Klimt and the “Artists’ Company”
1883-1892
Frieze at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 1890/91
On the basis of their successful collaboration at the arts college, Gustav Klimt, Ernst Klimt (1864-1892) and Franz Matsch (1861-1942) founded the “Artists’ Company” in 1883 [1]. Their technically and stylistically similar education made working together fast and efficient, although none of them considered himself an independent artist in his own right at that point. Artistically, the trio was guided by the popular historicist style and by Hans Makart, who had left a void in the artistic world with his death in 1884 that needed to be filled.
Their teachers at the arts college – Julius Laufberger (1829-1881) and Victor Berger (1850-1902) – had already introduced them to numerous potential patrons during their education. The silver goods manufacturer, Michael Markowitsch, placed their first atelier in Vienna VI., Sandwirtgasse 8 [2] at their disposal. Since he did not charge any rent, the trio repaid him with designs for jewellery. The architectural office Fellner & Helmer was one of the Artists’ Company’s most important patrons and commissioned them with the furnishing of the municipal theatre in Reichenberg (Liberec, 1882/83), Fiume (Rijeka, 1884/85) and Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary, 1886), among others. From 1885 on they were also active in Vienna and designed ceiling paintings portraying the historical development of the theatre in the hallways of the new Burgtheater built by Gottfried Semper and Karl von Hasenauer in 1886/1888 [3]. In return they were awarded with a medal for their services to the Emperor in 1888.
Before the demolition of the old Burgtheater, Klimt and Matsch were commissioned to depict the auditorium. Around 150 members of Viennese society and numerous prominent Burgtheater season-ticket holders were captured in the painting that was also finished in 1888 [4]. In return they were the first recipients of the “Kaiserpreis” (Emperor’s Prize) to the amount of 400 ducats (worth approximately 25,500 euros today) as well as a new commission to decorate the hallway of the Kunsthistorisches Museum [5]. As a result, the Artists’ Company and Gustav Klimt positioned themselves as successful painters and designers and became members of the Künstlerhaus belonging to the renowned “Genossenschaft bildender Künstler Wiens” (Association of Visual Artists Vienna).
In 1892 Gustav Klimt’s father as well as his brother and associate Ernst died. This private loss gave rise to an artistic crisis and reorientation which led to the dissolution of the Artists’ Company in the same year, shortly after he moved into the new atelier at Josefstädter Strasse 21, in Vienna VIII., The actual collaboration between Klimt and Matsch came to a gradual end as their styles diverged more and more, a process which had already begun in 1894 with the completion of the faculty paintings for the University of Vienna. In 1905, Gustav Klimt put aside the work for the faculty paintings which had attracted so much attention und withdrew from public commissions. From then on, private collectors and patrons of the arts would come to the fore as buyers of his portraits and landscapes.
