"Medicine" by Gustav Klimt Author(s): Tina Marlowe

Transcription

"Medicine" by Gustav Klimt
Author(s): Tina Marlowe-Storkovich
Source: Artibus et Historiae, Vol. 24, No. 47 (2003), pp. 231-252
Published by: IRSA s.c.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1483769
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TINA MARLOWE-STORKOVICH
Medicine by GustavKlimt
Medicine1
In 1894 the Austrian Ministryof Culture and Education
commissioned Gustav Klimtand his partner,FranzMatsch, to
produce monumental paintings that would allegorize the
Faculties at the Universityof Vienna.The canvases were to be
installed in the ceiling of the Graduation Hall in the new
University (1873-84) designed by Heinrich Ferstel (18281883). Stipulations of the contractual agreement enumerated
the essential requirementsfor the program and design of the
ceiling: it should include a large central canvas allegorizing
the Enlightenment theme of the Triumph of Light over
Darkness while four encompassing pictures would personify
the Faculties of the University: Philosophy, Medicine,
Jurisprudence,and Theology. Altogetherit was a conservative
historicist program.2The Academic Senate of the University
supposed that the new paintings would be an updated version
of the ceiling frescoes in the Graduation Hall of the former
University executed in 1755-56 by Gregorio Guglielmi.3 As
such, they anticipated a group of Faculty Pictures of monumental scale, based on a Baroque design, and animated by
the spirit of the Enlightenment. Where Guglielmi's radial
design epitomizes a Baroque world order, however, Klimt's
paintings evince a radicalrestructuringof vision.4 Of the avail-
able possibilities, Klimt chose to allegorize the secular
Faculties of Philosophy, Medicine, and Jurisprudence and
from 1899-1907 he executed paintings based on those
themes. This essay takes as its subject the Faculty Picture
titled Medicine, c. 1900-1907 [Fig. 1].
Medicine is testimony of a man's struggle to break away
from parturitionand death-the suffering in life, the finalityof
death, and the unwillingnessto accept the idea that every birth
is merely a death sentence. The reaction of the Facultyin the
School of Medicineto Klimt'simage was no less than hysterical, for these professors were engaged in a positivist search
for truth and Klimtdemonstrated in this image that science
was no panacea for human suffering.5 We will discuss the
constituents of Medicine from front to back, starting with the
figure in the bottom register of the foregroundand concluding
withthose in the background.
The mistletoe, the bowl, and the serpent are conventional
attributes that identify the figure in the lower foreground of
Medicine as Hygieia-the daughter and wife of Asclepius, god
of medicine [Fig. 2]. Klimtdepicted the goddess in three-quarter length and employed full frontal stance to emphasize her
hieratic identity.He adopted the High Baroque convention of
dual vision as well, indicatingthat the background depicts the
foreground figure's message. Withregard to form, the image
231
1) <<Medicine), c. 1901-1907, final state, oil on canvas, 430 x 300 cm, destroyed 1945.
232
BYGUSTAVKLIMT
MEDICINE
3) Embroidered bonnet, Austrian (Slovakian) festival
costume, late 19thcentury, private collection, Oxford (from
E. Gombrich, Sense of Orderin the Decorative Arts, pi. 1).
2) <Medicine,,,detail: Hygieia, c. 1901-1907, final state, oil
on canvas, 430 x 300 cm, destroyed 1945 (from A. Baumer,
Gustav Klimt.Women, pi. 14).
embodies Klimt's aesthetics of mixed style: he rendered
Hygieia's face, arms, hands, and bowl naturalisticallywhile
depicting her body, clothing, and other attributesschematically. Klimtendowed the visage of the figure with rigidfacial features void of expression and thereby created the impression of
a mask. In addition, Hygieia's hair is dark, curly, and drawn
away from the face while the ceremonial headpiece is Klimt's
own invention.
4) Embroidered ornamental ribbons from Austrian
(Vorarlbergian)festival costume, late 19thc. Courtesy:
Verbandder VorarlbergerStickereiindustrie, Lustenau
(from M. Olin, Forms of Representation in Alois Riegl's
Theoryof Art, p. 28).
233
TINAMARLOWE-STORKOVICH
5) Utamaro, <(Hideyoshiand his Five Wives viewing Cherry Blossoms), c. 1803-04, wood-block print. Photo: British Museum,
London (Inv.# 1909.4-6.472).
It is conceivable that Klimtappropriated elements from
classical and vernaculartraditionsfor his design of Hygieia's
headdress comprised of a bonnet of mistletoe with ornamental bands. Mistletoefrequentlydesignates renewal and medicinal efficacy in Greek and Roman artand literatureas well as in
European folklore while the bonnet and ribbons are reminiscent of ceremonial costumes of the Austro-Hungarianpeople
[Figs. 3, 4].6 We may note that Klimt's companion-Emilie
Floge-incorporated elements from Central Europeanfestival
dress into her designs for clothing. Floge had a privatecollection of textiles, embroidery,and laceworkthat included pieces
from Bohemia, Moravia,and NorthernHungary.7Itseems reasonable that Klimtand Floge shared this interest in ethnography and folklore and we may thus suggest that the elaborate
headpieces which characterize ceremonial costumes of
CentralEuropean people provided Klimtwith a catalyst for the
design of the headpiece in question. This tendency to juxtapose vernacular and classic traditions is present in Josef
Hoffmann'sarchitecturaldesigns; of which an example is the
country house for the Primavesi family in Winkelsdorf,
Bohemia. Mahleralso employed this hybridstyle in the Third
Symphony and one straightforwardexample emerges withthe
4th and 5th movements.
