Description
Gustav Klimt (Austrian, 18621918) Adele Bloch-Bauer II, 1912 In Austria at the turn of the twentieth century, the art world saw a clash between the traditional style of the Vienna Academy and the emerging power, eroticism, and symbolism of works by the Vienna Secession, a group cofounded by Gustav Klimt. Thus in 1899 a critic called one of Klimt's portraits "the most beautiful picture ever painted by an Austrian," and a year or so later critics and the public excoriated Klimt for his brash new style. The paintings that so disturbed Klimt's contemporaries are now seen as graceful and sensual: the faces are rendered with tender clarity, while the bodies float, blur, and evanesce into shimmering abstract forms. - INDIVIDUAL ITEM RRP £1.99
