Enfilade

Now on view at the Leopold Museum, with the full press release available at Art Daily . . .

Biedermeier: The Rise of an Era / Eine Epoche im Aufbruch

Leopold Museum, Vienna, 10 April — 27 July 2025

Curated by Johann Kräftner with Lili-Vienne Debus

Day Dress, ca. 1816 (Wien Museum; photo by Birgit and Peter Kainz).

The fascinating era of the Biedermeier, which lasted from around the time of the Congress of Vienna in 1814/15 to the revolutions of 1848, delineates a period in Europe that was shaped by political upheaval and social revolts, which profoundly changed society. The congress resulted in the restitution of absolutism and princely rule, heralding a long phase of political restoration founded on a suppression of democratic aspirations. The resigned population turned away from politics and revolutionary ideals for fear of reprisals, seeking refuge in the private sphere. Themes of longing for security and harmony in everyday life entered the pictorial worlds of the Biedermeier.

Aside from all the political friction, the Biedermeier was also an era of great innovation and esthetical changes. The most important driving force was the industrial progress, which led to the construction of the first railway lines and spectacular suspension bridges, like the one connecting Buda and Pest. These technological revolutions resulted in decisive changes in the development of art. Many of these innovations did not emanate from Vienna as the center of the Habsburg Monarchy, but rather from the splendid cities of the crown lands, such as Budapest, Prague, Ljubljana, Trieste, Venice, and Milan.

The art of the monarchy was shaped by international exchange. Thus, the exhibition showcases not only the Viennese masters, including Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller and Friedrich von Amerling, but also Miklós Barabás and József Borsos from Budapest, Antonín Machek and František Tkadlík from Prague, as well as the artists active in Lombardy-Venetia Francesco Hayez and Jožef Tominc (Giuseppe Tominz).

Secretary, Bohemia, ca. 1820 (Prague: The Museum of Decorative Arts; photo by Gabriel Urbánek and Ondřej Kocourek).

Despite the severe poverty of the time, which affected large segments of the population, the simultaneous economic upturn yielded a bourgeoisie whose members wanted to be depicted in confident portraits. Alongside portraits celebrating realistic likenesses of the depicted and the documentation of their social status, the pictorial worlds were dominated by themes from everyday life: family portraits, genre paintings, and renderings of the artists’ own surroundings. Despite the Biedermeier’s typical restrictions to the microcosm of the everyday and one’s immediate surroundings, artists of the period also looked further afield to far-flung countries and cities in order to satisfy people’s curiosity and interest in foreign cultures. Featuring around 190 works from Austrian and international collections, ranging from paintings and graphic works to furnishings, glassware and dresses, the exhibition presents a varied picture of this era.

Curator: Johann Kräftner
Curatorial Assistance and Project Coordination: Lili-Vienne Debus

Johann Kräftner and Hans-Peter Wipplinger, eds., Biedermeier: Eine Epoche im Aufbruch / The Rise of an Era (Cologne: Walther König, 2025), 328 pages, ISBN: ‎978-3753308159, €40.
The catalogue, in German and English, includes essays by Lili-Vienne Debus, Sabine Grabner, Johann Kräftner, Stefan Kutzenberger, Michaela Lindinger, Fernando Mazzocca, Juliane Mikoletzky, Adrienn Prágai and Radim Vondráček, as well as a prologue by Hans-Peter Wipplinger.

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Note (added 23 April 2025) — This posting originally appeared April 22; it was moved back to April 21st for improved continuity with other posts.