ST/A/R-50-54 (Seiteneindrücke)

20 ST/A/R/T + Nr.
Contributions: Peter Keicher
FRANZ WEST / THE WITTGENSTEIN KARL / A WORD PLAY for tamuna
50/2016
Nr. 50/2016
+ ST/A/R/T 21
Contributions: Thea Djordjadze
LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN: BORN 26-4-1889 IN VIENNA , DIED 29-4-1959 IN CAMBRIDGE . SON OF KARL WITTGENSTEIN
(BORN 8-4-1847 IN VIENNA ; DIED THERE 20-1-1913). KARL WITTGENSTE IN HAD TO LEAVE SCHOOL SHORTLY BE­
FORE HIS FINAL EXAM BECAUSE OF AN ESSAY ON THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL (1846), HE RAN AWAY FROM
HOME AND - WITH A FAKE PASSPORT - TRAVELLED TO THE USA , WHERE HE STRUGGLED ALONG AS A WAITER , A
VIOLINIST , A STEERSMAN ON A CANAL BOAT,A PARK ATTENDANT , A BARKEEPERAND A COACH (FOR GREEK , MA­
THEMATICS , HORN AND VIOLIN). IN 1867 HE RETURNED TO AUSTRIAAND STUDIED MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
(NO DEGREE). AFTER SEVERAL RESTLESS YEARS OF WANDERING KARL WITTGENSTEIN ROSE TO THE POST OF
DIRE CTOR OF THE IRON IND USTRY OF PRAGUE ; HE INTROD UCED NEW METHODS OF PRODUCTION AND ALSO
GAINED GREAT ESTEEM AS AN IND US TRIAL MANAGER AS ALREADY MENTIONED , WITTGENSTEIN ' S RELATION
TO THE FINE ARTS WAS THAT OF A THOROUGHLY MODERN INDIVIDUAL. HE DID NOT APPROACH ART BY WAY OF
ART HISTORY NOR BY WAY OF RESPECTING STATE-APPROVED OR ACADEMICALLY STANDARDIZED AUTHORI­
TIES. HE SAW LIFE AND WORK AS A STRUGGLE , AND THEREFORE IN ART TOO , HE LIKED NOTHING BETTER THAN
THE CLASH OF ARTISTIC ENERGIES. THIS COU LD PERHAPS EXPLAIN WHY KARL WITTGENSTEIN BECAME THE
MOST DISTINGUISHED PATRON OF A YOUNG GENERATION OF ARTISTS WHO , IN 1897, FOLLOWING THE MODEL OF
OTHER EUROPEAN ART CITIES , SET ABOUT FOUNDING A SECESSION. WHEN IT CAME TO THE MATTER OF THEIR
OWN BUILDING BEING ERECTED FOR THE NEW ARTISTIC EXERTIONS , AND THE INFLUENTIAL ELEMENTS OF THE
CITY EXPANSION FUND AND THE VIENNESE LOCALAUTHORITIES MADE THE LETTING OF A SITE DEPENDENT ON
THE EXISTENCE OF A CORRESPONDINGLY HIGH SUM AS GUARANTEE , IT WAS KARL WITTGENSTEIN WHO - IN A
GENEROUS GESTURE - SIGNED FOR ALM OST ALL THE MAJOR PART OF THE REQUIRED AMOUNT ON HIS OWN
UNTIL THEN , HE HAD KNOWN ONLY FEW OF THE YOUNG ARTISTS PERSONALLY WHAT MADE HIM HELP THEM
WAS NO THI NG OTHER BUTTRE DELIGHTIN THEIR VIGOURAND THE RECOGNITION OF THEIR OUTWARD DEPRES­
SION. FROM THAT DAY ON , HE GOT INTO A MORE INTIMATE RELATION WITH THE ARTISTS THEMSELVES AND MA­
NAGED TO GATHER THEM FOR CHEERF UL DAYS AND EVENINGS , NOT ONLY IN HIS PALAIS IN THE ALLEEGASSE ,
BUT ALSO IN HIS LOG CABIN AT THE HO CHREIT , GATHERINGS WHICH MIGHT WELL HAVE REMAINED UNFORGET ­
TABLE FOR SOME OF THE PARTICIPANTS .. (...)
OUT OF THIS CIRCLE , THE INDIVID UAL HE ESTEEMED MOST HIGHLYWAS GUS TA V KLIMT , WHO PAINTED THE POR­
TRAIT OF WITTGENSTEIN ' S DAUGHTER , MRS. STONEBOROUGH-WITTGENSTEIN - ONE OF THE MOST DELIGHT­
FUL OF ALL BY THIS ARTIST , TO WHOM WITTGENSTEIN ALSO REMAINED LOYAL DURING THE SPLIT WITHIN THE
SECESSION- DEEPLY REGRETTED BY WITTGENSTEIN- THAT LED TO THE SPLITTING-OF OF THE KLIMT CIRCLE.