Here Mahler's generative
material
included passages from both "Das trunkene Lied" (Thus
Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche) and "Es sungen drei Engel"
(Des Knaben Wunderhorn.)In short, these examples demonstrate that the nucleus of the Secession-Klimt, Mahler,and
Hoffmann-strove to elevate vernacular to its monumental
dimension.8
Hygieia displays Asclepius' insignia-a serpent and
a bowl. Klimtrendered the serpent in gold and in the shape of
a volute and, as such, it reinforces the symbolism of the
mistletoe-sacred
renewal. Klimt may have turned to
and
Greek
models for the gold ornament overlaying
Japanese
Itis possible that he borrowedthe disc
ritual
mantle.
Hygieia's
motif from a convention in Japanese design. This form
appears in Japanese pattern books in possession of the
libraryin the Austrian Museum of Applied Art in Vienna. We
234
BYGUSTAVKLIMT
MEDICINE
.
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6) Edouard Vuillard,(Dressmaking Studio 1l,,c. 1892, oil on canvas, 48.5 x 117 cm, Desmarais Collection, Paris
(from G. Groom, Beyond the Easel: Decorative Painting by Bonnard, Vuillard,Denis, and Roussel, 1890-1930, p. 119).
know that Klimthad the resources of that Museum at his disposal, for it was a bastion of the Secession. It is also noteworthy that at this stage in his career Klimtallowed himself to be
influenced by Japanese wood block prints or ukiyo-e.9 The
amazing patternsthat characterize Hygieia's mantle-patterns
that break down the corporealityof the humanfigure-bear an
affinitywith the treatmentof garments in Japanese prints.The
kimonos in Hideyoshi and his Five Wives viewing Cherry
Blossoms by Utamaroare examples [Fig. 5]. Klimt'scontemporaries in France, including Bonnard and Vuillard,had also
imbibed into their images this feature from Japanese prints.
This may be seen in Vuillard'sDressmakingStudio,c. 1892 [Fig.
6], both images dating from 1892. As with Utamaro,Bonnard,
and Vuillard,so too with Klimt:patternedgarments dematerialize the human figure and, if extended to the background, pattern flattens out the entire picture plane. It is worth noting that
in 1903 the Secessionists staged an exhibition-The Development of Impressionismin Paintingand Sculpture-in which the
prints of Utamaro and Hokusai were shown with French
Impressionist paintings and sculptures, including images by
Vuillardand Bonnard. In addition to Japanese prints, Archaic
Greek vase paintingseems to have provided Klimtwith a cata-
lyst for the design of Hygieia's ceremonial costume. It may
have been another source for the disc motifas well as the stylized plant motif.10The plant motif appears to be ivy or vine
leaves-one of Dionysus' attributes that symbolizes fertility
and transformation.Klimt'srenderingof the vine leaves recalls
depictions of Dionysus as, for instance, in a Late Archaic redfigure wine cup by Makrontitled Celebrationof Dionysus [Fig.
7]. We might note that throughoutthe 1890s Klimtrevealed his
attraction to Archaic Greek vase paintings by consistently
incorporatingdetails from them into his imagery, of which an
example is the Portraitof Joseph Pembaur,c. 1890. Herethere
are multiplereferences to Apollo: in the frame, Klimtdrew the
figure of Apollo and his attributes-the cithra, dolphins, and
a tripod-and in the background of the image he included
another cithara. Klimt's rendering of Apollo strumming his
instrumentclosely resembles an Apollo in an Atticblack-figure
amphora by an associate of Exekias and located in the British
Museum.11The Apollinianmotifs of dolphins and the Delphic
tripodappear to be drawnfrom a LateArchaicimage of Apollo
in a red-figurehydria by the BerlinPainter,now located in the
Vatican Museum.12Klimtincluded references to Dionysus in
Music I, c. 1895 and Music 1I,c. 1898. Inthese images he must
235
of Dionysus)>,from Vulci,detail, 5007) Makron,<<Celebration
490 BC, Attic kylix,red-figure,Berlin,Staatliche Museen
F2290 (fromA. Greifenhagen,AntikeKunstwerke,65).
have appropriateddetails from the aforementioned wine cup
by Makronincluding vines, clusters of grapes, and the billowing chitons of the female musicians.13On the whole the symbolism of Hygieia's attributes-the mistletoe, serpent, and
vine depicted in gold-brings the message of fertilityand holy
regeneration. At the same time, the design of her costume
refers to Central European folk art and Greek and Japanese
fine and applied arts; the Slavic-inflectedfeature provides an
original and subtle contrast to the details from classical and
Asian artistictraditions.
