SITAR

 Welcome to 

 

SITAR is about ANYTHING art. Your art, someone else's art, writing, photography, the art of cooking, the art of sewing and textiles. Sharing historical art, street art, a story about art. Do you have a question or need help with art? Write a blog post and link it up here. We will all try to help with it. My only rule is that if someone asks for critique it must be done with generosity and consideration. 

This is a place of learning, encouragement and inspiration.

 

Art in Austria 

Gustav Klimt is considered Austria's most famous artist. He was a pioneering symbolist painter and a leading figure in the Vienna Secession movement. His masterpiece,  "The Kiss" and his 

 Golden Phase are universally celebrated.

I first heard of Gustav when I was in my twenties from my Nan. Of course, at the time I was not that interested. 

 

Gustav Klimt was born July 14, 1862 in Baumgarten, Austria and died February 6, 1918 in Vienna Austria. Age 55, from complications of the Spanish flu. In early 1918, he suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed, contracted pneumonia, and died. Historical records and biographies also indicate he lived with syphilis, which heavily influenced his art.

He worked in a long shirt and loved cats

 

A few of his pieces.

The Kiss 

Golden Tears

Part of his golden phase.

The Tree of Life

Hope

The Virgin 

 

Adele Block Baure

 (1881–1925) was a prominent Viennese socialite, patron of the arts, and the only subject Austrian painter Gustav Klimt painted twice in full-length portraits. She was known for hosting a famous cultural salon, which brought together Vienna's intellectual and artistic elite

 

 

Adele Brock Baure

 

 Life and Death. 

 

I have to say that klimt's life is quite interesting and if you want to read about it click here

 

The one thing I find extraordinary is that  

in 1901, the Austrian parliament convened its first-ever cultural debate. A parliamentary debate on art.

He was a rebel for sure. 

 

This next bit is taken from

The Scienctific Breakthrough That Revolutionized Gustav Klimt's Art. 

 

The subject was the enormous allegoric paintings Gustav Klimt had been commissioned to paint for the ceiling of University of Vienna’s festival hall. “Official outrage session” might more accurately describe the occasion that channeled public fury and saw only the education minister come to Klimt’s defense.

Why all the anger? Most immediately because the three paintings were experimental, profane, and weird. The works were asymmetrical, filled with languid sensual bodies, along with octopus tentacles and snakes, skeletons, and sphinxes. Klimt had been tasked with creating idealized images of Philosophy, Medicine, and Jurisprudence. He refused, offering abstracted impressions instead.

 

 

The kicker came later that year when Klimt’s proposed professorship at the Academy of Fine Arts was rejected by the government. Not that the Vienna native wanted the post; he repaid his commission fee later telling journalist and friend Berta Zuckerkandl, “I refuse any help from the state, I renounce everything.”

 Despite such protestations, Klimt continued to work in a city governed by conservatism and censorship. One way Klimt navigated these constraints and remained forward-thinking was through deploying images from the latest in scientific research.

Four decades on from Gregor Mendel’s experiments with garden peas, the foundations for the science of cells and genetics were being formed. Klimt was obsessed. In Vienna, art and science were mixing, in part through salons that brought together artists, intellectuals, and academics.

You can read more on this and view more art here 

21 facts about Kustav

The above link is very interesting and is written in short paragraphs.  

 

I hope you enjoyed this little bit about Kustav Klimt

I personally love his 

defiant, actional, nonconformist behavior. 

 That's is for now.

I'm joinng Gillena for 

Looking forward to seeing your arty post.

Nicole

 

   

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/gustav-klimt-gold-2543498

 

https://byronsmuse.wordpress.com/2015/03/08/gustav-klimt-magical-kaleidoscope/ 

https://www.factum-arte.com/pag/1171/medicine