Gustav Klimt: Landscapes

by Johannes Dobai and Stephan Koja

Book Overview

Now in flexi-cover, this visually stunning collection of Klimt's landscape paintings brings to light a lesser-known aspect of the Viennese painter's uvre. While Klimt is largely revered for his opulent, symbol-laden portraits of the Viennese bourgeoisie, these works were just one aspect of his artistic expression. His landscapes represent an important facet of his career and are a valuable contribution to the school of European nature painting. For many years the artist travelled to the Austrian and Italian countryside during the summer, where he took advantage of the extraordinary light and spectacular hues to paint and sketch landscapes. Among the most exquisite of Klimt's landscapes are those in which he experimented with composition and style. Accompanied by scholarly essays, the images reproduced in this book comprise all extant landscapes from this brilliant artist, proving that his mastery extends beyond portraiture and revealing themes that appeared throughout his life's work.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 3791337173
• ISBN13: 9783791337173
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Prestel Publishing
• Length: 217 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.8" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Sumptuous paintings

This is a beautifully done book that focuses on the nearly 60 landscape paintings that Austrian painter Gustav Klimt produced, mainly while at leisure and away from Vienna. The 281-page book (paperback--roughly 10"X8") is extremely well-illustrated with photographs, drawings and a wide range of paintings by Klimt and others that he admired or was influenced by. These illustrations are in somewhat small format (the book is smallish), but the quality of the reproductions is first-rate. The book also includes excellent text on Klimt's career, the secession movement and detailed descriptions of many individual paintings, particularly all of the landscapes that are the centerpieces of the work. At the end of the book, there is a career chronology for Klimt which reminds the reader that the artist died a comparatively young man at age fifty-six, in 1918. While many of these landscapes are distinctively the work of the artist who produced the elaborate and lush portraits that made him so successful in fin-de-siecle Vienna, they are also something a bit different than the portraits. Unlike the decorative portraits, these paintings--often in unusual square format--did not follow elaborate preparatory drawing. The directness of the connection between Klimt and the natural subjects comes across clearly. Several of these gorgeous paintings--Attersee, Tall Poplars, A Morning by the Pond--go off in completely different directions and could be the works a number of post-impressionists, including Edvard Munch. One of the best known of Klimt's landscapes, Church in Cassone--Landscape with Cypresses (well-illustrated and discussed in this book), was sold last month by Sotheby's for over $100 million. This is a wonderful book that should be in any art library.

Klimt is a Master

These are some inspiring works. I never knew he'd done so many landscapes. I've always admired his figurative art, but now I'm even more in awe of this very original and powerful artist. The reproductions are sharp and vibrant, and the format of the book is just right for showing these paintings.

Klimt for Klimt

Klimt has always been a problematic artist. In contemporary terms, he was a sell-out, but that hardly addresses the situation of a man good with the brushes a hundred years ago trying to make a bit more than a decent living for himself. That was the Nouveau years. The panels and friezes and commissions, the society portraits, the weird freaky paintings with all the gold paint. The man had great talent, and there's that reason that to this day you can buy prints and posters and postcards of his most famous paintings. I happen to own a "Die Kusse" night-light. It is terribly refreshing to own a volume dedicated to the man's landscapes. For the most part, these were paintings Klimt did for himself while vacationing with his friends in the summer months. They were not meant for sale. Often they were done in an audacious--for the time--square format. A few of the canvases are pretty tedious. But a great number are inspiring and terribly original. It's great to see the lot collected, and well-worth the look, not to mention purchase.

highly recommended

Klimt seems to be best known for his figuratives - any study of his work should include his landscapes. A very nice book with good color plates.

Gustav Klimt: Landscapes

It is a pleasure to have access to these beautiful works, which are more frequently overshadowed by the attention given to images of people and mythic figures for which Klimt is best known. These landscapes are revealing of both the subject matter and of Klimt the artist as he probed the composition and colors of the places that intrigued him.