The MagazinePostcards from ViennaWhat Modernism looked like at the dawn of Modern Times.May 9, 2011, Vol. 16, No. 32
• By EVE TUSHNET
The opening photograph of the exhibition book for Birth of the Modern shows the artists of the Vienna Secession movement in 1902. Some sprawl, some stand, and off to the left, Gustav Klimt reigns on a makeshift throne. Klimt is a central figure for this exhibit: His wildly varying approaches to depicting women simultaneously exemplify and complicate the narrative the Neue Galerie wants to tell. The show thinks it’s telling a story of release from constraint, in which growing equality allows individual identities to flourish. Individual style, rather than societal custom, reigns in modern, turn-of-the-century Vienna. Perhaps the most striking contrast between old and new—and the contrast which most argues for modern self-understanding—is shown by the two examples of women’s fashion. Representing conformity and inequality, there is a wasp-waist corset which must be seen to be believed (photographs don’t do it justice). Representing women’s liberation and individuality, there is a flowing, bell-like dress, elegant yet forgiving to the figure. To read more, you must be a Weekly Standard Subscriber We're Sorry,
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