Gustav Klimt's Stoclet Frieze

7/22/2019 Gustav Klimt's Stoclet Frieze

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Mythic Rebirth in Gustav Klimt's Stoclet Frieze: New Considerations of Its EgyptianizingForm and ContentAuthor(s): M.E. WarlickSource: The Art Bulletin, Vol. 74, No. 1 (Mar., 1992), pp. 115-134

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M y t h i c R e b i r t h in G u s t a v K l im t 's S t o c l e t F r i e z e : N e wConsiderations o f I t s Egyptianizingo r m a n d C o n t e n tM.E. WarlickIn 1905, the Klimt Group broke from the Vienna Secession, aresult of disagreements that had divided the "Naturalist" or"Impressionist" artists led by Josef Englehart and the"Stylistic" avant-garde led by the Secession's first president,Gustav Klimt.' The founding of the Wiener Werkstitte byJosef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser in 1903 had aggra-vated the tensions between Englehart's "pure painters" andthe Werkstitte artists, who were committed to the integrationof the fine and applied arts. Arguments over their participa-tion in the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 led to furtheralienation, with the final break resulting from Englehart'scriticism of Carl Moll's financial entanglements with theMiethke Gallery in Vienna. Losing the debate over theMiethke matter by a single vote, Klimt resigned from theSecession along with many of its most vital members, includ-ing Hoffmann, Moser, and Moll.2This dispute rekindled the Klimt Group's zealous dedica-tion to the original goals of the Secession-the rebirth ofAustrian art, the improved quality of the applied arts, andsolidarity with other European avant-garde movements. ForKlimt, this was a painful time during which he began toreassess his career. In April 1905, two months before theKlimt Group's defection from the Secession, he made thedecision to withdraw his three paintings commissioned forthe University of Vienna's Aula ceiling-Philosophy, Medicine,and Jurisprudence-which had received so much negativecriticism in the press and from the academic community.3During this tumultuous period, Josef Hoffmann receivedthe commission for the Palais Stoclet (1905-11) in Brusselsand shared it with other members of the Klimt Group.4 TheWiener Werkstitte took charge of the design and executionof the furnishings, sparing no expense to complement andenrich the architectural environment. Because they were leftwithout an exhibition space when Englehart and his follow-

ers retained control of Joseph Olbrich's Secession Building,the Klimt Group used the Palais Stoclet commission as anopportunity to showcase their works and those of otheravant-garde artists outside of Austria.Klimt's contribution to the project, the Stoclet Frieze,consists of three elaborate mosaics in the dining room (Fig.1).5Two long multi-paneled mosaics made of marble, ceram-ics, enamel, and semi-precious stones face each other onopposite walls. Each contains a large tree with spiralingbranches and a smaller flowering bush with birds, butterflies,and stylized blossoms scattered throughout. They differ onlyin the figural panels, on the left a single woman and on theright an embracing couple (Figs. 2, 6, 13). A third, smallermosaic, filled with abstract geometric symbols, is placed onthe short wall opposite the windows looking onto the garden(Figs. 1, 16). Studies have documented Klimt's drawings forthis project, and his supervision of its execution by theWiener Werkstitte under the technical direction of LeopoldForstner.6

Two new perspectives need to be added to the wealth ofdocumentation that now exists for the Stoclet project. Previ-ous studies have explored the ancient sources for Klimt'sdecorative ornamentation that culminated in his StocletFrieze.7 This study examines other factors that led to Klimt'seclectic selection of archaic designs and, specifically, to hisuse of Egyptian motifs. Secondly, scholars have long as-sumed that the murals lacked any iconographic program,with the single female figure (Fig. 6) and the embracingcouple (Fig. 13) typically entitled "Expectation" and "Fulfill-ment." In 1911, Berta Zuckerkandl assumed that the singlefemale figure, designated by Klimt as a "Tdinzerin" on theworking drawing, symbolized youth. Zuckerkandl remarkedthat Klimt often used images of hope (expectation) andfulfillment to overshadow more threatening ones.8 A. Weixl-

I am grateful to Richard Moore for his advice during the early phases ofthis research, and to Ladyce Periera-Leite and Susan Barnes for theirencouragement to continue the project and expand its scope.'Hevesi observed that in both the "Impressionnisten" and "Stilisten"groups, there were artists whose personal styles differed from theselabels. "Der Bruch in der Sezession" (22 June 1905), in AchtJahreSezesszon Mdrz1897-Junz 1905): Krztik,Polemik, Chronzk,Vienna, 1906,504. See also Nebehay, 345-350.2 R. Waissenberger, VzennaSecesszon,New York, 88-93; and Vergo,84-85.For a discussion of this controversy see Vergo, 49-62; and C. Schorske,FzndeSiecle Vienna:Polztzcsnd Culture,New York, 1981, 226-267. Theseworks are illustrated in Novotny and Dobai, cat. nos. 105, 112, and 128.

4 Sekler, 76-100, 299-310, cat. no. 104.' For standard references to the Stoclet Frieze, see Nebehay, 381-392;Novotny and Dobai, 342-344, cat. nos. 152-153; and Strobl, 139-140,186-188, cat. nos. 1810-18, which include the dimensions for eachpanel drawing. Dimensions for Klimt's executed mosaics are long wall,

200 x 740cm; end wall, 183 x 89cm. Scale drawings of the PalaisStoclet's floor plan are included in Sekler, 300-301.6 L. Neustifter, "Der Entwurf Gustav Klimts fuirden Fries im PalaisStoclet in Brfissel," Alte und moderneKunst, xIx, 1974, 27-34. WhileDobai dated the drawings as 1906-07, Strobl dated them 1907-08. TheWiener Werkstaittereceived the commission for the panels in 1909 andearly in 1910 began the execution of the panels. The panels werecompleted and installed in Brussels by October 1911, when BertaZuckerkandlwrote her article describing them; Strobl, 139, 183.7 L. Hevesi, "Gustav Klimt und die Malmosaik" (Aug. 1907), in Altkunst-Neukunst, 211; Leshko, 16-23; Vergo, 147; M. Bisanz-Prakken, "ZumGemilde Pallas Athene von Gustav Klimt,"Alte und moderneKunst, xxi,1976, 8-11; K. Kilinski, II, "Classical Klimtomania: Gustav Klimt andArchaic Greek Art,"ArtsMagazzne,LIII,Apr. 1979, 96-99; zdem,"Classi-cal Klimtomania: An Update," ArtsMagazzne,LVI,Mar. 1982, 106-07; L.Florman, "Gustav Klimt and the Precedent of Ancient Greece," ArtBulletzn,LXXII,June1990, 310-326.8 Cited by Strobl, 184.


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:ol aa- ~ ? ?~~1 Hoffmann, Dining Room of the Palais Stoclet, Brussels, 1905-11; mosaics by Klimt (photo: Lichtbildwerkstitte "Alpenland")

girtner continued to designate the figures as a "Tinzerin"and "Liebespaar," while M. Eisler interpreted the scene as acelebration of the miracle of spring in which the singlewoman and the lovers symbolized the longing for love andthe happiness of love.' Both "Expectation" and "Fulfillment"have been related to a number of drawings,10 and"Fulfillment" has been analyzed as part of Klimt's recurringtheme of embracing couples found in paintings throughouthis career, including Love (1895), Philosophy(1899-1907) forthe University of Vienna Aula ceiling, the "Kiss" of theBeethoven Frieze (1902), and The Kiss (1907-08)." Beyondthese associations, no further iconographic study of theStoclet Frieze has been attempted. Yet, embedded in thisornate matrix of Egyptian symbols is a mythological tale ofdiscord, death, and rebirth that was timely both for Klimt

personally and for the Klimt Group in their struggles torevitalize the original goals of the Vienna Secession. Klimt'sadoption of Egyptian mythology and art indicate a richer,more complex eclecticism in his work and a stronger interestin ancient Egypt in early twentieth-century Vienna thanpreviously suspected. This study will examine the style andthe content of Klimt's Stoclet Frieze in an effort further toclarify the richness of its meaning and its significance inKlimt's career.Klimt's Decorative EclecticismKlimt's love of ornament derived from his academic trainingand reflected his response to the tastes of Viennese patronsstill rooted in the historicism popularized by Hans Makart,the most successful and flamboyant nineteenth-century artistin Vienna. For his first important commission, the ceiling ofthe Grand Stairway at the Burgtheater (1886-88), Klimt, hisbrother Ernst, and Franz Matsch painted a series of historicalpanels commemorating the great theaters of the past. Thesuccess of this project secured the next important commis-sion for Klimt and his partners, the main entrance of theKunsthistorisches Museum (1890-91). In the spandrels andintercolumnar spaces above the main staircase, they paintedallegorical figures to symbolize notable periods in the historyof art. Klimt painted the sections representing the art ofEgypt, Greece, and the Early and High Renaissance in