NEXT TO THE BEST LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS BY KLIMT , HE ALSO OWNED THE BEAUTIFUL PAINTING > DAS LEBEN
EIN KAMPF < (LIFE , A STRUGGLE). OF THE ARTISTS FROM OUT OF TOWN , HE ESPECIALLY VALUED MAX KLING ER ,
WHOSE FAMOUS SCULPTURE KAUENDES MADCHEN (CHEWING GIRL) , HE DEQUIRED FROM THE KLINGER -EXHI­
BITION IN THE SECESSION IN 1900. TO THE ACADEMIC CIRC LES AND THE EDUCATIONALADMINISTRATION , THIS
SCULPTURE SEEMED TOO NATURALISTIC AND THEY LIFTED THE PELVIS AGAINST THE DWELLING OF THE PAIN­
TINGS OF THE UN IVERSITY THE SUPPORTERS OF THE SECESSION DEVELOPED A VIOLENT AGITATION CONCER ­
NING THEART AND THE DISPUTE , KLIMT WAS INFLAMED WITH BOTH SIDES. IN THE MIDST OF THIS APPLICATION ,
THE POSSIBILITY OF ACQUIRING THE PAINTINGS OPENED UP FOR WITTGENSTEIN (NEUE FREIE PRESSE 2Ll .1913).
HOWE VER , SEVERAL MUSICIANS WERE ALSO REGULAR VISITORS TO THE HOUSE OF WITTGENSTEIN. THE LADY
OF THE HOUSE , LEOPOLDINE WITTGENS TEIN , WAS HERSELF AGOOD PIANIST -AMO NG THEM JOHANNES BRAHMS ,
HANSLICK , MAX KALBECK , GUSTAV MAHLER , ROBERT FUCHS , BRUNO WALTER , FERDINAND LÖWE .> IN VIENNA ,
KARL WITTGENSTEIN OWNED THE PALAIS IN THE ALLEEGASSE , THE BANQUETING HALLS OF WHICH WERE DE­
CORATED WITH EXQUISITE WORKS OF ART- NAMELY PAINTINGS BELONGING TO THE MODERN MOVEMENT-AND
WHICH IN EARLIER DAYS HAD BEEN THE SCENE OF EXCELLENT MUSICAL PRODUCTIONS. JOACHIM (SIC) BRAHMS
AND HANSLICK WERE REGULAR VISITORS. IN NEUWALD EGG , WITTGENSTEIN OWNED A BIG VILLA WITH AN EX­
TENSIVE GARDEN AND WOOD LAND. EVEN BEFORE HIS RESIGNATION FROM HIS POSITIONS , HE HAD BOUGHT
LAND AT THE HOCHREIT (1894). THIS PROPERTY IS LOCATED IN LOWER AUSTRIA NEXT TO THE RAILWAYS FROM
ST PÖLTEN TO EGYD , SET NOT FAR FROM HOHEN WERK AND INCLUDES ENORMOUS WOODLANDS , AN OLD LOG
CABIN THAT HAD ONCE BEEN THE PLACE OF MAIN RESIDENCE AND , NEXT TO IT, A BEAUTIFUL HUNTING SEAT
EXECUTED BY KARL WITTGENSTEIN. HE IMPROVED THE CULTURE THERE CONSIDERABLY , HE ROUNDED OFF
THE PROPERTY BY PURCHASING STRIPS OF FARMLAND , HE BOUGHT ROADS AND PATHS AND HE CON TRIB UTED
TO THE PROSPERITY OF THE POPULATION. THE ROOMS IN THIS HO USE WERE FURNISHED IN A SIMPLE , YET TAS­
TEFUL, MANNER AND WERE A VERY PLEASANT AND COMFORTABLE RESIDENCE. THE HUNTING SEAT WAS THE
SCENE OF BUSTLING ACTIVITY AND OF THE GENEROUS HOSPITALITY HE WAS SO FOND OF INDULGING IN . THIS
HOUSE , TOO , IS FILLED WITH NUMEROUS WORKS OF ART, AND IT IS THERE THAT HANGS THE WE LL-K NOWN
PAINTING OF THE ALLEGORICAL IMAGE OF THE TRIBUTE WITTGENSTEIN ' S FRIENDS PAID TO THEIR HEAD AND
WHICH AT THAT TIME HAD GIVEN RISE TO A SENSATIONAL TRIAL.
Der Ficker, edited by Benedikt Ledebur, New Series, KUNST UND LEHRE BRINGEN GUNST UND EHRE, Contributors: Clegg & Gutt ­
mann, Peter Cole, Jörg Heiser, Martin Kippenberger und Albert Oehlen, Benedikt Ledebur, Rudolf Polanszky, Franz West, Georg Trakl
with a poem cycle dedicated to Ludwig von Ficker. Published in occasion of the show in the Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman, Innsbruck
2005, February - April. Schlebrügge.Editor/V ienna, 2005, p. 67-68.
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Contributions: Rade Pertasevic
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