Facing the modern

Description:

During the great flourishing of modern art in fin-de-siècle Vienna, artists of that city focused on images of individuals. Their portraits depict artists, patrons, families, friends, intellectual allies, and society celebrities from the upwardly mobile middle classes. Viewed as a whole, the images allow us to reconstruct the subjects' shifting identities as the Austro-Hungarian Empire underwent dramatic political changes, from the 1867 Ausgleich (Compromise) to the end of the First World War. This is viewed as a time when the avant-garde overthrew the academy, yet Facing the Modern tells a more complex story, through thoughtprovoking texts by leading art historians. Their writings examine paintings by innovative artists such as Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka and Egon Schiele alongside those of their predecessors, blurring the conventionally-held distinctions between 19th-century and early 20th-century art. Exhibition: The National Gallery, London, UK (09.10.13.-12.01.14.).

subjects: Austrian Portrait painting,  Exhibitions,  Austrian Portraits,  Art, modern, 20th century, exhibitions,  Portrait painting,  Painting, austrian,  Portretkunst,  Portraits, austrian,  Portraits, austrian--austria--vienna--19th century--exhibitions,  Portraits, austrian--austria--vienna--20th century--exhibitions,  Portrait painting, austrian,  Portrait painting, austrian--austria--vienna--exhibitions,  Nd507.5.p67 b53 2013,  704.9420943613

Places: Austria,  Vienna

Times: 20th century,  19th century