9 A. Weixlgirtner, "Gustav Klimt," Die GraphischenKiinst, xxxv, 1912,56, and M. Eisler, GustavKlimt,Vienna, 1920, 37-38. Numerous studiesthat followed referred to the two figures as "Expectation" and"Fulfillment,"though recent scholars have noted that these terms do notadequately describe the figures.'0Strobl, 142-149, 160-169, 178-182." Dobai, 83-142. McDonnell echoes many of these ideas and placesKlimt's treatment of the theme within the context of the Symbolistmovement; P. McDonnell, "TheKiss:A Barometer for the Symbolism ofGustav Klimt," Arts Magazine, LX,Apr. 1986, 65-73. These works areillustrated in Novotny and Dobai, cat. nos. 68, 105, 127, 154.


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MYTHIC REBIRTH IN GUSTAV KLIMT'S STOCLET FRIEZE 117

Rome, Venice, and Florence. In these panels, he combinedfigures, decorative details, ornamental borders, costumes,and jewelry drawn from the appropriate historical period.Most studies have pointed to this commission as the begin-ning of Klimt's ater development of decorativeornament."2The spandrel and intercolumnar space devoted to Egyp-tian art (Figs. 3 and 4) contain Klimt'sfirstincorporation ofEgyptianimageryadapted from original artworks or repro-ductions.'3In the spandrel (Fig. 3), a nude woman holds inher hands the ankh, the symbol of life, and the sistrum,therattle of the goddess Isis. Behind her is Nechebt, a vulturegoddess and patron of southern Egypt,"4which Klimtcopiedfrom the painted ceiling in the first Egyptian room of theKunsthistorisches Museum. He adapted the door moldingsfrom that same room to create the horizontal bar on whichthe vulture perches. Other similarities to the museum'sEgyptiancollection appear in the intercolumnarspace (Fig.4) where a seated scribe, the god Ptah holding his scepter,and a painted sarcophagus all could have been based onsculptures in the collection. On the sarcophagus, Klimtcombineda paintednaturalistichead withincisedhieroglyph-ics, thus fusing two types of sarcophagi into one. Theenthroned goddess Isis with her horned headdress wasgleaned from a book on Egyptianart.15In the backgroundofthis panel, Klimt reproduced the Hathor capitals from theHypostyle Hall of the Denderah Temple, another detail thathe probablytook fromreproductions.'6In these early panels Klimt included many of the mostimportant deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In addition tothe goddesses Isis, Hathor, and Nechebt, the falcon godHorus, Isis'sson, can be seen in the bottom register of bothcompositions. The ibis-headed Thoth, god of wisdom andpoetry, appears in the spandrel below the nude woman'sright elbow. The inclusion of Ptah, patron of artists, showsthat Klimt chose his images deliberatelyeven if the resultingpictorial montage does not have any cohesive iconographicprogram. Yet many of these same deities would later reap-pear in the Stoclet Frieze.Between these twocommissions,Egyptian magerydid nothave a significant impact on Klimt. In fact, most of hisdecorativedesigns throughout the 1890s derived fromGreeksources, as can be seen in the portrait of the pianist JosefPembauer (1890) and in the paintings Music I (1895) and

MusicII (1898).17 As the decade drew to a close, Klimt'sworkbecame more insistently archaic. Archaic Greek elementsexisted in these three earlier paintings, but in Pallas Athene(1898) most of the painting can be traced to archaicsources.Soon thereafter,Klimt'sornamentation became increasinglyeclectic, incorporating details from other ancient cultures,such as his use of Assyriandetails in Judithand Holofernes(1901).In his analysisof Mycenaean borrowings,J. Leshko sug-gested that Klimt had been influenced by the books ofHeinrich Schliemann, whose excavations of early Greekcivilizationwere widely publicized.18 Artifacts from archaiccivilizations were being collected avidly in German andAustrianmuseumshavingstrongethnographic and archaeo-logical interests. Perhaps Klimt's preference for archaicornamentation was simplya reflection of these newfindsandthe availabilityof more authentic information about archaiccultures. However, Leshko also suggested the influence ofthe theories of the Viennese art historian Alois Riegl (1858-1905).19Riegl began his career at the Austrian Museum ofArts and Crafts in Vienna, as curator in the textile depart-ment. His workwith the decorativearts led to an interest inornamental designs which he explored in his first book,Stilfragen 1893).20 Claiming that the stylistic evolution ofornament in ancient cultures had been continuous, Rieglincluded chapters on Egypt, Mesopotamia, Mycenae, ar-chaic Greece, and Byzantium, and proposed that new de-signs resulted from an internal development, typicallyevolv-ing as variations from older designs, rather than as newobservations of nature. He also argued in favor of linear andshallow relief forms over three-dimensional naturalisticrep-resentations, and saw Egyptianart as best exemplifying histheory of "self-containedness." The implications of Riegl'stheories on the development of Klimt'sdecorative ornamentwarrantfurther study. Riegl not only elevated the historyofornament and the applied arts to a topic worthyof serioushistorical consideration, but he also raised the aestheticworth of the archaic or late phases of a style in the face of aclassicizing dealism. Klimtundoubtedlyknewof Riegl'swrit-ings, whichappeared before and during the period when hisornamentaldesignsunderwent theirmost radicalevolution.21Klimt'schoice of Egyptian magerywasalso inspiredbythepaintings ofJan Toorop exhibited at the seventh and twelfth

12See n. 7 above.'3A full list of Klimt'spersonal librarycannot be reconstructed. Capart'sEgyptian Art, 1909, was mentioned in one of Klimt's letters, but thisedition is too late to have provided images for the KunsthistorischesMuseum commission. Nebehay, 52.4A. Erman, Life znAnczentEgypt,trans. H. M. Tirard, New York, 1894,20.15This illustration appears in several books by Georg Ebers. It is alsoillustrated in W.H. R6scher, AusfiihrlichesLexiconder grieschzschen ndromzschenMythologze,Leipzig, 1889, II,col. 367. Klimt adjusts the angleslightly to accommodate the needs of this composition. The R6scherLexzconalso could have provided the Apollo figure in Josef Pembauer(1890). A line drawing of Apollo from Vol. I, col. 453, is a more likelysource than the original black-figure amphora suggested by Kilinski,1979 (as in n. 7), 96.16 Ill. in J. Capart, EgyptzanArt, trans. W.R. Dawson, London, 1923, pl.48. The inscriptions at Denderah illustrated the annual ceremonieshonoring the god Osiris. See Budge, II, 21-43.