As noted, with Hygieia mixtures in iconography parallel
mixtures in style. The antitheticaljuxtapositionof the figure's
naturalisticface, arms, and hands contrast with the schematically rendered costume and serpent. An aesthetics of the
clothed body emerges with Hygieia as well but not all of the
elements comprising the ceremonial raiment have symbolic
significance-the gold disc is an example of that. Surface
qualityacquires value in the ritualcostume of this figure. With
Hygieiathere is a beauty of craftsmanshipand precious materials-an aesthetic conception akin to Wilde's, wherein the
beautiful is what gives pleasure to the eye in contrast to the
orthodox notion of beauty as a vehicle of symbolic or didactic
import.14In short, the image of Hygieia has symbolic and aesthetic dimensions: the symbolical aspect of the figure conveys
the idea of sacred regeneration, it also represents an ideal of
beauty characterized by mixed style and it impartsthe idea of
beauty as a good in itself. Simply stated, Klimt rendered
Hygieia as a feast for the mind as well as the eye. In terms of
his treatment of this figure, he seems to have adopted the
same attitude as Hofmannsthal when the latter wrote: "The
deep must be hidden. Where? On the surface."15
Background complements foreground. The spectacle of
the human condition as displayed in the background illustrates the message that Hygieia brings. In the right region
Klimtrendered the Wheel of Fortune.The form has no orientation: it hovers in space while it seems submerged in water as if
in a net. Yet the strongest impression of the general form is
one of encasement. The Wheel is a metaphorof instinctuallife
made up of an imbroglioof human beings representing stages
of life and one figure making an effort to break free of it. The
Wheel is difficultto analyze because Klimtpacked the figures
together; moreover,the reproductionsof the paintingavailable
for study are low in quality.To facilitatethis analysis, we have
split the form into upper and lower halves, as it were, separated by a boundary created by the uppermost contour of the
male figure whose arm swings out from the left edge of the
Wheel, and the upper outline of the wrestlers at the rightedge.
We will read the figures in the upper half from left to rightand
then the reverse for the lower half, confining our discussion to
those images that are most legible.
At the upper left edge there is a fragmentof a female nude
shown from the front and in three-quarter length. This is
a watery, erotic image that had captured Klimt'simagination
as early as 1886 and which he later defined as Flowing Water,
c. 1898. Swimming females in Flowing Water, Medicine,
Goldfish, c. 1901-1902, WaterSerpents I and II c. 1904-1907
and 1907 are variants on the theme of water nymphs. Moving
towards the right,there is a female nude in half-lengthdepicted frontallyand capped with a mound of hair-only the left
side of her body is visible. Klimttilted the head of the nude
toward the right and rendered the figure with closed eyes.
Above this figure there is a half-lengthnude in left profile.This
is a wet nurse holding an infant-in 1902 Klimtdefined that figure as a caricature-the Allegory of Gluttony from the
Beethoven Frieze. In front and to the rightof that image Klimt
rendered figures that he also parodied in the Beethoven
Frieze. Here they emerge as a disease-stricken woman and
a skeleton whereas in the Beethoven Friezethey appear as the
Allegories of Sickness and Death. Below and behind the skull
there is a biomorphic shape that reads as copulation-the
seed for Danae, c. 1907-1908. Klimtconcealed the nature of
the pose in the final version of Medicine but it is visible in earlier versions of the image. Movingfurthertowards the right,at
236
BYGUSTAVKLIMT
MEDICINE
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8) ((Medicine),detail of Fig. 1.
the edge of the Wheel Klimtdepicted an elderly woman nude,
in left profile, and with her head in hands. Klimtrendered the
body language and gesture to show the figure bent, agonized,
and on the verge of collapse. This figure willresurface in Three
Ages of Woman,c. 1905 and Death and Life, c. 1908-11/1915.
Immediatelyabove this image, Klimtpainted a nude and pregnant woman from the left and in half-length. The subject of
pregnancy is another motifthat reemerges in Hope I, c. 1903,
the preliminarydesigns for the Stoclet Frieze, c. 1905 and
Hope II,c. 1907-1908.
On the whole we have seen that the figures in the upper
half of the Wheel represent stages of female life: generation,
9) ((Medicine,,,c. 1901-07, preparatorydrawing,
black crayon, 35.7 x 28.4 cm. Photo: Albertina,Vienna
(Inv.# 23673).
birth, maturity,sickness, and demise. Taken together these
images form a seed bed comprised of motifs Klimtreshuffled
the rest of his life.16Klimt'streatment of these figures revolving aroundthe theme of the human predicamentsuggests that
musical thinking, e.g., motif and variation processes, was
a prominentaspect of his creative process.
Variantsof a male figure we have named the thinkermotif
dominate the lower region of the Wheel. Reading this area
237
from right to left, the motif recurs as Doppelgangers and as
wrestlers locked in a hold-preliminary drawings help to clarify the identity of the painted figures [Figs. 8-9].17 Klimt
depicted mirrorimages of the thinkerstruggling, one covering the mouth of the other, and in this way expressed the idea
of inner conflict. The pose of the figures in the finished painting as well as those in the preparatorydrawings suggest that
Klimtwas not workingfrom live models. Instead he may have
used photographs of athletes, a point to which we shall
return. Slightly below, behind, and toward the left of the
thinker(s) Klimt rendered a female nude in three-quarter
length and from the front. He closed the eyes, tilted the head
toward the left, and rested it on the figure's folded handsa caricature of that image recurs as the Allegory of
Lasciviousness in the Beethoven Frieze. Another variationof
the thinkeremerges below and towards the right. Here Klimt
rendered the male figure and a companion in fetal positions
and with their backs to the viewer. He characterized the back
of the thinker by massive musculature, impartingHerculean
strength. Inasmuch as this is a mature male in a prenatal
pose, the figure can scarcely convey the idea of birth.Instead
the nude suggests rebirth.Again photographs of athletes may
have provided Klimt with the raw material for this figure.
