Few institutions, public or private, have done so much to promote the cause of modern German art as has the Galerie St. Etienne. Now located on West 57th Street, it was founded by Otto Kallir, the Austrian collector and dealer who was among the first to appreciate the achievements not only of Klimt and Schiele but also of Kokoschka and Kubin. It was in fact Kallir who, while still resident in Vienna, published the first Schiele catalogue raisonné in 1930. After having been forced by the Nazis to flee his native Austria in 1938 shortly after the Anschluss, Kallir ultimately arrived in New York City where he established the Galerie St. Etienne as a successor to Vienna's Neue Galerie which he had founded in 1923. It was the New York gallery that was to give the American public its first view of the works of Klimt and Schiele and in so doing rewrite the accepted history of modernism. The title of the current exhibit, Alternate Histories, is a reference to that process of revisionism.
The outstanding German artists who made the gallery's reputation are well represented at this exhibit. Personally, after having seen just last week the Neue Galerie's fine exhibit of Egon Schiele's portraiture, I was most interested in viewing more examples of that artist's work. There are ten on display, three of which are landscapes. In viewing a piece such as Sawmill (1913), one cannot help but compare Schiele's style in painting to that of his mentor Klimt. There is a sharp contrast. None of the latter's delicate almost pointillist landscape style can be discerned in Schiele's work. His is much more roughly done. The brushstrokes are heavily applied and the mill itself has an almost primitive appearance. Schiele's figurative works, on the other hand, show a much clearer debt to the erotic style of Klimt's late drawings though their sensuality is expressed in a much different manner. This correspondence is most evident in Nude Girl with Arms Raised (1910) and Two Reclining Nudes (1918) but can also be seen in Reclining Woman (1918) and Reclining Woman with Green Stockings (1917). The last is particularly striking for the direct eye contact the model makes with the viewer. Her gaze is calculating and unashamed as she forcefully demands the onlooker's attention. Another nude study, Crouching Woman (1918), is notable not only for the unusual overhead viewpoint taken by Schiele when drawing the model but also for her bright red hat, a splash of vivid color in an otherwise almost monochromatic work. Finally, Elisabeth Lederer, Seated, with Hands Folded (1913), a portrait of the wife of an important patron, is one of the artist's most successful works in this genre, primarily for the care he has taken in the depiction of the sitter's eyes.
As for Klimt, there are three nudes shown, all of them drawings done in pencil, as well as the portrait in oil Woman with a Fur Collar (1897). But by far the most interesting work is Moving Water (1898) which was a great success when shown at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris. It is done in a symbolist style reminiscent of that employed by the artist in his now lost paintings for the controversial University of Vienna commission. The single landscape on view, Island in the Attersee (1901), is one of Klimt's most intriguing in its representation of light on water and demonstrates the influence French Impressionism exerted upon his art during this period.
A highlight of the exhibit is the display of seven pen and ink drawings by Alfred Kubin. I've always admired this artist's work and regretted that it is not more often shown. At its best, it represents the very essence of the symbolist aesthetic. These are dreamscapes that belong entirely to the unconscious and that are often filled with intimations of the macabre. It's utterly fitting then that Kubin should have illustrated works by Poe and E.T.A. Hoffmann. The two most powerful works at this exhibit are The Suicide (c. 1912) and Guilt (1900-1902) though Duet (1900) and The Last King (c. 1902) are also extremely evocative.
Also shown at this exhibit are several depictions of women by Kokoschka of which I thought the most interesting was Two Girls (c. 1921-1922). And there are five powerful graphic works by Käthe Kollwitz, all of them representations of Death in one form or another.
In addition to those of the Austrian and German artists, there are a number of works by American artists on display. These include Leonard Baskin, Sue Coe, Morris Hirshfield, and John Kane, not to mention Anna Mary Robertson ("Grandma") Moses whose talent Otto Kallir, always deeply interested in self-taught artists, was the first to recognize.
The exhibit continues through April 11, 2015.
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