Austrian Expressionism: The Formative Years

This book provides the first in-depth examination of the early years of Austrian Expressionism, illuminating with remarkable clarity the complex web of interconnections and intellectual influences that linked most of the leading figures of post-Secession Viennese art, literature, drama, music, psychology, and philosophy. It shows, as the author puts its, the "connecting impulse" that animated the avant garde and provided the crucial intellectual context in which Austrian Expressionism emerged in the first decade of this century.
The study focuses on Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka, Richard Gerstl, Arnold Schonberg, and Alfred Kubin. Whereas the works of Schiele and Kokoschka are relatively well known, the circumstances of their emergence as artists and their influence in the social and cultural world of Vienna are less familiar. Until the recent exhibitions of Viennese fin-de-siecle art, Richard Gerstl has been largely ignored outside the work of a few specialists. Schonberg's paintings have traditionally been viewed only as a sidelight to his musical creativity. And Alfred Kubin's fantastical drawings need to be understood in their position between symbolist and expressionist art.
By treating these five figures within their intellectual and cultural setting, the author is able to document the way in which early Austrian Expressionism developed from, and reacted against, the art of the Viennese Secession (and the criticism the Secession inspired). In addition, the study demonstrates the pivotal role of Austrian Expressionism in the development of Viennese modernism.
The book was originally published in Austria under the title Physis und Psyche.

Patrick Werkner is Assistant Professor of Cultural History at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna.