Gustav Klimpt, was an Austrian immigrant, born in Baumgarten, near Vienna in Austria-Hungary. He is the second of seven children. He was a talented artist, which seemed to run in the family since his father and two of his siblings exhibited artistic talent. Klimpt is best known for his paintings "The Kiss" and "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I."
The exhibition "Klimpt Inside" is being held until the end of April (originally was supposed to end March 3) at the S-Factory in Seongsu-dong in Seoul, South Korea. Thankfully my friend Timothy Holm found out about it and asked if I wanted to join him. I couldn't turn him down.
The exhibition is divided into six sections: End of Century, Ver Sacrum, Women, Stoclet Frieze, Later Colors, and Kiss. It's W12,000 for adults, W10,000 for students, and W8,000 for children. You can read more of what you'll expect here. Note, that all of the work presented is done in media art, so you won't see any original paintings. However, you'll get many chances to take pictures of Klimpt's most famous artwork as long as you don't use a flash.
"Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" is probably my favorite one. I love the detail of the woman's eyes and lips. It looks as if she's daydreaming about something:
Klimt’s work is distinguished by the elegant gold or colored decoration as you can see from the painting above.
Often you'll see a phallic shape that conceal the most erotic positions of the drawings upon which many of his paintings are based. An example of this is The Kiss (1907–1908), which has is on display all on its own at the S-Factory:
One of the most common themes Klimt utilized was that of the dominant woman, the femme fatale, which in all honesty, was not my favorite part of the exhibition. You can tell he had a fascination with women as his paintings suggest. He was very sexually active, had willing women to pose as his models including prostitutes. However, he kept his private life to himself.
Art historians note an eclectic range of influences contributing to Klimt’s distinct style, including Egyptian, Minoan, Classical Greek, and Byzantine inspirations. Klimt’s paintings have brought some of the highest prices recorded for individual works of art.
Here are just a few samples of the paintings that I enjoyed the most besides "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I":
If you have any questions about the exhibition, feel free to post a comment. Enjoy!
Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)
Instagram: l.a.seoulguy
No comments:
Post a Comment