"7Florman suggests that Klimt's theme of music and his references toApollo and Dionysus were influenced by Nietzsche (as in n. 7), 319-323.These works areillustrated n Novotnyand Dobai, cat.nos. 58, 69, and 89.18Leshko, 20.19 While neither Schliemann's nor Riegl's books can be definitely placedin Klimt's library, he certainly had access to them. See Nebehay, 55, n.3c. Leshko did not claim that Klimt knew Riegl personally, althoughthey must have known each other by reputation. Riegl became professorat the University of Vienna in 1897 and died in 1905, the same year thatKlimt'swithdrew his paintings for the Aula ceiling there.20A. Riegl, Stzlfragen, Berlin, 1893, 41-86. For a summary of histheories, see 0. Picht, "Art Historians and Critics--vI: Alois Riegl,"BurlzngtonMagazine,cv, May 1963, 188-193; and M. Podro, TheCritzcalHzstoriansof Art, New Haven, 1982, 71-97. For further connectionsbetween Riegl and Klimt, see M. Olin, "Forms of Respect: Alois Riegl'sConcept of Attentiveness," ArtBulletzn,LXXI,une 1989, 285-299.2 Leshko, 20. Riegl's books Spatromzsche unstzndustrzend Das hollandzs-cheGruppenportrat ere published in 1901 and 1902.


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a b2a-d Klimt, panels of the Treeof Life, 1908-09. Vienna, Osterreichisches Museum ffirAngewandte Kunst (photo: Museum)

Secession exhibitions in 1900 and 1902. The Amarna-likecurvilinearity of Toorop's Three Brides (1893) found its wayinto Klimt's Beethoven Frieze (1902) and Jurisprudence(1903).22 Of the three University of Vienna paintings,Juris-prudencecontains the most decorative symbols, although theyare geometric abstractions rather than authentic Egyptiandesigns. Because the Amarna style is so atypical, the threewomen seem to be derived more directly from Art Nouveauinnovations than from original Egyptian sources, althoughthe right angle bend in their hands forecasts the gesture ofthe "Dancer" in the Stoclet Frieze (Fig. 2, b).

The other major stylistic influence during this period wasByzantine, due to Klimt's two trips to Ravenna undertaken in1903. Concerning the second trip in December, his travelingcompanion Maximilian Lenz, a painter and fellow foundingmember of the Secession, remembered the overwhelmingimpression that the mosaics made on him: "Klimt was reallydeeply moved. He did not express it, but one saw it clearly.""23While gold paint and decorative ornament had alreadybegun to appear in Klimt's paintings, upon his return fromseeing the Ravenna mosaics his paintings were increasinglyencrusted with mosaic-like ornamentation.

2 M. Bisanz-Prakken, "GustavKlimt und die 'Stilkunst'Jan Toorops," inKlimt-Studien,Mitteilungender OsterreichischenGalerie,xxII/xxIII, 1978-79, 146-214. This article compares numerous paintings and drawingsby Toorop and Klimt and illustrates the works mentioned here.

23 W. Dessauer, "Eine Winterreise mit Klimt: Nach Erinnerungen desMalers Maximilian Lenz" (1933) in GustavKlimt:Die GoldenePforte,ed.O. Breicha, Salzburg, 1978, 99.


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By the time Klimt received the commission for the StocletFrieze, his preference for archaic ornament and the powerfulvisual impact of the Ravenna mosaics were coming together.In addition, the artistic tastes of his patrons also contributedto the design of the Frieze. Klimt met Adolphe and SuzanneStoclet in May 1906, during a trip to Brussels to survey thebuilding site and to discuss the commission. He must havebeen delighted to find that their eclectic collection somatched many of his own recent interests.24 In addition toPersian and Armenian miniatures, ivories, enamels, andChinese painting, they also owned Egyptian sculptures,Byzantine jewels, and paintings by the Italian "primitives,"

including Lorenzo Monaco, Bernardo Daddi, Duccio, andSimone Martini. The Stoclet's collection, destined to bedisplayed near the dining room where the Frieze was to bemounted, no doubt influenced Klimt's design and even hischoice of materials, which included enamel, ceramic, andsemi-precious stones.Egypt and Beuron AestheticsThe swirling spiral branches of Klimt's two long mosaics (Fig.2) have often been compared to designs in the mosaics at S.Vitale.25 Nevertheless, another model existed in a churchcloser to home, the Gnadenkapelle at the Beuron Abbey in

24 Strobl, 139-140. At that time there was only one contemporary work,Avril by Maurice Denis, in their collection. Many of their paintings andobjects are illustrated in the AdolpheStocletCollection,ntro. G. Salles andD. Lion-Goldschmidt, Brussels, 1956.

25Hevesi first noted the influence of S. Vitale on the development ofKlimt's mosaic-like paintings in "Gustav Klimt und die Malmosaik," inAltkunst-Neukunst, 11.


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Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (Fig. 5).26 This chapel was builtbetween 1898 and 1899 according to the plans of Father P.MauritiusGisler (d. 1940), and then painted by Father PaulKrebs(1849-1935) between 1901 and 1903.27Krebswas oneof the most accomplished and productive members of theBeuronerKunstschule, ed by FatherDesiderius Lenz (1832-1928), the guiding force behind its aesthetic theories. PeterLenz took the name Desideriuswhen he was admitted to thenovitiate of the Benedictine order in 1877, and he should not

be confused with MaximilianLenz, the Secessionist painterwho accompanied Klimtduring his second trip to Ravennain 1903.While elaborate ornamentation covers the walls of thischapel, the spirals in the spandrels at the very top of thisphotograph (Fig. 5) are nearly identical to the ones in theStoclet Frieze (Fig. 2). Perhapsthis similarity s coincidental,due to the fact that both workswere derived from Ravennamosaics. However, the comparison may suggest a link be-

26 The Beuron Abbey, located near the origin of the Danube Riverbetween Tuttlingen and Sigmaringen, was founded as an Augustinianmonastery. Through the patronage of Princess Katharina, widow ofPrince Karl von Hohenzollern, the Abbey was reclaimed in the 1860s bythe two Wolter brothers, Father Maurus and Father Placid, who hadbeen commissioned by Pope Pius IX to restore Benedictinism inGermany outside Bavaria. See H. Van Zeller, The Benedictine Idea,

Springfield, Ill., 1959, 193-199. The early history, architectural evolu-tion, and interior decoration of the Abbey are discussed in U. Engel-mann, O.S.B., Beuron:Die Benediktinerabteim Donautal, Munich, 1957,3-46.27 0. Wolff, O.S.B., "Beuroner Kunst,"Die christlicheKunst,II, 1910-11,136; for a list of the major works by Krebs, see S. Mayer, O.S.B., BeuronerBibliographie,Beuron-Hohenzollern, 1963, 168-170.


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tween Klimt's art and the theories of Father Desiderius Lenz.Lenz's influence and that of the Beuroner Kunstschule onsome of the Nabis has been established,28 but almost nomention has been made of his relationship to the ViennaSecession.

Born in Haigerloch in Hohenzollern in 1832, Lenz re-ceived his academic training in Munich (1850-57), where hewas drawn to the archaic Greek figures from Aegina at theGlyptothek.29 Traveling to Rome on a stipend (1862-65), heimmersed himself in the study of antiquities, particularlyEgyptian examples, which he considered the most beauti-fully proportioned of all ancient art. In the south Tyroldirecting a marble quarry (1865-68), Lenz first formulatedhis aesthetic theories while also studying medieval choralmusic, a pastime that brought him to the attention of theBenedictine abbey at Beuron.

In 1868, the prior of the Abbey commissioned Lenz toconstruct a small chapel near Beuron dedicated to Saint

Maur. The Chapel of St. Maur is a curious combination ofEgyptian, Assyrian, and archaic Greek designs, reflectingLenz's eclectic borrowings. He worked on this project withthe painter Jakob Wuiger (1829-92), whom he met in Rome,and Wiiger's student, Lukas Steiner (1849-1906). In 1876,the year that Lenz was admitted to the monastery, theCouncil of Monte Cassino in Italy asked Beuron to sendartists to redecorate the Toretta in commemoration of thefourteenth centenary of Saint Benedict's birth planned for1880.30 The prior, and later abbot of Monte Cassino, FatherBonifatius Krug, had admired the Chapel of St. Maur duringa trip to Germany, and he was instrumental in giving this andfuture commissions to Lenz. Throughout the 1880s, work onthe frescos at Monte Cassino continued under Lenz's super-vision, although he frequently traveled to oversee othercommissions. In 1892, Pope Leo XIII commissioned Lenz torestore the tombs of Saint Benedict and his sister SaintScholastica at Monte Cassino, an enormous project thatcontinued until 1913.