Below and to the left of the couple, another version of the
elderly figure recurs in right profile, immediately behind
Hygieia. In this version Klimtdepicted the motif in right profile. Moving upward and toward the left, fragments of two
female nudes recede into space while another woman holds
an infant. Continuing upward towards the left edge of the
round, the thinker resurfaces. In this variant Klimtportrayed
the motif as a heroic male nude, in three-quarterlength, and
from behind. In a compelling gesture, the hero swings his left
arm up and out in an effort to wrench himself free of the
Wheel of Fortune. Finally, a veil-like form runs like an axis
through the center of the Wheel and Klimtstamped it with
signs denoting positive and negative. The schematically rendered veil and its emblems complement the naturalistic
forms-another instance of Klimt'saesthetics of mixed style.
Regarding sources for these variants of the thinker, we
should note that the drawings as well as the painted versions
of the image capture the human figure(s) in poses that a live
model could never hold. Moreover,the preliminarydrawings
for the elderly figure show a figure rendered in cinematic progression. In addition to representing the figure in lateral patterns of continuity, Klimtrendered figures in the preparatory
drawings for Medicine in the same pose seen from multiple
viewpoints. Figure 9 is an example of that: drawings of
wrestlers in a holding position shown from the side and the
rear. His drawings also record internal anatomical changes
of the Old Burgtheater,),c. 1888, gouache
10) <(Auditorium
on paper, 82 x 92 cm. Photo: Historisches Museum der
Stadt Wien (Inv.# 31.813).
such as the contraction and expansion of the male nude's
musculature-the drawings for the thinker in a fetal position
provide a case in point. These observations lead to the
hypothesis that Klimtdid not base his drawings on live models
but on photographs of athletes and we propose that he found
a catalyst in the photographs of EadweardMuybridge.
The Klimtliteraturerecords that as a student he drew portraits based on photographs. Examplesfromthe early stage of
his career include a portraitof his brotherGeorge, c. 1878 and
a portrait of Karl Blasel, c. 1879.18 During his Ringstrasse
Period, throughout the 1880s and 90s, he used photographs
as a basis for figures in his paintings. Forthe actors and audience in The Globe Theatre:Romeo and Juliet, c. 1886-88 Klimt
used photographs of his brotherGeorge, of his sister, Hermine
and another photograph of unidentifiedmodels.19 In another
painting he produced for the Burgtheater-Hanswurst, c.
1886-88 and 1893-94-Klimt rendered EmilieFloge in a photographic style. In the Auditoriumof the Old Burgtheater, c.
1888-89 he included Ernst Klimtin the audience and seemed
to have used a photograph as a point of departure [Figs. 1012]. Klimtcontinued to use photographs as a basis for por-
238
MEDICINEBY GUSTAVKLIMT
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12) <(ErnstKlimt,, photograph (fromEmilieFloge und Gustav
Klimt,Doppelportratin Ideallandschaft. Kat. Nr.3.8, p. 23).
of the Old Burgtheater,,,detail of Fig. 10.
11) <<Auditorium
traitsthroughoutthe 1890s; Portraitof Josef Pembaur,c. 1890
and Portraitof Josef Lewinsky,c. 1895 demonstrate that.20
The publication in 1878 of Muybridge'sinitialset of photographs ignited intellectual and cultural communities
throughoutthe United States and Europe because his investigations contradicted what had hitherto been regarded as the
correct portrayalof animal and human bodies in motion. His
photographs demonstrated that the eye and brain do not
record movement point-by-pointbut in composites. By 1879
the academies in the United States and Europe were using
Muybridge'sphotographs as teaching aids. Furthermore,we
know that professors at the ViennaAcademy of Fine Artswere
239
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13) ((Medicine),c. 1901-1907, preparatorydrawing, male
nudes, pencil, 43 x 29.2 cm. Photo: Albertina,Vienna
(Inv.# 23657).
using them in their classes, and it is likelythat the instructors
at the School of Applied Artwere using those photographs as
well.21That,combined withthe fact that Klimtsometimes used
photographs as a basis for his work during his training and
early career, suggests that he would have been receptive to
Muybridge'sCaliforniawork.
By 1881 Muybridge's "moving pictures" had made the
photographer an international celebrity and, as we have
14) <Medicine,, c. 1901-1907, preparatorydrawing, male
nudes, black crayon, 42.7 x 27.4 cm. Photo: Albertina,
Vienna (Inv.#23653. verso).
noted, his work exerted an immediateand immense impact on
intellectuals and artists-notably on Thomas Eakins in
Philadelphiaand Edgar Degas in Paris. Leland Stanford commissioned these photographs in 1872 and between 1872-1879
Muybridge executed them on Palo Alto, Stanford's horse
ranch in California.Stanford had a passion for race horses
and his goal was to develop a scientific method of training
them. As such, Muybridge'smain task was to produce exact
240
BYGUSTAVKLIMT
MEDICINE
--,
-
15) <Medicine,, c. 1901-1907, preparatorydrawing, male
nudes, pencil, 37.7 x 29.4 cm. Photo: Albertina,Vienna
(Inv.# 23662).
recordings the horse in motion, particularly in full gallop.
Nevertheless, human locomotion was of great interest to
Muybridge,and this became the subject of his next investigation. In late 1883 the Universityof Pennsylvaniacommissioned
Muybridgeto produce a comprehensive program of photographic research on human motion. The male figure in various
attitudes and activities dominated this body of work.
