19 Works, October 4th. is Maximilian Lenz's day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #216

Maximilian Lenz  (1860–1948)

Herbstgold/ Autumn Gold, c. 1904

Oil with gold relief on canvas

102 x 230.5 cm

Private collection

Maximilian Lenz (4 October 1860, Vienna – 19 May 1948, Vienna) was an Austrian painter, graphic artist and sculptor. Lenz was a founding member of the Vienna Secession; during his career's most important period, he was a Symbolist, but later his work became increasingly naturalistic. He worked in a variety of media, including oils, watercolours, lithography and metal reliefs.

Maximilian Lenz  (1860–1948)

Detail; Herbstgold, c. 1905

Oil with gold relief on canvas

102 x 230.5 cm

Private collection

Lenz studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna, then at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienner Carl Wurzinger and Christian Griepenkerl. A member of the Vienna Künstlerhaus spent the early 1890s in South America, designing banknotes in Buenos Aires.

Maximilian Lenz  (1860–1948)

A World, c. 1899

Oil on canvas

Height: 1,215 mm (47.83 in); Width: 1,860 mm (73.22 in)

Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

"Upon first viewing ‘One World’ I noted its murky use of the color as well as the lively dancing on display by the group of ladies in the background. These elements create a wonderful contrast, presenting us both joy and sadness as a reminder that one is often accompanied by the other. That said, the drab palette seems better suited to reflect the emotional state of our gentleman in the foreground, who appears deep in thought as he strides through grass with cigarette in hand. Based on his clothing and demeanor, his presence in this grassy field strikes me unusual though not entirely implausible. Whatever the case, he seems to be a stranger passing through unfamiliar territory..." More on this painting

Maximilian Lenz  (1860–1948)

Detail; A World, c. 1899

Oil on canvas

Height: 1,215 mm (47.83 in); Width: 1,860 mm (73.22 in)

Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Lenz, Maximilian, 1860-1948,

"Sirk-Ecke" ("Sirk-Corner"), c. 1900

Oil on canvas,

71 × 162 cm.

Vienna, Wien Museum.

The Sirk corner on the Ringstrasse, a circular grand boulevard that serves as a ring road around the historic Innere Stadt district of Vienna, Austria

In 1897, Lenz left the Künstlerhaus to become a founding member of the Vienna Secession, and his work for the group's first exhibition was hailed as "outstanding". His 1899 painting, A World (Eine Welt, also translated as A Day Dream) (See above), draws on the time's prevailing currents, including dreamlike and fantastic imagery painted in intense colour. It was shown at the Fourth Exhibition of the Vienna Secession in spring 1899, and received critical praise for its "graceful charm and dreamy yet sparkling beauty" and its mood of "pure grace and musical euphony". The painting was also shown in winter 1911-12 with the Munich Secession.

Maximilian Lenz*, (Wien 1860 - 1948 Wien)

Autumn/ Herbst, c. 1901

Oil on canvas

100 x 100 cm

Private collection

Maximilian Lenz (Austrian, 1860-1948)

The golden cloak

Oil on panel heightened with gold relief

46¼ x 26¾ in. (117.5 x 67.9 cm.)

Private collection

Having shown his picture On the Way to Wonderland at the Tenth Exhibition of the Vienna Secession in 1901 and the Thirteenth Exhibition in spring 1902, at the Secession's Fourteenth Exhibition in the summer of that year (the 'Beethoven exhibition') he showed a number of reliefs in various metals, which were noted as beautiful and inventive. Some of his copper panels were also shown at the 1904 World's Fair in St Louis.

Maximilian Lenz, (Wien 1860 - 1948 Wien)

Sommerlust, c. 1906

Oil on canvas

74.5 × 100 cm

Private collection

However, a foray, together with various other Secession artists, into woodcuts for the Beethoven exhibition catalogue was panned as "rough" and more like the work of an amateur than an experienced painter, but was also found to be enthusiastic not totally without merit.

Lenz, Maximilian, 1860-1948

Idunasäpfel/ Iduna's apples, c. 1904

Oil on canvas

29.9 cm × 15.2 cm

In Norse mythology is a goddess associated with apples and youth. Iðunn is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In both sources, she is described as the wife of the skaldic god Bragi, and in the Prose Edda, also as a keeper of apples and granter of eternal youthfulness. More on Iduna

With Gustav Klimt, Lenz visited Ravenna in the winter of 1903-04, where they saw and were influenced by the golden mosaics. At the Twentieth Exhibition in 1904, Lenz's painting Iduna's Apples, was considered to be one of the highlights amongst the paintings shown, along with the works of Klimt and Rudolf von Alt. The large painting, similar in style to Aubrey Beardsley, created a "gorgeous" effect of gold and black: a black-haired woman sits in a lush landscape, wearing only a golden crown and sat on a golden cloak, holding Iduna's apple—also golden—in her hands. Within the Secession, for the first decade Lenz was a Pre-Raphaelite influence; after 1910, his work showed more naturalism, and he moved away from the foreground after 1918.