While Klimt could have been aware of these projects, theconnection between his decorative eclecticism and Lenz'saesthetic theories seems more likely. Lenz's book, ZurAesthe-tikderBeuroner Schule,was published in Vienna in 1898, soonafter the founding of the Vienna Secession.3' In this book,Lenz recalled the magical attraction of the Aegina figures,whose architectonic form, simplicity, symmetry, and unifor-mity represented a type of art entirely different from that ofthe Renaissance and its descendants. From his technicaltraining in sculpture, Lenz developed an interest in idealmeasurement, particularly the various "canons" establishedin ancient art to proportion the human figure.32 He faultedthe Academy for its overemphasis on the "ideal" and itsfailure to capture the true essence of form, as it strayed fromthe strong formal principles that characterized ancient art.Nature was the model, although the slavish imitation ofappearances had led to degenerate "Naturalism." The an-cient "canon" was not copied from living nature, but ratherconstructed from an aesthetic geometry common to allnatural form. Lenz concluded that the greatest art exhibited

28 Chass6, 116-153; see also G. Mauner, The Nabis: Their HistoryandTheirArt,1888-1896, New York, 1978, 109ff.29 In addition to the sources cited above, accounts of Father DesideriusLenz's life can be found in the following: "Die Beuroner Kunstschule,"KunstfiirAlle, xxllI, Mar. 1908, 241-250ff; J. Kreitmaier, S.J., BeuronerKunst: Eine Ausdrucksformdu christlichenMystik, Freiburg, 1914; D.Zahringer, O.S.B., "Kunstund Kiinstlerim erstenJahrhundert Beurons,"in Beuron: Das hundertsteJahr, Beuron, 1962, 114-119. For the mostcomplete account of his early years, see H. Siebenmorgen, Die AnfaingederBeuronerKunstschule: eterLenzundJakobWiiger1850-1875, Sigmar-ingen, 1983.soThe importance of Monte Cassino stems from the founding of themonastery by Saint Benedict in the early 6th century. For the renova-tions to the crypt of Monte Cassino in the 19th century by the BeuronKunstschule, see L.Janssens, O.S.B., "L'arte della scuola Benedettina diBeuron" Arte Cristiana, I, June 1913, 161-184. The buildings werecompletely ruined by bombings during WorldWar II."' D. Lenz, O.S.B., Zur Aesthetikder Beuroner Schule (1898), repr.,Beuron, 1927, 6-50.32 Throughout his life, Lenz researched these "canons"and a mathemat-ical system of design. His lengthy manuscript was censored by hissuperiors six times due to his highly personal and, to their minds,questionable theological interpretations. During the last censorship, themanuscript was lost. Chass6, 130-13 1.


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3 Klimt, EgyptianArt-I (woman with Horus and Thoth), 1890-91. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum (photo: Lichtbildwerk-stlitte "Alpenland")

the greatest formal clarity-Egyptian, archaic Greek, EarlyChristian and Byzantine, the "primitive" Italians, and espe-cially ancient mosaics-in short, a summary of sources thatinfluenced the decorative designs of Klimt's "Golden Style."Lenz's condemnation of academic "Naturalism," his admi-ration of ancient and primitive art forms, and his search for aformal purity derived from a geometric interpretation ofnatural form all find parallels in early aims of the ViennaSecession. Urging a departure from perspectival illusionism,he also advocated an integral relationship between architec-ture and decoration and the use of gold ground. Lenz'stheories appeared in 1898, at a timely moment in thedevelopment of Klimt's "Golden Style." That same year,Klimt painted his severely archaic Pallas Athene, followed bythe Assyrian-inspired Judith and Holofernes in 1901. "Lenz's greatest visibility in Vienna, however, came duringthe turbulent year of 1905. During November and Decem-ber, an exhibition of Beuron art was organized in the

ILI

l ei

4 EgyptianArt-II (mummies, statues, and fragments of a mural)1890-91. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum (photo: Licht-bildwerkstaitte"Alpenland")

Secession hall by Englehart and his followers, the first showto be held after the split in the Secession.34 The Klimt Group,independent from the Secession since the previous April,responded with an exhibition of avant-garde religious art,including works by Toorop, Denis, and Gauguin, in theMiethke Gallery. Factional differences aside, Klimt probablysaw the Beuron exhibition, which included the plans for St.Elizabeth's, an Egyptian-inspired church designed for Vi-enna. Ludwig Hevesi reviewed both exhibitions, describingthe magnitude of the Beuron works and pondering thequestion of spirituality in both contemporary Christian andavant-garde art.35 Reiterating Desiderius Lenz's assertionthat the Beuron School was the first Secession, Hevesideclared that Lenz was, "without question, one of the mostimportant German artists of his time.""3Commenting on theabundance of contemporary religious art, Hevesi cited sev-eral recent church commissions, including one by OttoWagner, probably referring to the Church of St. Leopold on

33 ll. in Novotny and Dobai, cat. nos. 93, 113.34While Gnadenkapelle designs were not in the exhibition, BeuronerKunstschule contributions were numerous, including designs, photo-graphs, and objects from Monte Cassino, St. Maur's Chapel at Beuron,the Cloister Church Emaus in Prague, and the Cathedral at Krakow.Richard von Kralik's introduction mentions Lenz's Zur AesthetikderBeuronerSchuleand the importance of archaic Greek and Egyptian art

on the development of the Beuron Style. I am indebted to Ted Daziel forlocating a copy of this catalogue, XXIV. Ausstellung der VereiningungBildenderKiinstlerOsterreiches ecession,Nov.-Dec. 1905.35L. Hevesi, "Beuroner Kunst" (18 Nov. 1905) and "Religidse Kunst"(13 Dec. 1905) inAltkunst-Neukunst,332-342.36 Ibid., 335.


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the Steinhof (1904-07).37 Mosaics executed in ceramics,marble, enamel, and glass decorate the church, and Beuron'sinfluence on the interior decoration of this church needsfurther exploration, particularly in light of the fact thatDesiderius Lenz designed the church's chalice."8Berta Zuckerkandl also reviewed these exhibitions andnoted the affinities between the strong architectonic style ofBeuron art and the works of the Klimt Group."39 Lessimpressed with the works by Englehart, Jettmar, and K6nigincluded in the Secession exhibition, she complained of thatshow's essential disunity. Both Zuckerkandl and Hevesi feltthat the spirituality expressed by Beuron art was not easilyduplicated, but it could be found in the works of avant-gardeartists, who understood and expressed the true essence ofspirituality.40The contemporaneity of the Beuron exhibition and thegenesis of the Palais Stoclet commission, together withLenz's ardent praise of Egyptian art, appear to have affectedKlimt's return to Egyptian motifs for the Stoclet Frieze.While admitting the importance of Desiderius Lenz and histheories, some caution must be exercised in assessing thedegree of Beuron's impact on Klimt and his colleagues. Animportant distinction exists between Klimt's intentions andDesiderius Lenz's goal to express a deep religious sentiment.For the Stoclet Frieze, Klimt selected a myth central toEgyptian religion, but he was not striving for Lenz's Catholicfervor. Influenced by the Beuron style, he neverthelessexceeded its limitations in a way comparable to that of theNabis. Paul S6rusier, who visited Lenz and translated hisbook into French in 1905, found the Beuron works ratherdry and lifeless."4 In spite of these qualifications, it is clearthat Lenz's aesthetic theories clarified for Klimt the directionthat his art was already taking. Both shared the feeling thattruly modern art should be based on ancient principles aswell as upon an observation of nature, interpreted as ageometric language of form.Klimt's "Dancer" and the Fayyum Portraits ofTheodor GrafThe single female figure traditionally identified as"Expectation," or the "Dancer" (Fig. 6), is found in thesecond panel from the left, on the long wall opposite theentrance to the room (Fig. 2, b). In an approximation of anEgyptian pose, her body is frontal while her head turns in athree-quarter view toward the right. She wears a glittering

ooe

5 Father P. Mauritius Gisler and Father Paul Krebs, Gnaden-kappelle, 1898-1903. Hohenzollern, Beuron Abbey (from En-gelmann, Beuron:Die BenediktinerabteimDonautal)

floor-length dress composed of colorful horizontal striationsof pink, blue, and purple superimposed with gold and silvertriangles. Her hands are bent at right angles in a gesturethat, as mentioned above, recalls the hand positions of thethree female nudes in Klimt's Jurisprudence mural for theUniversity of Vienna, a work influenced by Jan Toorop'sadaptations of Egyptian art.The "Dancer" can be compared to another Egyptiansource of which Klimt was undoubtedly aware-the Fayyumportraits owned by the Viennese art dealer Theodor Graf.42In 1887, Graf first purchased examples of these newlydiscovered ancient portraits, painted in encaustic and tem-pera on wooden panels, found near the northeast corner ofel-Fayyum near er-Rubiyyat. Soon after their authenticityhad been established,43 Graf organized an exhibition of

