Austrian Expressionism, The Formative Years

Werkner, Patrick. Translated by Nicholas Parsons

ISBN 10: 0930664116 / ISBN 13: 9780930664114

Published by Society for the Promotion of Science and Scholarship, (1993), 1993

About this Item

First U.S. Edition, hardcover book in dust jacket, both in near FINE condition, light edgewear and bumping from handling; this is a NEW book with NO marks, ISBN 0-930664-11-6.

Seller Inventory # 2648

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Austrian Expressionism, The Formative Years
• Publisher: Society for the Promotion of Science and Scholarship, (1993)
• Publication Date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0930664116
• ISBN 13: 9780930664114
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • History and Biography

About this title

Synopsis

This book provides the first in-depth examination of the early years of Austrian Expressionism, illuminating with remarkable clarity the complex web of interconnections and intellectual influences that linked most of the leading figures of post-Secession Viennese art, literature, drama, music, psychology, and philosophy. It shows, as the author puts its, the "connecting impulse" that animated the avant garde and provided the crucial intellectual context in which Austrian Expressionism emerged in the first decade of this century.
The study focuses on Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka, Richard Gerstl, Arnold Schonberg, and Alfred Kubin. Whereas the works of Schiele and Kokoschka are relatively well known, the circumstances of their emergence as artists and their influence in the social and cultural world of Vienna are less familiar. Until the recent exhibitions of Viennese fin-de-siecle art, Richard Gerstl has been largely ignored outside the work of a few specialists. Schonberg's paintings have traditionally been viewed only as a sidelight to his musical creativity. And Alfred Kubin's fantastical drawings need to be understood in their position between symbolist and expressionist art.
By treating these five figures within their intellectual and cultural setting, the author is able to document the way in which early Austrian Expressionism developed from, and reacted against, the art of the Viennese Secession (and the criticism the Secession inspired). In addition, the study demonstrates the pivotal role of Austrian Expressionism in the development of Viennese modernism.
The book was originally published in Austria under the title Physis und Psyche.

About the Author

Patrick Werkner is Assistant Professor of Cultural History at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna.