Concluding the series of posts about Ver Sacrum, the art journal of the Viennese Secession. The volume of issues for 1903 continues the bi-monthly format from the previous year only this time the calendar supplement is at the end of the volume. This was the last year for the journal, unfortunately, not least because the Secession had run its course, having perhaps proved its point in providing an alternative to the prevailing trends in Austrian art and design. Koloman Moser, Alfred Roller and Josef Hoffmann left to found the Wiener Werkstätte while Gustav Klimt, who again has an issue devoted to his drawings, went on to paint some of his most famous pictures, including The Kiss.
Ver Sacrum certainly ended on a high note. Most of the issues for 1903 contain woodcuts by a variety of artists with some superb examples of the form. For once there’s work by women—Irma von Dutczynska, Nora Exner and Hilde Exner—there’s more strange art from Marcus Behmer, and also a translated extract from the memorial book written by Arthur Symons following Aubrey Beardsley’s death in 1898. As before, anyone wishing to see more can browse all 498 pages or download the entire volume here.
Part of a Secession ABC by Hilde Exner and two other artists with lettering that points the way to the Weiner Werkståtte.
Josef Hoffmann provides some almost abstract figure drawings for the Beardsley article.
Alfred Roller designed the calendar pages with different artists providing the pictures for each month. The type design is the style that was later adapted by San Francisco poster artists in the late 1960s.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Ver Sacrum, 1902
• Ver Sacrum, 1901
• Ver Sacrum, 1900
• Ver Sacrum, 1899
• Ver Sacrum, 1898
• Secession posters
Oh man, Behmer in color!
I may have to do a post on this material too, just to get Behmer’s bird on 50 Watts.
Heh, I was thinking that they were your kind of thing.
john — thank you again for all this.
i love nora exner’s work. is hilde exner a completely other person? style resembles nora….
also, i’ve been wondering — where did you find the calendars? are they included with all the rest at that site (heidelberg?)?
back in early 2010 i assembled lots of calendars, but i was only able to vaguely piece together one from ver sacrum (and one of moser’s).
thanks
Hilde and Nora were cousins, apparently. (Not that I could have told you that without researching the matter…)
The calendars for each year are bound with the journals for that year so you’ll find them at the beginning or end of each of the volumes from 1901 on. I was very pleased to see the calendars at last, having seen odd pages in various books. The one for 1903 is especially good.
Just to confuse matters, another source says that Hilde and Nora were sisters… And I just noticed that Nora contributed several pieces to the ABC as well. I’ll amend the post slightly to take account of this.