37 Ibid., 333; Varnedoe sees the derivation of this church as a "newrecovery of Baroque-Rococo exaltation," distilling the spirit of 18th-century architects like Fischer von Erlach. K. Varnedoe, Vienna 1900:Art,Architecturend Design, exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York,1986, 32-34, 53-55. Artists'contributions to the church are discussed inH. Geretsegger and M. Peintner, Otto Wagner 1841-1918, trans. G.Onn, New York, 1979, 207.31Vergo, 108.39B.Z. [Berta Zuckerkandl], "Von Ausstellungen und Sammlungen,"KunstfiirAlle, xxI, 1905-06, 165.40 Ibid., and Hevesi, "Religi6se Kunst," in Altkunst-Neukunst,334, 338-342. The relationship between Lenz's Christian mysticism and thespiritual content of Klimt's work and other avant-garde artists deservesfurther exploration. For Lenz, see Siebenmorgen (as in n. 29), 259-261,and Kreitmaier (as in n. 29), 6-8. See also Strobl's theosophicalinterpretations of Klimt'spaintings: A. Strobl, GustavKlimt:Die Zeichnun-gen 1878-1903, Salzburg, 1980, 150-151, and Strobl, 183-185.

4 Chasse, 134; for Serusier's connection with Beuron, see C. Boyle-Turner, Paul Se'rusier,Ann Arbor, 1983, 111-134. Jean Delville acknowl-edged the importance of Lenz's theories but also felt that Beuron art wasoften rigid, and he disagreed with Lenz's proscription of the nude. TheNew MissionofArt, trans. F. Colmer, London, 1910, 109-120.42 Graf's first purchase of Egyptian antiquities was a fragmented papy-rus, which he gave to Archduke Rainer for the Imperial Library atVienna. For a history of Graf's collection of Fayyum portraits, see J.-E.Berger, L'Oeilet l'ternited:Portraitsromainsd'Egypt,Paris, 1977, 56-58,and A.F. Shore, PortraitPainting fromRomanEgypt,London, 1972, 11.43Otto Benndorf, the director of the Austrian Archeological Institute inVienna, denounced them as fakes. Dr. Georg Moritz Ebers, distin-guished professor at the University of Leipzig and a student of RichardLepsius, supported their authenticity in an article published in theAllgemeineZeitung in 1888. Further excavations by Sir Flinders Petrieconfirmed both the authenticity and abundance of Fayyum portraits.Ebers also published a more extensive discussion of Graf'scollection; seeSources.


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6 Klimt, Danceror Nephthys, or-merly "Expecta-tion," 1908-09,195 x 120 cm.Vienna, Oster-reichischesMuseum fuirAngewandteKunst (photo:Museum)7 Fayyum por-trait, formerlyGraf Collectionno. 94, locationunknown (fromBuberl, Die grie-schisch-aegyp-tischenMumien-bildnissederSamm-lung Th. Graj)

047 6 , )

41

ninety-six pieces from his collection, which traveled to Berlinand other cities, including Vienna and the Chicago World'sFair.44In 1894, Hevesi wrote an article on the new findings inEgyptian art, citing the recent excavations of Maspero,Gr6baut, and Petrie, which led to the influx of much newlydiscovered Egyptian art into European museums.45 The Grafexhibition filled one of the largest rooms at the AustrianMuseum of Arts and Crafts, the same museum, incidentally,where Alois Riegl began his career. Praising these workseffusively, particularly the Fayyum portraits, Hevesi feltthese discoveries had unveiled the mysteries of ancientpainting techniques. One portrait was particularly unusualbecause the mummy was still intact, and this work may wellhave been Graf. No. 94, a pretty young woman whose richneck and earring ornaments indicated that she was from awealthy family (Fig. 7).46 The system of cross and diagonal

PORTRATM IIMIEAUS DEM PA JJU^M44 The first catalogue of the collection was by F.H. Richter and F. vonOstini, Katalog zu TheodorGrafs GalerieantikerPortratsaus hellenischerZeit,Berlin and Vienna, 1889. A more definitive work was published byP. Buberl, Diegriechisch-igyptischenMumienbildnisse erSammlungTheodorGraf,Vienna, 1922. As a dealer, Graf soon thereafter sold many of theportraits, and eight went to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.The remainder of his collection was sold at auction after his death in1930.45Hevesi, "Neues aus Aegypten" (13 June 1894), in Altkunst-Neukunst,405-411.46 The present whereabouts of this work is unknown. It was reproducedin E. Coche de la Ferte, Les PortraitsRomano-Egyptiens u Louvre,Paris,

1952, fig. 18, but Marie-France Aubert, Conservateur in the EgyptianDepartment of the Louvre, has written that it is not in their collection.Ebers reproduced this work to indicate how the panels were attached tothe mummy, commenting on the unusually fine preservation of its linenwrappings. Ebers, 24-26; see also the catalogue description in Buberl(as in n. 44), 43-44.


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Uf A;Nv

8 Klimt, drawing for the Dancer, ca. 1908. Baltimore, Collec-tion Dr. and Mrs. Christian Klimt (photo: Dr. Klimt)

linen wrappings veiled the body in many layers, fitting withan extraordinary regularity and creating a perspectivaldepth reminiscent of the coffers of Renaissance ceilings.47The exhibition also displayed finger rings and arm braceletsformed of rich materials-gold, lapis lazuli, coral and pearls.Klimt's "Dancer" (Fig. 6) and the Graf mummy (Fig. 7)share many similarities. In both, representational facialfeatures are juxtaposed with the more rigid and angulargeometric patterns of the Dancer's dress and the mummy'slinen wrappings; their hair clings closely around the faces ofboth women in a shaped coiffure; the earrings and necklaceof the mummy are gilded, while the Dancer is bedecked withelaborate hair ornaments and multiple arm bracelets, en-crusted with jewels. The contained contour of the Dancer'sbody suggests the tight enclosure of the mummy's wrap-pings, and both share the same layering of geometric formand horizontal striations. In the mummy, the diagonalbanding creates triangular areas similar to the triangles onthe Dancer's dress, while the horizontal bands of linen