Photographybegan on the Universitycampus in the spring of
1884 and concluded in the fall of the following year. In 1887
the University issued 781 plates and each plate contained
reproductionsof 12 to 36 of the Muybridgephotographs. The
photographs were published in 1887 and they were issued in
several forms. The libraryat the Museum of Applied Arts in
Viennapurchased a complete set of Muybridge'swork in 1898
from a firmin London.22Itseems that Klimtbecame acquainted with its plates immediatelybefore this acquisition, because
his 1898 drawings for Medicine include many images of male
athletes engaged in sports-relatedactivities and characterized
by the quality of arrested motion. We may therefore suggest
that Muybridge'sPhiladelphiawork served as raw materialfor
that imagery.
As for the variations of the thinkerin Medicine: Klimtrendered several preparatory drawings of athletes-wrestlers
locked in a hold as well as one figure forcing down his opponent [Figs. 13-15]. The figures in that group of drawings bear
an affinity with a series of Muybridge's photographs of
wrestlers in a similarsequence of acts [Fig. 16]. The next variant of the thinkerassumes a fetal position. Its taut back muscles are reminiscent of Muybridge'sphotographs of athletes
carryingboulders [Figs. 17-18]. The final variantof the thinker
is similar to Muybridge's photographs of an athlete heaving
a boulder.WithKlimt'sdrawings as well as Muybridge'sphotographs, the gestures of the male figures evince sensations
of pressure and release, [Figs. 19-22]. Otherdrawings of male
nudes for Medicine resemble Muybridge's photographs of
athletes performingthe broad jump, though a variant based
on this pose never emerged in the finished painting. Another
work that Klimtexecuted in 1897 suggests Muybridge'sinfluence-Theseus slaying Minotaur.Itis entirelyconceivable that
Klimtbased the pose and gesture of the hero and his opponent on Muybridge'sphotographs of athletes engaged in the
sport of fencing.
The Wheel of Fortune is essentially a compressed vision
of the profane side of the human predicament and of one figure's struggle to break away from it. As such the Wheel represents Schopenhauer's World of Will-a mass of instinct-driven human beings that illustrate innocence, dream, hope,
birth,anguish, lust, struggle, and death.23This thicket of figures functions as a metaphor for the chaotically entangled
process of the instinctual life. Klimt'sWheel shows us that
mankind does not move of its own volition. Indeed, man is
"profoundlyunfree"; he is inexorably shackled and cannot
escape from a bondage that is both invisible and inevitable.
As mentioned, Klimt defined as caricatures several of the
Wheel's figures in 1902 with Hostile Forces-a panel from the
Beethoven Frieze and, in doing so; he gave their tragic character a comic edge.
With regard to the figures that comprise the Wheel, we
should pause for a moment and consider the gesture of
the thinkerat its left edge. Thatfigure does not seem to bridge
the right and left regions of the background, but appears to
241
16) Eadweard Muybridge,<<Wrestling
Greco-Romans,,, c. 1887, serial photographs.
Photo: Stanford University Libraries,Special Collections, E. Muybridge, pi. 346.
tear away from the mass of humanity, turning towards the
female occupying the left background.Herewe see the thinker
breakingaway fromthe Worldof Willand bidding his adieu, as
it were. With this gesture the thinker plays out his role and
embodies the theme that Hygieia conveys-regeneration' This
involves renouncing the profane in favor of another order at
which point Nuda Veritasplays a key role.
The thinker swings out his arm to a female nudeNike/NudaVeritas.Klimtdepicted the nude in full length, from
the front, and the right arm reaching back toward the thinker.
242
BYGUSTAVKLIMT
MEDICINE
,.ff
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-1.
c. 1901-1907, preparatorydrawing, male
17) <<Medicine),,
nude, black crayon (from A. Strobl, Gustav Klimt:Die
Zeichnungen. v. 1. 646).
Due to the weight of her burden, her torso and rightshoulder
pull back into space. Klimttilted the head of the female toward
her rightand endowed it with a mound of hairthat flows over
the shoulder. Moreover,her left arm swings out in such a way
as to evoke a sensation of flight. An infant dwells in the stylized, wateryveil at the feet. The naturalismof the female figure
and the schematization of the hair and veil provide another
example of Klimt'smixed style. Nuda Veritaswas a well-known
personification in the art of the ItalianRenaissance where it
generally allegorized virtue. Klimtassimilated this traditional
personification and endowed it with personal symbolism.
Nike/NudaVeritasis another one of Klimt'sleitmotifs;however,
for our purposes it is unnecessary to chart its entire evolution.
