Klimt

Art historian Bouillon presents a detailed history and analysis of Klimt's great masterpiece in Vienna's Secession Building: the extraordinary murals celebrating Beethoven's Ninth Symphony that reflect at once the highest achievements of the Austrian avante-garde while summing up and closing the era of art nouveau that swept Europe at the turn of the century. Bouillon's dense essay outlines the cultural ferment of preWorld War I Austria that forms the backdrop for Klimt's political and esthetic challenges to the conservative academicians who ruled official artistic life. The author also examines carefully the dazzling beauty and imagination that characterizes Klimt's work and notes the murals' place within the larger body of his work. There are fine reproductions of the murals as well as period photos and a bibliography. Highly recommended. (July)