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Who is Gustav Klimt
ARTISTIC WORK Adele Bloch-Bauer
Gustav Klimt was born on July 14, 1862 in Baumgarten, in Vienna. His father was an immigrant from Bohemia and did not fare too well in his trade of gold engraver, which meant the huge family (Gustav was second of seven children) lived in abject poverty.
After quitting school when he was 14, Gustav joined an art school where his talent was quickly recognised, resulting in commissions while still at school.
With his brother Ernst and a fellow student, Franz Matsch, Gustav started a firm, Klimt-Matsch & Co, which did very well for itself with all the new buildings being constructed.
After leaving school in 1883, the Kilmts and Matsch dedicated themselves to commissions. In 1893, on the basis of their earlier work, the company landed the commission for the decoration of a hall in the University of Vienna.
This was a watershed in many ways. It was during this commission that rifts began to appear between Gustav and Franz. The commission dragged on for a long time and when the Gustav finally unveiled his work, it caused widespread dismay and protests. The three ceiling murals, Philosophy, Medicine and Jurisprudence were attacked as being unclear and for the nudity. Through all this the minister of education supported Gustav.
However, the paintings were not shown in the University but rather in the State Gallery of Modern Art. When the authorities refused to show the paintings internationally, Gustav resigned his commission and demanded his paintings back. After infamous stand offs with Gustav defending his murals with a shotgun, they were handed back to him. With the end of state patronage, Gustav and like-minded artists started the Vienna Secession movement in 1897. However he withdrew after eight years upset with the movement's leanings toward naturalism.
Klimt painted both in the Symbolist as well as Art Nouveau style. He drew inspiration from a variety of sources including classical Greek, Byzantine, Egyptian, Minoan, late-medieval painting, photography and the works of Albrecht Durer, Max Klinger, Franz von Stuck and Fernand Khnopff.
Not much is known about Gustav apart from the few words he uses to describe himself: "I have never painted a self portrait. I am less interested in myself as a subject for a painting than I am in other people, above all women. I am convinced that I am not particularly interesting as a person. There is nothing special about me. I am a painter who paints day after day from morning until night."
Whether he felt he was interesting or not, he left a very interesting body of work behind, echoing the tensions of the time bathed in a characteristic golden light. He died on February 6, 1918 of a stroke and is buried at the Hietzing Cemetery in Vienna.
MINI ANTHIKAD-CHHIBBER
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