Instead, we have selected versions of the motif that precede
and supersede this variantin Medicine. A miniatureversion of
Nike/Nuda Veritas emerges in Pallas Athene c. 1898 as the
attributeof that goddess [Fig. 24]. Traditionally,
the attributeis
and
one
of
Athena's
qualities-wisdom.
winged
designates
Klimt rendered Nike in an erotic pose, without wings, and
holding the mirrorof truthto the viewer. Given the erotic character of Klimt'sfigure and the context in which it appears, it
seems to suggest that eros is a form of knowledge and knowledge is a form of eros. The image recurs the same year in
graphic version as Nuda Veritasc. 1898 bearing a quotation
from Schefer: "Truthis fire, and to speak the truth means to
radiateand burn"[Fig. 25]. Klimtproduced another version of
the image the next year and this time it emerges in monumental scale accompanied by a quotation from Schiller [Fig. 26]:
"Ifyou cannot please everybody by your actions and your art,
then please a few, to please many is bad." In 1900 Klimtproduced Dedication to Rudolf von Alt, i.e., the honorary president of the Secession. Klimtcharacterizedthis homage by an
angelic Nike with cherubs at her feet and the putti could provide the link between that herald and the figure in Medicine
[Figs. 27, 28]. A well-known paraphrase from Hamlet accompanies this image: "Thisabove all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow,as the nightthe day, Thou canst not then be
false to any man."Shortlyafterthe emergence of Nuda Veritas
in the first version of Medicine (c. 1901), it recurs in the third
panel of the Beethoven Friezeas the Allegoryof Artand here it
introduces the Embrace, c. 1902 (Figs. 29, 30). This is enough
evidence to deduce meaning in this figure in Medicine. Insofar
as Nuda Veritas carries the subjects of eros, wisdom, and
truth,it sends forththe message that truthis beauty and beauty is erotic. Furthermore,this figure conveys that eros and art
can be vehicles of truthand that art and eros have transforming powers.
As for the veil-like watery form at the feet of Nike/Nuda
Veritas,we might underscore its transparentqualityand, at the
same time recall the other veil-like form at the axis of the
Wheel and its opaque character.Klimtmay have appropriated
the metaphorof the veil from Schopenhauer. The ethic of compassion plays a crucial role in Schopenhauer's view of the
human condition because it triggers denial of Will. For
Schopenhauer it is the powerful sentiment of compassionlove-that leads to the end of volitionalacts, of the Willturning
243
18) Eadweard Muybridge,cMan Walking,Carrying751b Boulder on Shoulder,, c. 1887, serial photographs.
Photo: Stanford University Libraries, Special Collections, E. Muybridge, pi. 7.
in on itself, thereby causing the veil of Maya, e.g. the phenomenal world, to go transparent:
recognizes in every creature, and hence in the sufferer
too.24
the veil of Maya has become, for the person who performs
works of love, transparent,and the deception of the principium individuationis has left him. Himself, his will, he
Compassion is the ability to transgress the intensity of
one's own body and to will experience beyond the limits of
one's own body-will maintains its strength but without self-
244
BYGUSTAVKLIMT
MEDICINE
?t;,'
V ?.
.$. j
?.4
I..
-/
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I'
\J
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-.,
;
--
,A
.,:j ! .
/
/
19) <<Medicine),,
nude, black crayon, 45 x 31.7 cm. Photo: Historisches
Museum der Stadt Wien (Inv.# 115858. recto).
20) <<Medicine,,,
nude, black crayon, 43 x 28.4 cm. Photo: Albertina,Vienna
(Inv.# 23679).
assertion. Fromthis experience of compassion, set forth in an
ancient Vedic equation, Schopenhauer leads us to the enigma
of renunciation:
Ifthat veil of Maya, the principiumindividuationis,is lifted
fromthe eyes of a man to such an extent that he no longer
makes the egotistical distinction between himself and the
person of others... then it follows automaticallythat such
a man, recognizing in all beings his own true and inner-
most self, must also regard the endless sufferings of all
that lives as his own, and thus take upon himself the pain
of the whole world. No suffering is any longer strange... to
him... He knows the whole, comprehends its inner nature
and finds it involved in a constant passing away, a vain
striving, an inward conflict and a continual suffering.
245
Wherever he looks, he sees suffering humanity and the
suffering animal world, and a world that passes away.
Now all this lies just as near to him as only his own person
lies to the egotist. Now how could he, with such knowledge of the world, affirm this very life through constant
acts of the will, and precisely in this way bind himself more
and more firmly to it, press himself to it more and more
closely? Thus, whoever is still involved in the principium
individuationis, in egotism, knows only particular things
and their relation to his own person, and these then
become ever renewed motives of his willing. On the other
hand, that knowledge of the whole, of the inner nature of
the thing-in-itself, which has been described, becomes the
quieter of all and every willing. The will now turns away
from life; it shudders at the pleasures in which it recognizes the affirmation of life. Man attains the state of voluntary renunciation, resignation, true composure and complete will-lessness.25
,*' -'
Thus the hero of the Faculty Pictures "turns away from
life."
21) <<Medicine,>,c. 1900-07, preparatory drawing, male
nude, black crayon, 37.2 x 30 cm. Photo: Albertina, Vienna
(Inv. # 23661).
1 This article is the first
excerpt to be published from my manuscript The Sacred and the Profane in the Worldsof Gustav Klimtand
GustavMahler.Iwould liketo thank Professor WernerHofmannfor his
invaluablecomments on this opus and especially on this essay. I also
owe a debt of general gratitude to: Professors Carl E. Schorske,
Guenter Kopcke, Robert Bailey, and Friedrich Heller as well as
Johannes Wieninger,ChristianWitt-Dorring,
and FelixPfeifle.
2 For a detailed account of the commission, see: Alice Strobl,
"Zuden Fakultatsbildernvon Gustav Klimt,"Albertinastudien11(1964),
Nr.4, pp. 138-169.
