KOLOMON MOSER (1869-1918) V. KUNSTAUSSTELLUNG DER VEREINIGUNG BILDENDER KÜNSTLER ÖSTERREICHS. 1899. 20 1/4x13 3/4 inches, 51 1/2x35 cm. Albert Berger, Vienna. Condition B+: horizontal fold; minor wrinkles and abrasions in image. Matted and framed. Kolomon Moser was a key figure in the Austrian Secession. A founding member of the movement, he was also a professor at Vienna's School of Decorative Art. Together with Josef Hoffman he co-founded the Weiner Werkstatte and he was a versatile and prolific artist in his own right. Book design, graphic design, interior design, jewelry, furniture, silverware, fashion and ceramics were just some of the fields in which he worked. Here, advertising the fifth exhibition of the Secession, Moser depicts a golden angel. This exhibition was dedicated to primarily French drawings and graphic arts, including the works of Puvis de Chavannes, Renoir, Pissarro, and Vallotton. The fluid, allegorical image is a turning point between Art Nouveau and the more abstract and geometrical precision that would come to symbolize the Secession. The handling of the muse's hair is typical of the swirls that typified French Art Nouveau, but the typography is stylized in a purely Austrian manner. The poster was printed in different sizes and with different color variations. Vienna's Albertina Museum has five different variants of the image. The only text variations occur in the bottom margin (where on some copies the second year of the Secession magazine Ver Sarcum is advertised) and in the location of the printer's information, which appears in some copies in the left margin, and in other copies in the right margin. This copy is printed with brown and gold on blue wove paper. This image also appeared on the cover of Ver Sacrum magazine. Moser p. 33, Kossatz p. 104, Denscher, p. 31.