Maximilian Lenz (Austrian, 1860–1948)

Altes Lied, c. 1905

Oil with gold relief on canvas

102.5 x 230 cm. (40.4 x 90.6 in.)

Private collection

Altes Lied is an old song. Translation by Richard Stokes

"There was an aged monarch,

His heart was sore, his head was grey;

The poor and aged monarch,

He took a youthful wife.

There was a handsome page-boy,

His head was blond, his heart was light;

He carried the silken train

Behind the youthful queen.

Do you know the age-old story?

It sounds so sweet, it sounds so sad!

Both of them had to die,

They loved each other too much.

Maximilian Lenz (Austrian, 1860–1948)

Detail; Altes Lied, c. 1905

Oil with gold relief on canvas

102.5 x 230 cm. (40.4 x 90.6 in.)

Private collection

Maximilian Lenz

The Painter Friedrich König and Ida Kupelwieser in a forest, c. 1910

Oil on canvas

H. 100.5; L. 228.5 cm.

Musée d'Orsay

Friedrich König (20 December 1857 in Vienna – 11 March 1941 in Vienna) was an Austrian painter, illustrator and designer.

Ida Kupelwieser was Maximilian Lenz's wife

Maximilian Lenz  (1860–1948)

Waldkönig und das klagende Mädchen/ The forest king and the wailing maiden, c. circa 1907

I have no further description, at this time

Maximilian Lenz  (1860–1948)

Marionneten/ Marionettes, c. circa 1909

I have no further description, at this time

Lenz served on the Secession's official committee in 1905 and again in 1906. He also exhibited with the Secession in spring 1906, showing the Forest King (See above) and the Wailing Maiden; in 1907; in 1908 at the Twenty-Ninth Exhibition; in 1909 and 1910, showing the playful painting Marionnetes; in 1911 (See above), showing Concert; in 1913; and as part of a collective exhibition in 1941.

Maximilian Lenz (1860–1948)

Spring, c. 1904

Oil on canvas

H 174.2 x W 365.7 cm

National Museum Wales, National Museum Cardiff

In 1903 he accompanied Klimt on a visit to Ravenna, where both artists were deeply impressed by the hieratic style and decorative use of gold in the Byzantine mosaics. This allegorical figure of Spring accompanied by a peacock dates from around 1904. At the left a couple in contemporary dress watch four dancing nymphs. Its large scale suggests that this work was intended for an architectural setting. More on this painting

Maximilian Lenz, 1860-1948

Fruhlingsreigen/ A Song of Spring

Oil on canvas

162 x 201 cms | 63 3/4 x 79 ins

Private collection

Maximilian Lenz

The dance of the Fawn

Oil on canvas

47 ¼ x 47 ¼ in. (120 x 120 cm.)

Private collection

His 1913 painting A Song of Spring (See above) was influenced by the dancer Isadora Duncan's 1904 stay in Vienna, sharing her symbolic themes of cyclic renewal and rebirth and featuring mediaeval costume. These ideas and a connection with dance are also prominent within Klimt's work, and the Symbolist movement as a whole. Lenz also painted religious themes, including The Baptism of the Ethiopians.

During World War I, Lenz created several posters advertising Austro-Hungarian war bonds.

Maximilian Lenz (Austrian, 1860–1948)

Panslieder I/ Pan's Song I, c. 1928–1947

Oil on canvas

37 x 102.8 cm. (14.6 x 40.5 in.)

Private collection

Lenz painted this triptych in 1900. It must have been very important to him since he altered it a number of times and only completed it in 1947.

Maximilian Lenz (Austrian, 1860–1948)

Panslieder II/ Pan's Song II, c. 1928–1947

Oil on canvas

37 x 102.8 cm. (14.6 x 40.5 in.)

Private collection

Maximilian Lenz (Austrian, 1860–1948)

Panslieder III/  Pan's Song III, c. 1928–1947

Oil on canvas

37 x 102.8 cm. (14.6 x 40.5 in.)

Private collection

Maximilian Lenz

Round dance, c. 1898

Gouache on paper

34.5 x 51.0 cm (mat cut-out)

Private collection

In 1926, he married Ida Kupelwieser (1870–1927), the daughter of the jurist Karl Kupelwieser.

Maximilian Lenz, (Wien 1860 - 1948 Wien)

Goddess Iduna with peacock, c. 1932

Oil on canvas

98 × 212 cm

Private collection

Maximilian Lenz, (Wien 1860 - 1948 Wien)

Detail; Goddess Iduna with peacock, c. 1932

Oil on canvas

98 × 212 cm

Private collection

He left the Secession and rejoined the Künstlerhaus in 1938. More on Maximilian Lenz

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