3 GregorioGuglielmi(1714-73) was born in Rome, he designed
frescoes at the courts of Dresden (1752-53), Schonbrunn (1760-61),
Berlin,Turin(1765-66), and St. Petersburg in a classicizing Rococo
manner.The frescoes he executed for the GraduationHall of the old
Universityallegorize the Faculties.
4 Fora comparison between the two groups of FacultyPictures,
see: Richard Meister, "Zur Deutung des Deckengemaldes im
Festsaale der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Klimtschen
Akademie der Wissenschaften, Jahrgang 1947, Nr.
Fakultatsbilder,"
23, pp. 217-230.
246
serial photographs
22) Eadweard Muybridge, (<ManHeaving 751b Boulder,,, c. 1887,
(from The Human Figure in Motion: the Photographs of Eadweard Muybridge, pl. 34).
5 Otherauthors have discussed the positivist credo adopted by
the School of Medicine at the Universityof Vienna and Klimt'srejection of their science paradigm,see: W. Hofmann,Gustav Klimt,tr. by
Inge Goodwin, New YorkGraphic Society, Boston, 1977, p. 23; "Die
Dichterstellen immerwieder das Chaos her"Nietzsche, Klimtund die
Wiener Jahrhundertwende."Artibus et Historiae, Nr. 40 (XX),1999,
pp. 209-19; "Poets are Always Producing Chaos: Nietzsche, Klimt,
and Turn-of-the-centuryVienna,"Nietzsche and An Architecture of
247
24) <<PallasAthena>>,c. 1898, oil on canvas, 75 x 75 cm.
Photo: Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien
(Inv. # 100.686).
23) <<Medicine>,detail, c. 1897-98, preliminary design, oil on
canvas, 72 x 55 cm, private collection, Vienna.
OurMinds,ed. A. Kostkaand 1.Wohlfarth,Getty Research Institutefor
the History of Art and Humanities, Santa Monica, 1999, pp. 79-82;
Carl E. Schorske, Fin-de-Siecle Vienna:Politics and Culture, Knopf,
New York. 1980, p. 240; Peter Vergo, "Between Modernism and
Tradition: The Importance of Gustav Klimt's Murals and Figure
Paintings," Gustav Klimt,Modernism in the Making, exh. cat., ed.
Colin Bailey, Nat'l Galleryof Canada, Ottawa & New York,2001, pp.
24-25.
6 Forthe antique and folkloristicbelief in the
healing and fertility
properties of mistletoe, see: James Frazer,The Golden Bough, v. 1,
New York,1971, pp. 764-767; and Robert Graves, Greek Myths,v. 1,
London,New York,1990, p. 176, 50.2.
7 On EmilieFloge's personal collection of textiles, see: "Diefolkloristische TextilsammlungEmilieFloges" in EmilieFloge und Gustav
Klimt,Doppelportratin Ideallandschaft,exh. cat., HistorischesMuseums
der StadtWien,Hermesvilla,LainzerTiergarten,1989, pp. 83-92.
8 A Secessionist ethic is explicitin all of these artforms: "Wewill
have no distinctionbetween 'high art' and 'minorart,' between art for
the rich and art for the poor. Art belongs to everyone." (Wirwollen
keine Unterscheidungzwischen 'hoher Kunst'und 'Kleinkunst,'zwischen Kunst fur die Reichen und Kunst fur die Armen. Kunst ist
Allgemeingut.)VerSacrum 1, vol. 1, (January1898), p. 6.
9 On Japonisme in Vienna,see: VerborgeneImpressionen,exh.
cat., ed. Johannes Wieninger,J. Wieninger,'Japan in Wien,"Osterreichische Museum fur Angewandte Kunst (MAK),Wien, 1990, pp. 3747. Japonisme in Vienna, exh. cat., ed. Johannes Wieninger, J.
Wieninger, "A Europeanised Japan," Osterreichische Museum fur
Angewandte Kunst(MAK),Wien, 1994, pp. 204-208.
10 That Klimthad a serious interest in archaic Greek art has
already been established, see: KarlKilinski,"ClassicalKlimtomania,"
Arts Magazine, April 1979, pp. 96-99; also, Kilinski, "Classical
248
MEDICINE
BYGUSTAVKLIMT
\WA/HAMUT
I5TFEUE UND
WAHRHEIT
REDLN HEIJT
LEVCHTEN uNo
BKENNLN ?
L-SCHEFE.YIf
631
6NA 1-
'?/
TNUDA4
VERITA5
C6STAV
U .KL\T
Veritas,,,c. 1898. Published in VerSacrum, v. I
25) <<Nuda
(March 1898), black crayon, graphite, pen and brush in ink,
41.3 x 10.4 cm. Photo: Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien
(Inv.# 101.719).
Veritas,,,c. 1899, oil on canvas, 252 x 56.2 cm.
26) <<Nuda
Osterreichische Theatermuseum [estate of Anna BahrMildenburg],Osterreichische National Bibliothek, Vienna
(from Gustav Klimt,Modernism in the Making, pi. 12).
249
27) <<Commemorative poster for Rudolf von Alt on his 88th
birthday>,, c. 1900, Indian ink (from A. Strobl. Gustav Klimt:
Die Zeichnungen. v. 1. 714).
Klimtomania:An Update,"Arts Magazine, March1982, 106-107; Lisa
Forman, "Gustav Klimtand the Precedent of Ancient Greece," Art
Bulletin:72:2, June 1990, pp. 310-26.
