On 24 May 1897 nineteen artists left the traditional Viennese Künstlerhaus, partly because they did not want to work in a historising style and because they did not want to be influenced by politics. They opposed the Austrian arthistorical tradition, forcing them to find their inspiration elsewhere. As a result of the technological revolution starting around 1870, the world was increasingly globalised, allowing the artists to observe artistic traditions of many cultures. This period marked the rise of Japonism and orientalism flourished, most notably in France but also in Germany and Austria. Despite the absence of Austrian colonies, multiple exhibitions with objects from East-Asia and the Near East were hosted in fin de siècle Vienna. The World Expo was hosted in Vienna in 1873, including Ottoman, Japanese and Persian objects. The Ausstellung Orientalische Teppische was organised in the Österreiches Handels-Museum in 1891. And in 1910 München hosted the exhibition ‘Meisterwerke Muhammedanische Kunst’, to which Austria provided intellectual and physical attributions. According to curators of oriental exhibitions in Vienna and (contemporary) art critics, around 1900 artists and artisans took inspiration from oriental artisanry in the various temporary and permanent exhibitions and collections as inspiration for their own works. Some members of the Vienna Secession indeed owned and observed non-western objects, while some even traveled to Japan.
In this essay, I discuss to what extend the presence of objects from Asia has impacted the artworks from the members of the Vienna Secession.