Draft for the Secession Building (?), n. d.

In April 1897, the Union of Austrian Artists Vienna Secession held its founding assembly. Among the institution’s most important concerns was building its own exhibition pavilion. The Secessionists had initially set their sights on a plot of land at the end of Wollzeile. Due to the modern designs proposed by Joseph Maria Olbrich (1867–1908) and his fellow campaigners, including Gustav Klimt (1862–1918), the plans could not be realized. The Secessionists subsequently planned their exhibition hall to be built at Friedrichstraße 2, opposite the Vienna Naschmarkt and the famous Karlskirche. Before settling on an art temple in the ancient style with Egyptian influences, Olbrich tested a variety of solutions in drawings and sketches. Rather than thinking in terms of functionality, use and construction, Olbrich experimented with the building’s outward effect. By combining classical paragons with an emotive approach, he emancipated himself both from his teacher Otto Wagner (1841–1918) and from stylistic references to Historicism.

Text Leopold Museum