Truth as Attitude: Viennese Realism after 1950
The Viennese Realists were a significant counter-movement to the dominant art styles of the post-war period. The core group 鈥� Georg Eisler, Hans Escher, Alfred Hrdlicka, Fritz Martinz, Rudolf Sch枚nwald and Rudolf Schwaiger 鈥� came together in 1954. With the important graphic cycle 鈥淪oldiers鈥� Reunion鈥�, they attempted to come to terms with National Socialism, much earlier than artists did in other countries.
The Realists started to show their work in 1960. Art Critics reacted with dismay. The group was accused of being close to the propagandistic 鈥渟ocialist realism鈥� of the Stalin era as well as the realism of the Nazi dictatorship. But their concept of realism was totally different. The focus was not on depicting a perceived reality, but on the reality of the social and political situation itself.
Existentialism was the intellectual ground of this Realism, which propagated nothing less than a new humanism. This new approach was not only formative for the core group of Viennese realists. It also manifested itself in later tendencies, which also appear in 鈥淭ruth as Attitude鈥�.
Recommended for you
The Viennese Realists were a significant counter-movement to the dominant art styles of the post-war period. The core group 鈥� Georg Eisler, Hans Escher, Alfred Hrdlicka, Fritz Martinz, Rudolf Sch枚nwald and Rudolf Schwaiger 鈥� came together in 1954. With the important graphic cycle 鈥淪oldiers鈥� Reunion鈥�, they attempted to come to terms with National Socialism, much earlier than artists did in other countries.
The Realists started to show their work in 1960. Art Critics reacted with dismay. The group was accused of being close to the propagandistic 鈥渟ocialist realism鈥� of the Stalin era as well as the realism of the Nazi dictatorship. But their concept of realism was totally different. The focus was not on depicting a perceived reality, but on the reality of the social and political situation itself.
Existentialism was the intellectual ground of this Realism, which propagated nothing less than a new humanism. This new approach was not only formative for the core group of Viennese realists. It also manifested itself in later tendencies, which also appear in 鈥淭ruth as Attitude鈥�.
Artists on show
- Adolf Frohner
- Alfred Hrdlicka
- Alfred Karger
- Anneliese Karger
- Arno Zambanini
- Carlos Scliar
- Christy Astuy
- Dieter Kleinpeter
- Erna Frank
- Florentina Pakosta
- Franz Zadrazil
- Fritz Martinz
- Georg Eisler
- Gerda Fassel
- Glauco Rodrigues
- Gunther Heinz
- Hans Escher
- Herbert Traub
- Johanna Kandl
- Josef Kern
- Lena Brauer
- Lieselott Beschorner
- Luis Arenal
- Mara Mattuschka
- Moni K. Huber
- Monika Verhoeven
- Rainer Wölzl
- Renate Kordon
- Richard Pechoc
- Rudolf Schönwald
- Rudolf Schwaiger
- Thomas Nemec
- Wilhelm Helfert
- Wolfgang Herzig
What's on nearby
