|
We know very little about Austrian art at this time. The only Austrian artist in our database is Josef Danhauser (1805-45), but we know realtively about him. He painted in the clasical realist style. We also notice Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller (1793-1865). HBC is somewhat unsure how to treat Austrian artists. Austians until the 19th century were generally considered Germans. With the German artists, nationality can be complicated. There were a large number of German states with the Holy Roman Empire and later the German Confederation. For several centuries the Hapsburg ruler of Austria was always elected emperorof the German Holy Roman Empire. Austria after the Ausrtro-Prussian War (1866) was exccuded by Bismarck from Geramny, but where many which historically has been an essential part of Germany. We will classify non-Austrian painters in the Austro-Hungarian Empire under theiur various nationalities.
Biedermeier is a period of Austrian-German art history from the end of the Napoleonic Era (1815) to the mid-century 1848 Revolutions. Some of the best known Biedermeier artists are Jacob von Alt and Carl Spitzweg. The Biedermeier style is characterized by by simplicity and elegance. It is most strongly associated with furniture making and art. Others have extenbded it to music as well, such as the elegant work of Ludwig van
Beethoven and Franz Schubert. Art historianns believe that the Biedermeier style had a major influence on the Jugendstil / Art Nouveau, the Bauhaus, and 20th century art. I had thought there was an artist and cabinent maker named Biedermeier. A art historian, however, writes, "There was no Mr. Biedermeier who helped create or produce the new style. In fact the term "Biedermeier" was not even used when the designs first began It didn't
appear until after the Vormarz period, about 1850. It really began as a disparaging label by German intellectuals who looked upon the Vormarz period as one of little
emotion, as a passive period. In 1853, a doctor and a district judge began writing satire in the form of verses under the pen name, Gottlieb Biedermeier. "Gottlieb"
means God-loving and Maier" is a very common German surname. The satire was about upright citizens who led simple but unquestioning lives. Later, the early 19th
century became known as the era of the Biedermeier - the simple bourgeoisie (middle class). The intent was to make light of the reoccupation with respectability and
material values for which the middle class had become known." [Howell] We have archieved some unknown artists who have been described as painting in the Biedermeier style.
Tony Binder was born in Vienna in 1868. After his studies he travelled quite extensively through countries such as Tunesia, Marocco, and Egypt. and was a well know Artist in his days, specializing in marine paintings and later in life also Watercolors and paintings with an Arabic influence. He died in Munich in 1944.
We note one 1912 portraitof a boy in a sailor suit. Unfortunatekly we know nothing about the boy. He is presumably Austrian.
Here we have a portrait of an Austrian youth in folk clothing. The portrait is undated, but we wiould guess was taken in the late 19th century. Carl von Blass somehow related to Eugene von Blaas and Julius. Influential Austrian genre painters.
The portrait of a boy here here because of the manner and style is we attributed to Austrian-Italian genre and portrait painter Eugen von Blaas (1843-1931). The
artist was a son of famous historical and genre painter Carl von Blaas and at first studied under his tutelage, later he continued his education in the Academies of Venice and Rome. Main topics of Blaas' creative work were portraits and genre scenes with fishemen of Venice, Chioggia and Murano. Eugen von Blaas is listed in Prof. H. Fuchs' dictionary Austrian Painters of the 19th Century (Vienna, 1972).
We know very little about Austrian art at this time. The only Austrian artist in our database is Josef Danhauser (1805-45), but we know realtively about him. He painted in the clasical realist style.
A. Jirasek was an Austrian painter best known for landsacpes and genre paitings. He was a student of Anton Schrödl. We know little more about him. We note one portrait he painted of a boys with bangs and a ruffled collar. The portrait is undated, but looks to have been painted about the turn of the 20th century.
We know nothing about this artist other than his name and dates. We think he may be Austrian, but am not yet sure about this. We have been unable to find information about him. One iteresting aspect of this portrait is that it was made into a post card, one of a seies of art cards. It was mailed during World War I. The message was even passed by the Bulgarian censor.
This Sweedish-born painter lived ans worked in Vienna, Austria. He studied under his father, the painter Martin van Meytens the Elder. He traveled throughout Europe stydying art. He
lived and worked for a long time in Rome and Turin. At first he spealized in little enamel miniature portraits. He changed to oil painting only around 1730, having settled in Vienna. Here he became very popular as a portrait painter. He became a court painter in 1732 and in 1759 became the director of the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts. He did many masterfull portaraits of Emperess Maria Theresa, including one particularly nice work of her family.
We notice a painting by Austrian painter Othmar Ruzicka. We have no information on either Ruzicka or thne boy he painted (figure 1). He has long hair looks to be wearing a sailor tunic. We would guess the boy was painted about 1905-10. While we can not identify the boy, the paintings are helpful because they provide color information to gove an idea what the colors may have been in the old black and white photographs.
Another important German -speaking artist is is Ferdinand Georg whoin was born in Vienna. He mostly painted portraits, landscapes, still life and genre scenes of everyday live. Some see his genre paintings are rather unrealistically happy others appreciate the nostalgic atmoshere inhis paintings. We notice one lovely image of Christmas in Austria with the children who have just woken up and still in their night gowns are checking their shoes to see what Santa brought them.
Here we have a portrait of a boy dressed in a fashionable sailor suit in 1911. We do not know who the artist was. One source thought it mifgt be Austrian. We woyld guess the boy was either Austrian or German. There were of course many similarities between Austrian and German styles so without knowing the artist it probably is not possible to tell the difference. The arrist is competent, but not a great master. The fact that the family had a painted portrait done suggests tht the family was affluent, but probanly not rich because of the quality pf the portrit. The sailor suit is stylish, perhaps done in velvet. There are some interesting features to the sailor suit. The color painting in particular is helpful and almost all of our images are black and white.
Some other famous Austrian painters are: Egon Schiele (1890-1918), Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), Oskar Kokoschka (l886-1980) and Friedensreich
Hundertwasser (1928-?), whos real name was Fritz Stowasser (Sto means 100 in Russian). Klimt and Hundertwasser are so famous in Austria that all kind of merchandise is being sold with reproductions of their paintings on them: umbrellas, shopping bags, t-shirts, etc.
Fuchs, H. Austrian Painters of the 19th Century (Vienna, 1972).
Howell, Nancy. "The Biedermeier Era. Who Was Biedermeier?".
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing artistic pages:
[Return to the Main artistic page]
[Chronologies]
[Individuals]
[National]
[Styles]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Satellite sites]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
