Leopold Blauensteiner (Vienna 1880-1947 Vienna)
"Turmgespräch" ["Tower Conversation"], also known as "Turmuhr" ["Tower Clock"]
1905
woodcut on paper
32,6 x 31,3 cm
artist's estate stamp on verso
The Daulton Collection
References:
XXIII. Ausstellung der Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs Secession (Vienna, 1905), Cat. Nr. 166 (as "Turmuhr").
Dream of Vienna. Graphic Arts in Vienna around 1900, Tokushima Modern Art Museum and Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, 2003, p. 163.
Discussion:
"The image depicts, viewed from below, skeletons sitting on the rafters of a tower room. They observe the slowly descending stone weights of the clockwork, thus tracking the passage of time. This modern formulation of the vanitas concept illustrates Viennese art's predilection for the bizarre, the uncanny, and the grotesque around 1900. This woodcut was first shown at the 23rd Exhibition of the Association of Austrian Visual Artists (Secession) in Vienna in 1905." B
"Leopold Blauensteiner was an Austrian artist. As a painter and graphic artist, he created landscapes and portraits in an idiosyncratic, often pointillist style of painting; as a graphic artist, he primarily created woodcuts. After attending the collegiate high school in Melk, together with Rudolf Junk and Richard Kurt Donin, Blauensteiner studied at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts under Christian Griepenkerl from 1898 to 1902. However, he broke off his studies prematurely and was a private student with Alfred Roller until 1903. In 1903 he made his first public appearance with woodcuts for Ver Sacrum. In 1904 and 1905 he took part in exhibitions at the Vienna Secession, and in 1908 and 1909 in the 'Kunstschau.' Blauensteiner was a member of the artists' association 'Die Hand' and the 'Verein bildender Künstler Klosterneuburgs' (Association of Visual Artists Klosterneuburg) as well as the Hagenbund from 1911 to 1920, interrupted by military service from 1914 to 1916. He disarmed as a first lieutenant. From 1920, he was a member of the Vienna Künstlerhaus (president in 1937/1938). Study trips took him through Germany, Italy and Dalmatia. From 1938 to 1945, Blauensteiner worked as head of the Reichskulturkammer der bildenden Künste (Reich Chamber of Fine Arts for Vienna), partly on a voluntary basis; however, during this time he campaigned for the preservation of works by endangered artists (e.g. Carry Hauser, Oskar Kokoschka and Egon Schiele). Blauensteiner exhibited in various German cities and in Prague. His works are included in the Belvedere, in the Albertina, in the Vienna Museum, and in the Lower Austrian State Museum. Honours, prizes (selection): 1927 Austrian State Prize; 1932 Professor h. c.; 1932 State Prize Medal." W
