Where it all started for me - Josef Hoffmann's Sitzmaschine
I didn't grow up with a passion for art, despite my Mother's best intentions. I am the youngest of three and none of us had yet shown any sign of sharing her interest (she’s an artist herself and studied fine art). I remember wrinkling my nose at the postcard on her office wall of Klimt's The Kiss - the colours and patterns all looked a bit too much like the awful wallpaper we'd had in the 70's for my liking! Oh how much I changed that view years later (and realised the danger of judging art on the basis of poor reproductions).
I was in Liverpool for a work conference, something deadly dull I'm sure, I can’t even remember. My colleague had suggested we skipped the last hour or so as there was apparently a great exhibition on at the Tate. When she said it was Klimt, my heart sank but I agreed anyway, even if purely to get out of the tedium of the conference.
It was 2008 and Liverpool was the Capital of Culture and had a number of arty, quirky things going on, including the Go Superlambananas! collection of individually painted sculptures (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Superlambananas!). I do like it when people other than artists are brought in on artwork projects and this along with the randomly clothed Gormley figures on Crosby Beach (my favourite was the one in a pink bikini) really floated my boat.
So off to the Tate we go, past some impressive architecture such as the Cunard building (now architecture – that I HAVE always had an interest in). As we go into the Tate I see more of Klimt’s ‘70s yellow’ images on the publicity posters and think I’m in for a tedious hour, but it was still like skipping school, so I wasn’t going to grumble.
At this point I should probably admit that I was NOT a regular museum/exhibition-goer at this time. The one and only ‘arty’ museum I had visited was the Van Gogh Museum on a school trip to Amsterdam in 1991. I went in reluctantly, having seen all the usual crappy reproductions, over produced on things like tea towels and coasters, I came out an emotional wreck at the tragic story reflected in Vincent and his brothers letters and blown away by the passion, spirit and bravery reflected in his work. I was 14 and it was quite a moment for me. I should have known better therefore, than to pre-judge poor old Klimt before I’d had chance to see his work for myself and to learn a bit more about the man.
I was transfixed as soon as I entered the Klimt exhibition. I realised quickly that it wasn’t just about his work, but also his contemporaries and it included fabric design, furniture, silverware and architectural plans. My design-loving buttons had been pressed, I was drawn in and from the very first painting, I was in love.
I can’t remember everything I saw that day, but I particularly recall Nuda Veritas (1899), I remember Klimt’s posters for the Secession exhibitions, I remember the ‘over 18s only’ section of the exhibition of nude drawings and of course…I remember The Sitzmaschine by Josef Hoffmann. You wouldn’t think a wooden chair could take someone’s breath away and make a heart pound, but I swear it did. To anyone not turned on by beautiful objects, this will sound plain weird, but each to their own eh? I didn’t know until that point that I could be.
At that stage I didn’t see the designer’s name (I bought the book that accompanied the exhibition to find that out later on). I saw that the chair was on loan from the V&A, which was somewhere I had been dragged around years previously by my well-meaning Mother. The Sitzmaschine (though it is just called Adjustable Armchair in the book) is all beautiful curves, clever engineering, warm wood and brass. I wanted to touch, I wanted to sit, I wanted to pinch it to be honest. But all I could do was look and love, so I did.
So that was it for me – that moment was the moment I became hooked on art and design and particularly how they work together, as developed by those of the Wiener Werkstatte collective. Since that exhibition I have travelled to Vienna for a Klimt and Hoffmann show and worked to deepen my understanding and passion for that movement, but I have also started studying the History of Art at the broader level through the Open University. I hope to continue learning, continue opening up new doors to new ideas, movements, artists and designers. Just lifting the lid on this has shown me that there is SO MUCH TO LEARN, but what a fantastic journey it is going to be. Who knows where it might lead?
kaledo-art
andulkaphoto
snowghoul
romaincrisis
