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ONLINECOLLECTION

Poster for the 19th Exhibition of the Vienna Secession, 1903

Leopold Museum,
Wien © Collection Richard Grubman
Color lithograph on paper
96×63.5 cm

Artists

  • Ferdinand Hodler

    (Bern 1853–1918 Genva)

Unfortunately not on display at the moment
The Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler (1853–1918) designed the Poster for the 19th Exhibition of the Vienna Secession in 1903 using a strictly horizontal structure rhythmized by linear bands of fluffy-looking clouds. On watercolor-like modulated blue ground, the lithograph provides the details on the Secession exhibition in white letters outlined with black contours which give the impression of a dynamic free drawing. In the lowest of the horizontal fields Hodler placed a reclining youth who is naked but for the hint of a loincloth and, forming a mandorla, is resting on a meadow strewn with seed-headed plants with his arms and legs slightly apart and his head tilted back – a metaphor for Ver Sacrum, meaning holy spring, which was also the name of the Secession’s magazine. The composition shows the basic principles of Hodler’s artistic notion of parallelism. Hodler, who provided important impetus to many representatives of Austrian Modernism, became a member of the Vienna Secession in 1904.The Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler (1853–1918) designed the Poster for the 19th Exhibition of the Vienna Secession in 1903 using a strictly horizontal structure rhythmized by linear bands of fluffy-looking clouds. On watercolor-like modulated blue ground, the lithograph provides the details on the Secession exhibition in white letters outlined with black contours which give the impression of a dynamic free drawing. In the lowest of the horizontal fields Hodler placed a reclining youth who is naked but for the hint of a loincloth and, forming a mandorla, is resting on a meadow strewn with seed-headed plants with his arms and legs slightly apart and his head tilted back – a metaphor for Ver Sacrum, meaning holy spring, which was also the name of the Secession’s magazine. The composition shows the basic principles of Hodler’s artistic notion of parallelism. Hodler, who provided important impetus to many representatives of Austrian Modernism, became a member of the Vienna Secession in 1904.

Object data

Artist/author
  • Ferdinand Hodler
Title
Poster for the 19th Exhibition of the Vienna Secession
Date
1903
Category
Graphic work
Material​/technique
Color lithograph on paper
Dimensions
96×63.5 cm
Credit line of the permanent loan
Collection Richard Grubman
Selection of Reference works
  • Ferdinand Hodler: Wahlverwandtschaft von Klimt bis Schiele, hrsg. von Hans-Peter Wipplinger, Wien 2017 (Ausst.-Kat. Leopold Museum, Wien, 13.10.2017–22.01.2018).
  • Wien 1900. Sammlung Leopold, hrsg. von Diethard Leopold/Peter Weinhäupl, Wien u.a. 2009.
  • Koloman Moser 1868-1818, hrsg. von Rudolf Leopold/Gerd Pichler, Wien 2007 (Ausst.-Kat. Leopold Museum, Wien, 25.05.2007-10.09.2007).
  • Walter Hugelshofer Ferdinand Hodler: Eine Monographie, Zürich, 1952.
Keywords

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Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i

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