Elisabeth Leopold – författare

The monograph on Egon Schiele edited by Rudolf Leopold in 1972 forms the basis for Egon Schiele’s world fame. This important document of art-historical literature has long been out of print, but it is now available once more in a revised edition with an updated catalogue raisonné. At the same time this magnificent volume provides an insight into the artist’s life through letters, sketches and documents.Rudolf Leopold recognised back in the 1950s Schiele’s outstanding significance for art. He was largely responsible for ensuring that the artist received the place he deserved in art history and public awareness. The monograph presented Schiele’s paintings, watercolours and drawings chronologically in large-format colour plates. It is complemented by a profound examination of his motifs, studies, sketches and documents and provides a comprehensive overview. The current edition pays tribute to Leopold’s achievement and the revised catalogue raisonné reflects the current state of research.

Admired by contemporaries as an artistic “jack - of - all - trades”, Koloman Moser (1868 – 1918) is regarded today as one of the most important representatives of the Viennese Secession of around 1900. As a graphic artist and designer Moser was unparalleled in his artistic diversity, creating furniture, textiles, and objects – for the Wiener Werkstätte among others – that are icons of Modernism, as well as leaving behind an impressive oeuvre of paintings.A group of progressive artists, including Koloman M oser, founded “The Association of Visual Artists of Austria, Secession” under the leadership of Gustav Klimt in 1897. Moser in particular is considered the outstanding graphic artist of the Secession, thanks to his design of posters, exhibition concepts, a nd of the journal Ver Sacrum. He was the ideal master for the formation of the Gesamtkunstwerk “Vienna circa 1900”, hardly surpassed in imagination and productivity. He applied his incredible virtuosity and inexhaustible fantasy to a variety of materials. In 1903 Moser founded, together with Josef Hoffmann and the industrialist Fritz Waerndorfer, the “Wiener Werkstätte” [Viennese Workshops]. The close cooperation between the designing artists and the master craftsmen allowed a completely new level of qualit y of to be attained in artisan craftwork. After 1907 Koloman Moser concentrated on painting once more. This publication presents exceptional examples of his art, drawn primarily from the Leopold Collection and situating them in a biographical and art histo rical context.