correspond to the colored striations beneath these trian-gles.48

Many years elapsed between the Graf exhibition at theAustrian Museum and the Stoclet Frieze commission. How-ever, the Fayyum portraits, so acclaimed in Vienna andrevered by one of the most supportive critics of the Secession,provided a prototype for representational features encasedwithin a geometric matrix. Since the late 1890s, Klimt hadfused the illusionistic features of his figures with rich ornamen-tal designs. His familiarity with the mummy portraits fromthe Graf collection could have reinforced his choice ofEgyptian imagery while encouraging him to push this juxta-position of figural and ornamental forms even further.Dance in ViennaKlimt's adaptation of Egyptian imagery was encouraged byhis awareness of the Beuron Kunstschule and TheodoreGrafs Fayyum collection. Still, one must address the reasonwhy Klimt identified the single female figure as a "Tdinzerin"in the working drawing for the mosaic (Fig. 8). Recalling thefemale dancers contained in ancient Egyptian reliefs and wallpaintings,49 she might also resemble "Egyptian" dancers ordances performing in Vienna at that time. The dating of theworking drawings becomes a critical factor in discussing thepossible relationship of the Stoclet Frieze to contemporarydance. The final cartoons must have been completed by early1910 when the execution of the murals was begun by theWiener Werkstitte.5" During the first decade of the century,dancers in Vienna explored the potential of expressivemovement, although "Egyptian" dancing achieved its great-est popularity a little later.5"A. Strobl has assembled the preliminary drawings relatedto the Stoclet Frieze Dancer."52The figures generally assumecasual poses, facing right, with arm and hand positionsranging from informal and relaxed gestures to the morerigid angularity evident in the final cartoon. The drawingseen here (Fig. 8) is a good example of an intermediate stagein Klimt's conception, with a figure facing in profile andwearing a loose-fitting chemise which is not Egyptian."5 Herright arm bends at the elbow, while her left hand seems tosupport some invisible object. In several of the drawings,Klimt reverses the vertically held arm, turning the back of thehand outward. In the Frieze, this gesture was transferred to

47 Hevesi, "Neues aus Aegypten," inAltkunst-Neukunst,407. 67.

48 The purple striations in the Dancer's dress might have been inspiredby the frequent use of purple in the clothing of Fayyum portraits; Ebers,67.49A. Erman, Life in AncientEgypt, trans. H. Tirard (1894), repr., NewYork, 1969, ills. on 249-251.50 Seen. 6 above.5' By the mid-1910s, dances inspired by Egypt were more numerous.Following the discovery of King Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922, andduring the height of the Art Deco influence on fashion in the 1920s,Egyptian-influenced dancers often provided artistic inspiration. See, forexample, the Art Deco figurines by D. Chiparus in A. Savinio, IsadoraDuncan:Essai sur lesstatuettes rt deco,trans. N. Frank, Milan, 1979, 105,155, 165.52 Strobl, 142-149, cat. nos. 1664-93. She also briefly mentions dancersthat Klimt might have seen in Vienna during this time, including IsadoraDuncan, Grete Wiesenthal, and Ruth St. Denis.53 Klimt superimposed sketchy equilateral triangles on a chemise in oneof these drawings, indicating his early conception for the Egyptiandesigns of the Dancer;see Strobl, 145, cat. no. 1667.


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the other female figure in the "Fulfillment" panel (Fig. 14,a). Klimt obviously sketched these women casually posing inhis studio rather than performing on stage. His choice of adance motif might have been prompted by his patrons, justas their collecting tastes had influenced his choice of materi-als and Egyptian-Byzantine designs.54 Their collection con-tained an Egyptian relief sculpture of two seated womenclapping to music; like Klimt's Dancer, both have dark hairand blue eyes.55 Josef Hoffmann designed a theater withinthe Palais Stoclet, where dances were later performed byDiaghilev's Ballet Russe, as well as by "exotic" Indiandancers.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, when the CourtOpera Ballet was stagnating under the weight of its tradi-tions, Vienna was on the circuit for performances by severaltouring female dancers who are now acknowledged as thefounders of modern dance.56 Loie Fuller and Isadora Dun-can made several appearances in Vienna during this time.Fuller, whose serpentine dance had been a staple of varietydancing since the 1880s, introduced Duncan at the BristolHotel on 12 February 1902, in a private performance whichKlimt attended and which the Secession hosted.57 Duncan'ssweeping and uninhibited movements, inspired by Greekvase painting, secured her place as the most innovativecreator of the new expressive dance.58

Inspired by the newspaper accounts of Duncan's perfor-mances, Grete Wiesenthal, a young Viennese ballerina,resolved to pursue her own creative path. Her early autobiog-raphy recounts her links both to the Vienna Opera Ballet andlater to the Secession.59 She was a successful member of theCourt Opera Ballet chorus when Gustav Mahler took over asdirector of the Vienna Opera. Alfred Roller, the Secessionistartist who had joined Mahler's staff in 1903 to design some ofthe most innovative new stagings of the Opera, was instrumen-tal in securing for her the pantomime role of Fenella inStummevomPortico.This performance launched her popular-ity in Vienna, although soon afterward, she made thedecision to leave the ballet and launch a career on her own.

Like Duncan, Wiesenthal wore loose-fitting, Greek-inspired garments (Fig. 9) and used her hands as expressiveelements. Her body movements, based upon her love of thewaltz, were open, free, and dynamic, unlike the tight controland retracted position of Klimt's Dancer. Still, during thetime of the Stoclet commission, she was closely connected tothe Secession, which sponsored one of her first performances

~i

M O W L .

9 Grete Wiesenthal, ca. 1907 (from Brandenburg, Der moderneTanz)

at the Cabaret Fledermaus in 1907, an event that Klimt mayhave attended. More intriguing in light of the Stoclet Friezewere several outdoor performances, designed in collabora-tion with Alfred Roller's male and female students at theKunstgewerbeschule,60 where she danced in front of rustlingtrees, a backdrop similar to the "Tree of Life." Like Duncan,she choreographed a dance celebrating the coming ofspring. This dance theme, her open-air performances, andher emphasis on hand gestures all could have influencedKlimt.

While Duncan and Wiesenthal continued to be inspired byGreece, other dancers were beginning to turn to more"exotic" cultures. The Canadian Maud Allan was a transi-tional dancer in this regard.61 Like Duncan and Wiesenthal,she performed a dance in Vienna entitled Primavera, tocelebrate the coming of spring, and her costume and

54 Strobl, 143.55The sculpture is illustrated in AdolpheStocletCollection(as in n. 24),228.56 Tanz 20. Jahrhundert n Wien,exh. cat., Osterreichisches Theatermu-seum, Vienna, 1989. Many of the dancers who appeared in Vienna arediscussed in F. Thiess, Der Tanz als Kunstwerk,Munich, 1920, and H.Brandenburg, DermoderneTanz, Munich, 1921.57 Fuller first appeared in Vienna on 23 Mar. 1898. For her contribu-tions, see J. Flitch, "The Serpentine Dance," Modern Dancing andDancers,London, 1912, 81-88.58Duncan also performed in 1903 and 1904 at the Carl-Theater inVienna. L. Hevesi, "Miss Duncan in der Sezession" (6 Feb. 1902) and"Isadora Duncan" (8 and 10Jan. 1904) inAchtJahreSezession as in n. 1),368-370, 516-523.59G. Wiesenthal, DerAufstieg:Aus dem Lebeneiner Tdnzerin,Berlin, 1919.

60 Ibid., 208-209.61 Her first Viennese performance took place at the Theater Hall of theRoyal Conservatory of Music in 1903 and it was attended by "distin-guished people, artists, musicians and critics."Allan, 80-82.


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gestures derived from classical sources.62 Allan's notoriety,however, resulted from another dance entitled The Vision ofSalome, loosely based on the biblical story."63 ecause of thecontroversy surrounding Richard Strauss's operatic adapta-tion of Oscar Wilde's controversial play Salome (1891),64Allan's Vision of Salome was banned in Munich, despite theprotests of Julius Bierbaum in the Berlin Tageblatt of April1907 and petitions sent by Franz von Stuck.65The furor overthe censorship of Allan's dance would have struck a chordwith Klimt following his recent scandal with the censorship ofhis University paintings. In her narration of the dance, Allanstated that Salome's dance had been brought "from Egypt,from the earliest settlers of the land whom she claims as herancestors" and that Herod had "spoken to his guests of theEgyptian wizardries of her dance. .. ."66 Her costume for thisdance more closely resembled those of Gustav Moreau'sSalomes than authentic Egyptian dress, but this was one ofthe earliest and most notorious modern dances based on anEgyptian theme.