11 For these comparisons between the Pembaur portrait and
vases paintings depicting Apollo now in London and Rome, respectively,see: Kilinski,"ClassicalKlimtomania,"1979, figs. 1 & 2, pp. 9697; Forman,figs. 10 and 11, p. 319.
12 See: Kilinski, 1979,
p. 97; Forman, pp. 319-320.
13 See: Kilinski, 1979,
figs. 10, 11, p. 98; Forman, figs. 14, 15, pp.
322 and 323.
14 Klimt seems to have been familiar with Oscar Wilde's
prose,
see: Franz Servacs, "Gustav Klimt,"Velhagen & Klasings Monatsheft,
32, Jr. 1918, p. 28.
15 Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Book of Friends, as quoted by
HermannBroch,Hugo von Hofmannsthaland his Time.The European
Imagination1860-1920, translated, edited and introduced by Michael
P.Steinberg, Chicago and London, 1984. p. 110.
16 On constants in Klimt'sceuvre, see: Hofmann,Klimt,pp. 3437; Vergo, "BetweenModernismand Tradition,"pp. 30-39.
17 Klimtdisplayed an interest in portrayingthe athletic male nude
early on in his career. Examples may be found in: Realms of Nature,c.
1882 and Idylle,c. 1884. He never abandoned this interest in the ath-
.
.
,
28) (<Medicine)), detail, first state, c. 1901, oil on canvas,
430 x 300 cm, destroyed 1945 (from A. Strobl. Gustav Klimt:
Die Zeichnungen. v. 1. p. 169).
250
\
.i
ta.
-.1
..,j
C.,
:F
k
.... .
? .
29) <<Beethoven Frieze,, detail: Allegory of Art, c. 1902,
casein paint on stucco, inlaid with semi-precious stones, in
seven sections over three walls, height 220 cm, total length
2400 cm. Photo: Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna.
30) <<Beethoven Frieze,,, detail: Embrace, c. 1902, casein
paint on stucco, inlaid with semi-precious stones, in seven
sections over three walls, height 220 cm, total length
2400 cm. Photo: Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna.
letic male figure; instead, he might place them in the margin of an
image as in Theseus Slaying Minotauror he might locate them in the
remote regions of his paintings, as in the background of the Faculty
Pictures-Philosophy and Medicine.
18 On Klimt'suse of photographyin this early portraitof George,
see: Nebehay, Gustav Klimt:Eine Dokumentation,Vienna, 1969, fig.
36; Strobl, Gustav Klimt,Die Zeichnungen, 1878-1903, v. 1, fig. 29,
Salzburg, 1980, pp. 24-5. Regarding Klimt'srendering of Blasel and
the photographon which it is based, see: Nebehay, Klimt,figs. 174/5;
Strobl,Die Zeichnungen, fig. 381.
19 Regarding Klimt's use of photography as a basis for his
Ringstrasse paintings, see: Nebehay, Klimt,p. 92; Gustav Klimt,exh.
cat., BeatrixKriller,"GustavKlimtim KunsthistorischenMuseum Die
Entstehungder Zwickel-und Kolumnienbilderim groBenSteigenhaus,
1890-1891,"KunsthausZurich,1992, p. 216; Klimt'sWomen,exh. cat.,
eds. Tobais G. Natter and Christiane Boker, Franz Eder, "Klimtand
Photography," Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere, New Haven,
London,2000, pp. 50 &51.
20 For portrait photographs of Pembaur and Lewinsky, see:
Gustav Klimt:Modernismin the Making, exh. cat., ed. Colin Bailey,
251
John Collins, Catalogue: Paintings, HarryN. Abrams, New Yorkand
Nat'lGalleryof Art,Canada, 2001, pp. 76 &77 and 82 &83.
21 Regarding the dissemination of Muybridge'sphotographs in
artistic academies throughout Europe, including Vienna, see: Aaron
Scharf,Artand Photography,London, 1986, pp. 216-217 & p. 359, ff.
59.
22 I am indebted to J. Wieningerat the Museum of Applied Arts
(MAK)in Viennafor confirmingthis acquisitionas well as its date.
23 Klimtauthorities have noted, though in general terms, that
Klimtinformedhis FacultyPictures with German Idealist philosophy,
especially Nietzsche, see: Hofmann,Klimt,pp. 23-27 and "Poets,"pp.
79-82; Schorske, Fin-de-Siecle Vienna, p. 228; Vergo, "Between
Modernism and Tradition,"pps. 25-27; Forman, "Klimtand the
Precedent of Ancient Greece." WilliamMcGrathalso discusses that
the ideas of Schopenhauer and Nietszche formed the intellectual
cement of the Viennese avant-garde,see: Wagnerismin Austria:The
Regeneration of Culturethrough the Spiritof Music, Ph.D., Univ. of
CA/Berkeley, 1965, pp. 184-226 and Dionysian Art and Populist
Politics in Austria,New Havenand London,1974, pp. 120-65.
24 ArthurSchopenhauer, The Worldas Willand Representation.
vol. 1. tr. E.F.J. Payne, New York,1969, ? 66, p. 373 as quoted by
RudigerSafranski,Schopenhauer and the WildYearsof Philosophy,tr.
EwaldOsers, Cambridge,1990, p. 234.
25 Ibid.? 67. pp. 378
-379, as quoted by Safranski.pp. 234-35.
252

"Medicine" by Gustav Klimt Author(s): Tina Marlowe

Transcription

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