International studio (47.1912)

Spring Exhibitions in Vienna


“dancing fauns” (wood sculpture)
(Hagenbuna, Vienna)

BY PROF. F. BARWIG

of evil may come good after all, for a new society
has been called together composed of artists of all
creeds whose one purpose is to protect their rights
and further the aims of art, and here members of
the “ Kunstschau,” the Secession, the Hagenbund,
and various provincial societies of modern tendencies
will meet on common ground. Rumour says that
the money will be found for an up-to-date gallery,
so that one may hope that the brilliant days of the
past will be even surpassed. But as to that one
must await the course of events.
In the meantime a retrospective glance as to
what the Hagenbund has achieved during the ten
years of its existence may prove of interest. First
and foremost comes the fact that in spite of the
heavy costs of building, furnishing, and decorating,
for which the society gets absolutely no return—so
it is set down in the agreement—they are perfectly
solvent. Secondly, in addition to the exhibitions
of works by the members of the society, they have
had the honour of introducing numerous eminent
foreign artists to Vienna, such as Bocklin, Lieber-
mann, Meunier, Corinth, Heinrich and Willy Ziigel,
Rysselberghe, Wilhelm Busch, Rudolf Sieck, as
well as the leading English etchers, the Saxon
artists, the Hungarian Society “ Keve,” the Swedish
artists and the Norwegians. So the Hagenbund
has played its part in the development of modern
art in Austria. Let us hope that the opportunity
will be given to this association to continue the
good work already done in this direction.

The exhibition itself this
year is a small one, but it
contains some very satis-
factory work. The chief
interest lies in Oskar Laske,
who has gone over from
architecture to painting.
The many pictures here
hung may be considered as
notes and impressions made
during a journey through
the Bukovina, Roumania,
Turkey, and the near East.
One gathers from them that
the artist’s chief interest lies
in the movement of masses
and in colour. He is par-
ticularly drawn towards
living crowds, hurrying and
jostling along, heedless of
none but themselves. These
he has used as studies for
his tempera picture, The
Crucifixion, which is teeming and vibrating with
movement below while the great tragedy is being
enacted high above on the hill of Golgotha, of
which none in that great crowd seems to understand
or care the import. One sees that Laske has been
impressed by Breughel, but he has added to that
master by giving architectural form, life, movement,
and atmosphere. It is less than three years since
the artist turned to the brush, and it will be
interesting to watch his career as a painter.
Other members of the Hagenbund are all well
represented, most of the works shown being land-
scapes. There are some tender snow-scenes by
Hugo Baar, who paints in the open air in the
Moravian hills however low the temperature may
be, so that the atmosphere of his pictures is always
refined and clear. This time he has also sent some
seascapes and pictures of the dunes of Holland, in
which he has again proved himself a fine artist.
Johann Victor Kramer’s Olive Grove from the Im-
perial Garden at Corfu ranks high among this
artist’s achievements, for he well understands the
atmosphere and the luxurious plant growth of the
sunny south. Josef Ullmann, August Roth, Josef
Bayer, Otto Bauriedl, Otto Barth, Max Kurzweil,
and Hugo Bbttinger have all contributed charac-
teristic and pleasing work. There are very few por-
traits, but one by Ludwig Kuba, a study of Mother
and Son, calls for some comment. In composition
and in expression this work is most interesting.
It is a fine interpretation of an intimate subject.

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