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Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration #10: Turin and Vienna

Turin exposition poster by Leonardo Bistolfi.

Part two of a two-part skate through the contents of volume 10 of Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, the German periodical of art and decoration. In addition to the Heinrich Vogeler feature which was the subject of yesterday’s post, this edition includes articles on the Prima Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte Decorativa Moderna in Turin—another international showcase for the Art Nouveau style—and a feature on the Viennese Secession exhibition of the same year. This latter piece was especially fascinating when seeing such a notable event reported for the first time. There’s more about that below. This volume also includes a piece on the Glasgow Arts and Crafts movement but the photos for that piece are poor quality. As before, anyone wishing to see these samples in greater detail is advised to download the entire volume at the Internet Archive. There’ll be more DK&D next week.

A feature on dress design shows some rare examples of Art Nouveau style being applied to clothing.

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Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration #10: Heinrich Vogeler

Continuing the delve into back numbers of Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, the German periodical of art and decoration. Volume 10 covers the period from April to September 1902. There’s so much of interest in this edition I thought it worth making a two-part post. The number opens with a substantial piece devoted to artist and illustrator Heinrich Vogeler (1872–1942) whose edition of Oscar Wilde stories was featured here a while ago. One of the pleasures of this journal is the attention they devote to overlooked artists. Vogeler has an unusual and distinctive style, playful and florid, and with the same enthusiasm for filling the paper with tiny details as later illustrators such as Harry Clarke. Some of these illustrations are for fairy stories, others for more adult fare; peacocks abound. The article also has examples of his painted work although I find his line drawing to be of greater interest. As before, anyone wishing to see these samples in greater detail is advised to download the entire volume at the Internet Archive. Part two follows tomorrow.

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Ludwig’s Winter Garden

Another monarch, and another glass-canopied hothouse. The extravagances of Ludwig II of Bavaria have featured here before but I’d overlooked the Winter Garden he had built in 1871 on the roof of the Munich Residenz, the home of the Bavarian royal family when they were in the capital. The views here are by court photographer Joseph Albert, and there isn’t much else online apart from this page at the palace website where we can see another Albert photo, and a painting by Julius Lange showing the idealised vision the king would have had in mind. With its painted scenery, “Moorish” tent, and artificial lighting—including rainbow and moonlight effects—Ludwig’s garden looks back to the exotica of the Royal Pavilion at Brighton, and also ahead to our current crop of theme parks and fantasy worlds. The Winter Garden was demolished after Ludwig’s death but the Residenz still contains other splendours, not least the jaw-dropping excess of the Antiquarium.

Previously on { feuilleton }
• The Schönbrunn Palm House
• The Royal Greenhouses of Laeken
• Arcades panoramas
• Arcades
• Schloss Falkenstein
• Schloss Linderhof
• Schloss Neuschwanstein
• Passage des Panoramas
• Passages 2
• Passages

The Schönbrunn Palm House

Photo by Roberto Verzo.

If the Schönbrunn Palm House, Vienna, lacks the elegance of Alphonse Balat’s beautiful Winter Garden in Brussels, the structure does have a distinct style of its own. Roberto Verzo’s Flickr views manage to hide the visitors and background details, giving the impression that the building might be larger than it is. Much as I’d love these places to have a Piranesian grandeur à la Schuiten the reality is somewhat diminished. The Palm House was built in the 1880s from a design by Franz Xaver Segenschmids, and is another royal palace adjunct. According to the Schönbrunn palace website this one is more visitor-friendly than the Laeken greenhouses, being open to the public all year round.

• The Schönbrunn Palm House at Wikimedia Commons
• The Schönbrunn Palm House at Flickr

Photo by RobertG.

Photo by Friedrich Böhringer.

Previously on { feuilleton }
• The Royal Greenhouses of Laeken
• Arcades panoramas
• Arcades
• The art of François Schuiten
• Passage des Panoramas
• Passages 2
• Passages

The Royal Greenhouses of Laeken

The Winter Garden, photo by William Helsen.

My arcades fetish has been aired here a few times to which one might add a complementary fetish for iron-and-glass structures in general, especially railway stations, palm houses and winter gardens. The Royal Greenhouses at Laeken, Brussels, are an impressive example of the latter, even if they happen to owe their existence to King Leopold II whose barbaric exploitation of the Congo is recounted in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Alphonse Balat was the architect of the central Winter Garden built between 1874 and 1876, and reading up on him it turns out that the celebrated Art Nouveau architect Victor Horta was one of Balat’s apprentices. Horta never had the opportunity to create anything this extravagant, unfortunately, but if he had the results may have resembled one of the structures created by François Schuiten for his greenhouse city of Calvani (below), a metropolis of the Obscure World. Schuiten is a resident of Brussels and we’re told that one of the earthly “Passages” to the Obscure World can be found at the Royal Greenhouses. The building is only open to the public during April and May each year, however, so anyone looking for a route to Schuiten’s world may be better off searching elsewhere.

• The Royal Greenhouses at Wikimedia Commons
• The Royal Greenhouses at Flickr

Calvani by Schuiten.

The Winter Garden dome, photo by Jean-Pol Grandmont.

Photo by Roman Bonnefoy.

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Arcades panoramas
• Arcades
• The art of François Schuiten
• Passage des Panoramas
• Passages 2
• Passages