The Viennese Secession. Victoria Charles

Assassination of Caesar (1865), Thusnelda in the Triumphal Procession of Germanicus (1869/1873), characterise the nature and subject of his style of painting. Unfortunately however, his paintings rarely went deeper than the surface, from a psychological point of view. After his initial successes, Piloty and his paintings quickly fell into obscurity. Interestingly it is not his art that positively influenced later artists but rather the lessons he imparted to his pupils as a teacher.

      Among his students, two developed two distinctive and vastly different styles, and thus mark the extreme opposites of Piloty’s legacy. Wilhelm Leibl (1844–1900) was a hugely talented artist with a keen instinct for the representation of reality as well as gifted with the ability to portray psychological depth in his paintings, while Franz von Lenbach (1836–1904) focused on naturalistic landscapes, paintings with an architectural emphasis, and studies of people, like the Italian peasant portrayed in The Young Sheperd (1860). Essentially he continued in the same vein of painting as Piloty. During a journey through Spain, Lenbach came to the conclusion that it was impossible to surpass the old masters and that it would be best to continuously make use of their insights. Consequently, Lenbach pushed his talent toward the portrait. Most of his portraits thus bear more than a passing resemblance to those of Diego Velázquez (1599–1660). His superficial mastery was met with success and he quickly found a lot of imitators and admirers. This popularity led some artists to assume the same tenet that Lenbach had found for himself: seeing the purpose and pinnacle of art as an imitation of the old masters, as well as abandoning any interest in contemporary art to such a degree that they even regarded it as “inartistic”.

      Despite his counter-creative approach to art, Lenbach was a capable artist who had the remarkable skill of capturing the intimate nature of the mode in the portrait, which makes his achievements worth of note. Especially, since he had the opportunity to paint the portraits of several major personalities of his time, such as Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898), Helmuth Graf von Moltke (1848–1916), Kaiser Wilhelm I (1797–1888), as well as other statesmen.

      Max Liebermann, Potato Harvester in the Dunes of Zandvoort, 1895.

      Oil on canvas, 75 × 105 cm.

      On loan from the Paintings and Sculpture Collection of Nürnberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg.

      Bruno Piglhein, Ruhe auf der Flucht nach Ägypten (Rest on the Flight to Egypt), 1890.

      Oil on canvas, 146.3 × 220.5 cm.

      Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg.

      Bruno Piglhein, Die Blinde im Mohnenfeld (The Blind Woman in a Poppy Field), 1889.

      Oil on canvas, 93.5 × 140 cm.

      Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel, Kassel.

      At the end of the 19th century, Munich was undeniably the German capital of art. More artists lived in Munich than in Vienna and Berlin combined. The majority of these artists were members of one of the three big associations of that time: the Künstlergesellschaft Allotria (Allotria Artists’ Association), Künstler-Sänger-Verein (Association of Artists and Singers), or the Gesellige Vereinigung der Münchner Künstlergenossenschaft (Convivial Union of Associated Artists in Munich). Including their families, these groups counted so many members that it became impossible to organise festivities together as they had done in the past; especially at times like carnival or the famous anniversaries, each association organised its own, which normally had country-wide fame. Similarly, several female artists banded together in an association called Künstlerinnenverein (Association of Female Artists) that lasted from 1882 to 1967.

      Although Franz von Lenbach was the unofficial and uncrowned “king of artists” in Munich and his art dominated the general understanding of art, it was only a pseudo-rule as the differences between the associations were never more apparent, the polemics never more excessive and passionate and the competition never stronger than during those years. This development simply had to culminate in an incisive reorganisation in the form of a secession from the general Münchner Künstlergenossenschaft (Association of Munich’s Artists). The result was the Münchner Secession, which was founded in 1892.

      This reorganisation didn’t limit itself, as we will see later, to the fine arts, but also spread to music, literature, and architecture, finally evolving into a full-blown cultural revolution that spilled over into all of Europe.

      Lovis Corinth, Inntal-Landschaft (Landscape from the Inn Valley), 1910.

      Oil on canvas, 75 × 99 cm.

      Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin.

      Ludwig von Herterich, Wife and Daughter of the Architect Max Littmann, 1903.

      Oil on canvas, 120.7 × 157.3 cm.

      Bavarian State Painting Collection, Neue Pinakothek, Munich.

      Ludwig von Herterich, Summer Evening, c. 1895.

      Oil on canvas, 112 × 85 cm.

      Bavarian State Painting Collection, Neue Pinakothek, Munich.

      Secessionist groups formed in several major cities in Germany such as Berlin, Darmstadt and Dresden. Finally the Secession also reached Vienna, where a group was founded in 1897. The art historian Hermann Uhde-Bernays, (1875–1965) noted: “The core of the argument was about novelty: a new art, new theatre, new opera, new concerts in new concert halls; it was about a rejuvenation of old schools, about a new and fresh life […].”

      However, it was not only the difference in artistic conception that led to the argument. At the same time it was a struggle for power, influence and economic advantages; a struggle that also led to Secession-like movements in the USA and Japan. Despite all differences, the Munich artists agreed on one issue: the necessity of a shared artistic house, like the Paint-Box in Düsseldorf that was built several decades prior, in 1848.

      Since the artists could not finance such a project – the creation of a monumental and representative temple of art – on their own, they had to find solvent sponsors. With the help of Franz von Lenbach, who already had wealthy clientele, architect Gabriel von Seidl (1848–1913) and painter Otto Seitz (1846–1912), the direly needed funding could be accumulated.

      Hugo von Habermann, Self-portrait with Palette, 1893.

      Oil on canvas, 91 × 109 cm.

      Permanent loan from the Munich Secession, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich.

      The most important role in the construction of the building, however, was held by the publisher of Münchner Neuesten Nachrichten and well-known patron of the arts, Georg Hirth (1841–1916). Most likely it was his influence that made the municipality of Munich provide a building plot in the centre of the city, in the prestigious Kreuzviertel. The cornerstone for the building was laid on the 3 July 1893 and the construction of the Neo-Renaissance building began shortly afterwards. In 1900, seven years later, the building was inaugurated by the Prince Regent of Bavaria, Luitpold (1821–1912), who was an art enthusiast himself. Having a reputation for being a progressive thinker, from 1903 onwards he also allowed women to study at Bavarian universities.

      It was Berlin, however, that “won the race” for the first Secession exhibition in Germany; an accomplishment that the city of Frankfurt, always having been a city of the arts, would have liked to achieve. Nevertheless, it was Munich that was the navel of the German art world for now. The exhibitions attracted several well-known artists: Paul Klee came to Munich in October of 1900 from Switzerland, Wassily Kandinsky travelled from Moscow to Munich to attend the classes held by Franz von Stuck, while Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso also came to express their enthusiasm for the movement