The story of Klimts astonishing artistic career is told in this beautifully produced collection of reproductions, photographs and drawings with an accompanying text that places the artist in a unique historical moment and reflects his fierce appetite for life and beauty.
Gustav Klimts career straddled the last gasps of Viennas golden age and the birth of modernism. When seen through this bifurcated lens, it is easy to understand why his relatively small oeuvre created such a lasting impact.
This gorgeously illustrated biography explores the unique environment in which Klimt workeda society in which the schooling of artists was both appreciated and encouraged; a city that was pouring money into magnificently ornate architecture and portraiture; a population that was both experimenting with and suppressing freedom of thought. The full breadth of Klimts accomplishments is represented herehistory and symbolist paintings, building decorations, murals, posters, magazine illustrations, portraits, and landscapes.
Readers will learn how Klimt navigated the complex architecture of fin-de-sie`cle Vienna and helped found the Vienna Secession and they will see how Klimts style and motifs changed extensively through the years. Dozens of key works allow for close inspection of Klimt's dazzling artistry, his profound appreciation of female sensuality and his brilliant application of color and mosaic. The author draws out the importance of the relation between the plane surfaces of Klimts paintings and the spaces they represent, thereby raising surprising connections between his painting and his skills in the applied arts.
Compact and satisfying, this book traces a singular artists trajectory across an ever-changing cultural landscape.