Although Egypt had inspired sporadic ballets and panto-mines in the past, it was central to the development of thechoreography of Ruth St. Denis.67 The often-cited apocry-phal moment that launched her career occurred in a drug-store in Buffalo, New York, where she spied a poster for"Egyptian Deities" cigarettes illustrating the enthroned Egyp-tian goddess "Isis." Steeped in theosophy and other mysticalwritings, she began to search for more foreign cultures. Herearly dances were based largely on themes from India, suchas Radha, the dance that finally brought her internationalfame.68

In early 1907, St. Denis spent a month in Vienna where shereceived an enthusiastic review in the Wiener Tageblatt.69There, she performed dances inspired by India, includingNautch, Cobra, and Yogi (Fig. 10). In Yogi, the angular

gestures of her hands were emphasized while her bodyretained a profile position, extracting minimal movementsas the dance progressed.70 St. Denis's insistence in this danceon a controlled profile position and contained body move-ment, so unlike the movements of Fuller, Duncan, andWiesenthal, is much closer to the pose and compressedspatial relief of Klimt's Dancer. Nevertheless, she was not yetperforming in an Egyptian mode. Plans for her elaboratenarrative dance Egypta were well developed at this time, butthis dance was not performed until she returned to America."1Else von Carlberg, a Swedish woman who took the stagename Sent M'ahesa, was also instrumental in the develop-ment of Egyptian dance (Fig. 11). Like St. Denis, shechoreographed works inspired by Egypt, India, and theMiddle East, basing her gestures and the details of hercostumes on a serious study of the art of those cultures. HerEgyptian dances, including the Sword Dance, Aida, Bird ofDeath, and Isis, were loosely based on Egyptian mythologyand had a narrative component.72 In these dances, shestressed gestural angularity and the combined profile andfrontal figural positions found in Egyptian wall paintings andsculptures. Like St. Denis, she insisted on authentic musicalaccompaniment, including single tone music and an old mansinging Arab songs played on a darabukkeh. Edel, who feltthat "dance is the pantomime representation of our eroticsensations," described her work as dance of love.73Althoughpublished photographs prove that she performed Egyptiandances by 1910, no evidence has been uncovered to placeher in Vienna prior to the completion of Klimt's workingdrawings.7" However, a comparison can be drawn betweenSent M'ahesa (Fig. 11) and the Stoclet Frieze Dancer (Fig. 6).The skirt of her costume is overlaid with a large triangledecorated with spirals, like the robe of Klimt's Dancer, inwhich gold and silver triangles are filled with spiral designs.Sent M'ahesa's dances are closest in form to the StocletFrieze Dancer, and their Egyptian mythological and narra-tive aspects connect her to Klimt's choice of a Egyptian mythof love, to be discussed below.' Both Duncanand Allanclaimed Botticelli'sPrimaveras theirsourceof inspiration.F. Blair,Isadora:Portrait f theArtistas a Woman,NewYork,35, 64.

63Allan,120-128. Later n 1918,Allanwas nvolved n a humiliatingawsuit n Englandconnected o the lingeringWildescandal here. Becauseof herperformance f this theme shewas accusedof moraldecadence.M.Kettle,Salome's astVezl: heLibelCase ftheCentury, ondon,1977.64 In 1905, GustavMahlerhad to cancelthe VienneseperformanceofStrauss's pera becauseof censorshipby opera officials.E. Seckerson,Mahler:HzsLifeandTimes,NewYork,1982, 103-104.65Allan,84-85.66Ibzd.,122-23.67 Shedevotedher life to danceafterseeingGertrudeStebbin'sEgyptianpantomines,TheDanceoftheDayand TheMyth f sis.R.St.Denis,RuthSt. Dents:An Unfintshed ife,NewYork,1939, 16; see also S. Shelton,Dzvzne ancer: BiographyfRuthSt.Dents,GardenCity,N.Y., 1981;andidem,"RuthSt. Denis: DancePopularizerwith'HighArt'Pretensions,"inAmericanopularEntertaznment:apers ndProceedzngsftheConferenceontheHzstoryfAmericanopular ntertaznment,d. M.Matlaw,Westport,Conn.,1977,259-270.68 Hugo von Hofmannsthal, iterarycritic for VerSacrum,wrote animpassionedeview fthisperformance,Dieunvergleichlicheanzerin,"published n 1906 in DerZeit, rans.D. Bergeras "HerExtraordinaryImmediacy,"nDanceMagazine,XLII,ept. 1968,36-38.69 She spokeof her visitwith Von Hofmannsthaln Vienna-"I believewe spent that afternoon in Egypt."St. Denis (as in n. 67), 93-94,108-109.

70 Egon Schiele admired this performance and it has been cited as aninfluence on his own exaggerated use of gesture. H. van der Meyden,"Belle Epoque: Klimtand Schiele," Apollo,cxxvl, Dec. 1987, 437.7~ She submitted her first version of Egypta for copyright in 1905, butproduction was delayed for financial reasons. A more elaborate versionfinally premiered at the New Amsterdam Theater in New York inDecember 1910.72Documentation on her early dances is scarce and some discrepanciesexist: for example, TheBird of Death is also called TheDemonof Death.New York Public Library, Lincoln Center Dance Collection, SentM'ahesa clippings file. I would like to thank Peter Frank-Manfiel at theDeutsches Tanzarchiv in Cologne for his helpful suggestions to researchthe early career of this dancer.73This is the earliest description of her work found to date. E. Edel,"Tanz und Pantomime," Die Stimme einesHerrn, no. 8, June 1910, 3-6.This article illustrates one of her Egyptian dances with an undatedphotograph by Wanda v. Debschitz-Kunowski of Munich.74 I would like to thank Jarmilla Wei8lenbdck of the OsterreichischesTheatermuseum for sending me information on Sent M'ahesa inVienna. The earliest playbills in their files for her Viennese perfor-mances date from 1917. Should future research uncover other private orpublic performances in Vienna prior to 1910, Sent M'ahesa might beidentified as the woman who inspired Klimt to label his figure as a"Tainzerin."


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10 Ruth St. Denis as the "Yogi," ca. 1907-08 (from Bran-denburg, Der moderneTanz)

During this period, Egyptian themes were also beingreintroduced into the ballet. Diaghilev's Ballet Russe pre-miered Cldopatra as part of their first Paris season at theThe6tre du Chatelet in May 1909.75 Ida Rubinstein made herWestern European debut as Cleopatra, with Vaslav Nijinsky

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11 Sent M'ahesa (Else von Carlberg) in costume, ca. 1910 (fromBrandenburg, Der moderneTanz)

and Tamara Karsavina dancing the roles of her favoriteslaves. The narrative of the ballet relates a love trianglebetween Cleopatra, Amooin, and his jealous lover Ta-Hor,danced by the choreographer Michel Fokine and AnnaPavlova. It is tempting to draw a comparison between thethree figures in the Stoclet Frieze, a single woman watchingan embracing couple, and this Egyptian love triangle, but themood of the Frieze is decidedly more joyous than the ballet,which ends tragically with Amoon's death. Although bothKlimt and Emilie Floge visited Paris in 1909, neither wasthere when the ballet premiered.76Visual analysis of the Stoclet Frieze is enhanced by thiscomparison to dance in Vienna during the first decade of thecentury. The importance of gesture in Klimt's preliminarydrawings for the Dancer, his choice of a theme of earlyspring, and his use of shallow spatial relief all find parallelswithin the works of the dancers discussed above. Whetherinspired by Greece or Egypt, the founders of modern dance

7 C.S. Mayer, "Ida Rubinstein: A Twentieth-Century Cleopatra," DanceResearchJournal, xx, Winter 1989, 33-51. For the history of this ballet,see C. Beaumont, TheCompleteBookofBallet, London, 1949, 693-697; A.Benois, Reminiscencesof the Russian Ballet, trans. M. Britnieva, London,1947, 276; and P. Lieven, TheBirthof theBallets-Russes, rans. L. Zarine,New York, 1973, 79-102.76 Emilie Fl6ge visited Paris in March, and as a fashion designer she musthave been aware of the excitement surrounding the coming ballet andits costumes. Klimt did not arrive in Paris until the fall. In a postcard ofFebruary 1912, Klimt invited Fl6ge to accompany him to the firstperformance of the Russian ballet in Vienna; Fischer, 181, Fl1ge coll.,cat. A, no. 275. It wasn't until the second visit of the Russian Ballet inOctober 1913 that Cldopdtrawas first performed in Vienna; Tanz 20.Jahrhundert n Wien(as in n. 56), 75.


