Kärntnerstrasse Anno 1860 1908

Genre Street scene. A young lady in Biedermeier costume, side view from the right, head turned towards the viewer, her left hand pressed into her side, holding a stretched parasol in her right hand. Pink dress with neckerchief, over her left arm a black shoulder scarf with fringes slipped from shoulders. On the head a Biedermeier bonnet with red flowers. Background: canyon of houses, in the center of the picture St. Stephen's Cathedral.

JQAW# G_1908_010
Oil on canvas. 250x 120 cm.
Signature: Ɑdams. Kärnthnerstrasse. 1860.
Unknown private collection (Austria?)

Large-scale decorative painting for the Künstlerhaus Gschnasfest 1908 "60 years of Vienna", a theme inspired by the 60th anniversary of the reign of Emperor Franz Josef I.. Contrary to earlier festivities, however, no member of the imperial family took part in the 1908 celebration. (A participation of the emperor would have been completely unthinkable. He was only shown the particularly elaborate decorations with which the entire Künstlerhaus was decorated once in private during an afternoon visit, see Aichelburg's detailed descriptions in the cross-references). The present picture decorated a buffet set up in the passage from the Spanish Hall to the Spanish Annex. The Biedermeier dress of the young Dane in the picture is actually not historical for the year 1860 indicated in the title, but is to be understood as an allusion to the "good old 'fried chicken' time" of the Biedermeier, which was quite appropriate for a buffet. By chance, the picture remained for decades in the cellar (and the house carpentry, see cross-references) of the Künstlerhaus. In 1992, it was auctioned off at the Dorotheum along with other works by Adams (which, however, were not decorative paintings but major museum works by the artist). Therefore, the current location and owner is unknown.

Cross-references

The portrait in the depot (the carpenter's workshop) of the Künstlerhaus Vienna before 1992

W. Aichelburg, 150 Years of the Künstlerhaus, Chapter 5 Celebrations

Exhibited

1908 Künstlerhaus Vienna Gschnasfest.

1986 Academy Schillerplatz Vienna, Viennese Society in Portrait, Catalog No. 20

Literature

Schaffer/Eisenburger 1986, exhibition catalog #20 (w. B/W ill.)

APH, catalog raisonné JQA 1995, p. 91, cat.#60, ill.#42.

Vladimir Aichelburg, Das Wiener Künstlerhaus 1861-2001. Österr. Kunst- und Kulturverlag, Vienna 2003.

Provenance

1908-1992 Künstlerhaus Vienna.
1992 Auction Dorotheum 25.11.1992 Lot 441.
Unknown collection.