Fashion...

"...a form of ugliness so absolutely unbearable that we have to alter it every six months," according to Oscar Wilde. Residing however briefly in the various capitals we have visited recently has provided ample opportunity to observe fashion, changes in fashion, and so on. We are not students of fashion nor do we have nor do anything that anyone would describe as fashionable. It's not possible to see the things we have seen, however, and not comment. So here, in a few pix, are some of the extraordinary things, loosely described as fashion, we have seen the past few weeks, in Vienna.

Beam me up

Sleeveless is quite the thing, although we are not sure
whether it is this year or was last year

Eyes and lips...

"No fotos"

In time, everything comes back...except leisure
suits; yes, now a man of leisure, I am bitter

Fashion croakies

Puffy fuzzy look

Everything meant to unravel

Nothing hemmed

Sculpture installation right in the middle of Graben, Vienna's most 

fashionable shopping district

[Click to enlarge] The quote from Brecht is especially interesting

Another sleeveless wonder

Crop-top puffy jacket

Shoes made from Middle Eastern rugs

And boots

Monty Python sock set

Moon Boots and imitations are popular here

Backdrop not included

 

 

MAK (Museum of Applied Arts)

Our last museum visit was at the Museum of Applied Arts and especially its "Vienna 1900" permanent collection. Vienna has so many fine arts museums relatively few visitors get to the MAK. We found it eminently worthwhile. Discount admission on Tuesday evenings, too.

Facade of main hall; beautiful 19th century building

Interior; Pompeii painting decor on the ceilings; nevermind the
huge over-sized couch on the main floor; it will figure in a later
post

Ceiling; we visited in the evening, so didn't get the
full effect

Humongous marquetry restoration project being done out on the
floor of the cabinetry exhibit room

Main attraction

Josef Hoffman, Cabinet Presented at the 1st Secession

Exhibition, 1898; if Darth Vader were a cabinet, he would

look like this, Vicki says

Poster...

Tony Selmersheim, Petroleum Lamp, 1900

Beautiful silver tray; guess I was too overwhelmed to get the designer's
name

Henry van de Velde, Writing Desk, 1900

Adolf Loos, Corner Seating for a Study, 1900; way before "less is
more"

Theodore Pogacnik, Wine Mug, 1900

Alfons Mucha, Poster for Austria exhibit at the Paris, 1900,
World Fair

Kolomon Moser, Guestroom from House Moser, 1901; so comfy, 
warm, and inviting...we're now clearly out of art nouveau

Klimt, part of nine "drawings" for a house in Brussels, 1910

Josef Hoffman, Tea Service, 1903

Kolomon Moser, Jewelry Box, 1906

Josef Hoffman, Chandelier, 1914

More of the Klimt drawings...

Much of a wall

The big thrill for us...Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, The Seven
Princesses, 1908, for a house in her native Glasgow

Detail: note the Mackintosh roses

And then it was all over...

Dagobert Peche, Display Cabinet, 1920

We also took in a couple special exhibits, one on the
picture book as artistic medium

That was fabulous

And another rounding up the 100 best posters of 2021 from
Germany, Austria, and Switzerland

Personal favorite: "Measure Everything: Know Your
Numbers"; great museum experience

Belvedere Museum, 2022: 2

 Continuing our visit to the Belvedere palace and its museum...

Klimt, Forester's House in Weissenbach on the Attersee, 1914

Egon Schiele, House Wall, 1914

Schiele, The Embrace, 1917; The Foreplay was on loan somewhere else

Schiele, Squatting Couple, 1918; actually a threesome, but who's
counting?

Schiele, Death and the Maiden, 1915

Franz Wiegele, Nudes in the Forest, 1910-1911

Arnold Bocklin, The Painter Franz von Lenbach, 1904;

saw his work in Berlin, some of it

Gustav Klimt, Amalie Zuckerkandl, 1917-1918; over his gold period

Karl Klager, Arrival of a Train at Vienna Northwestern Station, 1875;

compare Monet's Gare Saint-Lazaire, 1877

One of the reasons for visiting the Belvedere is the views of inner
Vienna...here, St. Stephen's with the chancel roof double eagle 
showing; to the left, is Hundertwasser's incinerating art work, 
blowing smoke; the subject of a coming post...

Belvedere's formal gardens

Jean-Francois Millet, The Plain of Chailly with Harrow and Plough, 1862

Vincent van Gogh, The Plain of Auvers, 1890; interesting pairing, as
Millet was one of van Gogh's heroes; earlier...

Gustave Courbet, A Wounded Man, 1866

Most interesting thing at the Belvedere...The Znaim Altarpiece,
carved polychrome reliefs, Moravia, 1440-1445, largely original
polychromy; 1440, folks...the rest of Europe was just barely
working its way out of international Gothic...this thing is full
Renaissance in terms of its emotional expression, etc.

Not least this guy sticking his tongue out at the Mother of God...

Adjacent to the Belvedere is the University of Vienna botanical
garden...most labels on plants I've ever seen...but it was end of
October and most of the plants were spent