Secession Building, (Vienna, Austria); 1897; De Stijl, Avant-Garde in Modern Europe and the Emergence of the Modern Movement

Arch 162-M12 Spring 2018

The Secession Building in Vienna, Austria is an art gallery originally intended for Secession group. The Secession group consisted primarily of artist and a few architects. Originally the group was very small and consisted of seven people, they were known as club of seven. As they grew more tired of the major art galleries not giving them the opportunity to exhibit their work as it was seen too unpleasing to the eye. So here were these artists trying express their modernist and impressionist work but getting denied of having it publicly displayed. The Secession group formed shortly after a few incognito exhibitions among the artists and started to gain traction with other artists and architects. The leader of the group was Gustav Klimt as he was in his prime time it seemed like the correct position to assume. Klimt rose to fame as a decorator of buildings as well as his panel painting which won him the Emperors prize which brought a lot of attention to him. Secession often mistaken for Jugendstil, Germany’s take on Art Nouveau style. While true this style was used as many of those who came over to Secession work on Art Nouveau and even the Secession building was built using curvilinear lines. William Asbbe and Charles Rene Mackintosh were the ones who had the biggest influence on Secession style with their geometric design and the use of decorative floral inspired motifs. The reason behind this was the influence of Japonisim. This style was brought to Europe in the 18th century. Famed artist like Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Cezanne started to incorporate it into their work. As Japonism reached Vienna it quickly became favorite with the Secessionist. It was chosen for its handwork over machine work, the use of its balance of positive and negative spaces. These ideas were in inline with what the Secessionist group was looking for, it was also very well adapted for use in everyday life. This was so popular that they held a themed expo in 1903 just for Japonism. Klimt in particular began using textile patterns borrowing from the Japanese textiles and Byzantine mosaics.


           The first exhibition was held in a rented building from the Horticultural Society. With the great attendance of about 57,000 visitors. With that fortune they were granted the opportunity to have their own permanent exhibition center. It was constructed in 1897 and designed by Josef Olbrich. He was a pupil of Otto Wagner who was part of the Secession. Thus, the building features a much simpler style of Art Nouveau. The construction of the new exhibit center was controversial as it was right beneath the window of the Academy of Fine Arts. The building featured a windowless faced and a golden cupola which later nicknamed was the golden cabbage, the interior used movable partitions, so the halls can be reorganized and to better suit the exhibits. The Secession building is referred to pioneering functionalism.  

Cited Works
Roberto Rosenman, “A HISTORY.” Vienna Secession - A History, www.theviennasecession.com/vienna-secession/.

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