner; Joseph Maria Olbrich; Egon Schiele; Oskar Kokoschka; Max Kurzweil; Carl Moll; Koloman Moser; Alfred Roller
Influences	Japonism; Arts and Crafts Movement; Symbolism; Jugendstil; Byzantine mosaic; Historicism
Influenced	Art Nouveau; Modernism; Wiener Werkstätte; Expressionism; Bauhaus

Secession (Vienna) was an art movement and association formed in Vienna in 1897 by a group of artists who broke away from the conservative Salon and Academies to pursue innovative painting, sculpture, graphic design, and architecture. The movement brought together practitioners and patrons active in late-19th-century Vienna, promoting exhibitions, periodicals, and commissions that linked figures across Austro-Hungarian Empire, Paris, Berlin, Prague, and Milan. Emphasizing formal experimentation, the group intersected with institutions and personalities from Vienna Secession Building patrons to international critics.

History

The Secession emerged when artists led by Gustav Klimt and allied with designers from Wiener Werkstätte protested policies at the Künstlerhaus (Vienna), forming the Wiener Secession in April 1897 and electing Gustav Klimt as its first president. Early exhibitions featured contributions by members who had studied or exhibited in Munich, Paris Salon, and at the World's Columbian Exposition (1893), reflecting dialogues with Émile Zola-era debates and the visual cultures of London and New York City. The Secession launched the periodical Ver Sacrum to publish manifestos, prints, essays, and designs tied to contemporaneous movements such as Jugend in Munich, Les XX in Brussels, and the Glasgow School. Internal disputes over decorative versus symbolic painting led to resignations by some founders and later rapprochements that shaped collaborations with institutions like the Kaiserliches und Königliches Hofburgtheater and exhibitions associated with the Exposition Universelle (1900). The group's agenda intersected with municipal commissions from the City of Vienna and debates involving critics from Die Zeit and Neue Freie Presse.

Key Figures and Members

Principal founders included painters Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser, and Carl Moll, architects Otto Wagner and Josef Hoffmann, and the architect-artist Joseph Maria Olbrich. Other notable members and collaborators were graphic artist Alfred Roller, sculptor Richard Gerstl, painter Max Kurzweil, and later affiliates such as Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka who connected Secession ideas to Expressionist circles in Vienna State Opera and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Patrons and critics who shaped the Secession network included Fritz Waerndorfer, Herbert von Karajan-era collectors, and dealers active in Galerie Miethke and Galerie Miethke & Co.; international correspondents included curators from Musée d'Orsay and directors of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Cross-disciplinary exchanges involved artisans from Wiener Werkstätte founders Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser, and collaborators such as textile designer Dagobert Peche.

Artistic Principles and Style

Secession aesthetics synthesized ornamentation and abstraction, combining influences from Japonism and Byzantine mosaic with doctrines from the Arts and Crafts Movement and the graphic clarity found in William Morris and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Members emphasized total work of art (Gesamtkunstwerk) principles associated with Richard Wagner and formal unity seen in projects linking architecture by Otto Wagner and Joseph Maria Olbrich to interior designs by Josef Hoffmann. Visual language employed flat planes, decorative linework, and symbolic motifs echoed in works by Gustav Klimt and Koloman Moser, while younger affiliates such as Egon Schiele pushed toward raw expression and contour reminiscent of Edvard Munch and Vincent van Gogh. Graphic publications like Ver Sacrum showcased typography and lithography with affinities to Alphonse Mucha and Hector Guimard.

Major Works and Exhibitions

The Secession exhibited major works including Gustav Klimt’s gold-phase paintings displayed in Secession salons, murals and friezes by Koloman Moser and Alfred Roller, and architectural ensembles by Josef Hoffmann and Otto Wagner. Landmark exhibitions included the inaugural 1898 show in the Secession Building, curated displays that hosted international contributors from Les XX and Die Brücke, and thematic exhibitions that traveled to Berlin and Prague. The Secession presented retrospective and contemporary shows that featured loans from collectors associated with Galerie Miethke, the holdings of Kunsthistorisches Museum, and purchases by patrons like Fritz Waerndorfer and Adolf Loos-era clients. Catalogues and portfolios issued in Ver Sacrum and exhibition posters by Alfred Roller and Koloman Moser circulated through the networks of Vienna Volksoper and European salons.

Architecture and the Secession Building

The Secession Building, designed by Joseph Maria Olbrich and completed in 1898 on the Friedrichstraße-adjacent plot near the Stadtbahn routes, served as the group's manifesto in stone and ornament. The building’s dome of laurel leaves and gilded sculpture ensemble referenced Byzantine and classical precedents mediated through contemporary technicians influenced by Gustav Klimt’s mosaic work and the municipal projects of Otto Wagner. Interior commissions by Josef Hoffmann and decorative schemes by Koloman Moser exemplified Gesamtkunstwerk ideals paralleled in projects by Frank Lloyd Wright and later echoed in Bauhaus-era buildings. The Secession Building hosted international exhibitions, attracting curators from Musée d'Orsay and critics writing for Neue Freie Presse and influencing civic architecture projects in Prague and Budapest.

Influence and Legacy

The Secession catalyzed the founding of Wiener Werkstätte and informed later movements including Art Nouveau, Expressionism, and the design principles of Bauhaus. Its members’ work entered collections at institutions like the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Albertina Museum, and influenced collectors active in Munich and Paris. Students and émigrés from the Secession milieu impacted the curricula of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the development of modernist architects such as Adolf Loos and Josef Hoffmann’s proteges. Internationally, Secession aesthetics resonated with practitioners in Barcelona and Milan, while scholars at University of Vienna and curators at Belvedere continue to reassess the movement’s role in transitions from historicist modes to 20th-century modernism.

Category:Austrian art movements