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12 Maximilian Lenz, Spring, ca. 1905. Cardiff, National Museum of Wales (photo: Museum)

placed special emphasis on the gestures of their hands toexpress emotion and to convey their narratives." Most basedtheir gestures, movements and costumes on their study ofworks of art,'"and like the development of Klimt's decorativeornament, their sources evolved from Greece to more exoticplaces, like Egypt and the Middle East. The tense pose of theDancer and the overall compressed spatial relief of theStoclet Frieze parallel the angularity and two-dimensionalitysought by contemporary choreographers and designers likeSt. Denis, Sent M'ahesa, and Leon Bakst.79 Nonetheless,Klimt's identification of the single woman as a "Tdinzerin"cannot yet be traced to a specific dancer or dance, whichmight lend meaning to the interpretation of the Frieze. Theiconography of the Frieze, and its personal meaning toKlimt, must be found elsewhere.The Egyptian Iconography of the Stoclet FriezeThe Stoclet Frieze shares many similarities with a paintingentitled Spring (Fig. 12) by Maximilian Lenz, the artist whoaccompanied Klimt to Ravenna in 1903 and was similarlyimpressed by its mosaics, as seen in the embossed gold areasof this painting. A dark-haired woman, identified as thegoddess Juno by her peacock attribute at the center right, is

placed beneath a large spreading tree, like the Dancer infront of the "Tree of Life" in the long wall mosaic (Fig. 2). Apair of lovers and a group of dancers occupy the left back-ground while butterflies and verdant vegetation are scatteredthroughout. Juno is an earth goddess, and the flowers andseed pods decorating her flowing cape suggest the fruitful-ness and abundance of nature. The Roman festival of spring,celebrating love and spring's eternal return, was an appropri-ate theme for both Maximilian Lenz and Klimt as foundingmembers of the Secession. Sacred Spring was chosen as thename for the group's periodical VerSacrum, and the return ofspring had symbolized the Secession's goals for a revitaliza-tion of Austrian art."sA comparison with Lenz's Spring (Fig.12) confirms that a central theme of the Stoclet Frieze is thereturn of spring. However, because Klimt was using Egyptianimagery, he searched for an analogous Egyptian myth andfound the legend of Isis and Osiris.Their story was told originally in the PyramidTexts,but thestandard European source was Plutarch's account in the fifthbook of his Moralia.8' Klimt was not concerned with thevariations of this myth occupying contemporary Egyptolo-gists, and he could have easily turned to secondary sourcesthat summarized Plutarch's account.82 However, the details

77Despite her extensive ballet training, Wiesenthal seems to have foundher gestures intuitively, while Duncan, Allan, and St. Denis were allinfluenced by the work of Francois Delsarte, a 19th-century actor andteacher of gesture and expression who was very influential in Englandand America. The EssentialDelsarte,ed. J. Zorn, Metuchen, N.J., 1968.78 Duncan and Allan were inspired by both Botticelli and Greek vases.Wiesenthal visited Secession exhibitions, which inspired her to developher own expressive art. Both St. Denis and Sent M'ahesa studied the artof Egypt, India, and the Middle East.7 Bakst also turned to art for inspiration. He shared his passion forGreek vases with Vaslav Nijinsky, who in turn choreographed the mostthoroughly angular and two-dimensional ballet, L'Apris-midi 'unfaune,

which premiered in Paris in May 1912. C. Mayer, "The Influence ofLeon Bakst on Choreography," DanceChronicle, , 1977-78, 127-142.soIt was also a popular theme with Symbolist artists, such as FerdinandHodler, whose retrospective had been sponsored by the Secession in1904. S. Hirsh, Hodler'sSymbolist hemes,Ann Arbor, Mich., 1983, 65-73.X' "Isis and Osiris," in Plutarch, Moralia,V, trans. F. Babbitt (Loeb Clas-sical Library), Cambridge, Mass., 1969, v. 1-80 (351D-384C), 6-191.82The Osiris myth was not a consistent narrative, and decipheredhieroglyphs revealed many variations to the story. Contemporaryauthors acknowledged Plutarch's compilation of the essential elementsof the story, despite his errors. See, for example, A. Erman, Die iigyptischeReligion, Berlin, 1905, 34-40; and Budge, 1, 1-23.


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of Klimt's Stoclet Frieze are similar to Plutarch's interpreta-tion of the story, and his version of the legend will besummarized and compared to the Frieze.According to Plutarch, the sky goddess Nut (Rhea) hadfour children-Osiris, Isis, Seth (Thyphon), and Nephthys.83Lovers from conception, Osiris and Isis conceived their child,Horus, in their mother's womb. The evil brother Seth and hissister Nephthys also wed. Seth despised Osiris for his birth-right and devised a plot to kill him, secretly measuring Osirisand fashioning a beautifully decorated chest to fit his exactdimensions. At a banquet attended by Osiris and several

accomplices, he promised to give the chest to whomevermatched its length. When Osiris fit inside the chest, Sethquickly nailed the lid shut and threw it into the Nile, drown-ing his brother. The myth's early connection to a banquethall was especially appropriate for these dining room mosaics.Grief-stricken upon hearing of her husband's murder, Isissearched throughout Egypt for the chest, which had washedup near the city of Byblus where it was encased by a hugeErica tree.84After retrieving the chest, she returned to Egyptand hid it in order to visit her son, Horus. Seth discoveredthe chest unattended, cut Osiris's dead body into fourteenparts, and scattered them throughout Egypt. Isis, deter-mined not to let this desecration go unpunished, searchedwith her sister Nephthys for the pieces of their brother-lover.She found all the parts save one-his penis-which had beenthrown into the Nile and eaten by a fish. Taking theremaining pieces, Isis reassembled Osiris and brought himback to life.85

Many aspects of this myth can be compared to the imageryof the Stoclet Frieze. The Treeof Life (Fig. 2) recalls the Ericatree which encased the chest containing Osiris's body; thespiraling branches suggest moving water and the floodingNile which carried the chest to Byblus. Plutarch explainedhow Osiris's resurrection symbolized the Nile's yearly cyclewith its inundation and fertilization of the earth (Isis) eachspring."6 Rituals celebrating Osiris's rebirth signaled thereturn of spring. In the Stoclet Frieze, the luxuriant growthof plants and flowers provides a backdrop for the embracinglovers, formerly entitled "Fulfillment" (Fig. 13), now identi-fied as the goddess "Isis" and her husband "Osiris" at themoment when she resurrects him, embracing him with hervertical arm (Fig. 14, a). This position of the arm, included inseveral preliminary drawings of the Dancer, is a quotationfrom Egyptian art indicating the protection of a person's"Ka," that part of the soul embodying one's vital life

essence."87With this vertically placed arm, Klimt indicatesthat Isis imparts her own "Ka" spirit to protect and resurrectOsiris.Plutarch connects the feminine principle of nature to Isiswhose variegated robe symbolizes her power over the earth."ssKlimt filled the thin visible strip of her dress with hearts andabstracted flowers, referring to her role as a goddess of loveand to her domain over the earth's vegetation. Osiris facesaway from the viewer; his dark skin emerges above his looseoff-shoulder robe. According to Plutarch, Osiris's namemeans "many eyes," and its hieroglyph contains an eye

symbol."s Klimt devised an ingenious eye symbol for hisOsiris, combining two small crescent moon shapes to formcat eyes in the center of several gold and silver ellipsesscattered over his robe (Fig. 14, b). Plutarch explains that cateyes change shape with the waning and waxing of the moon,and that Osiris is symbolically associated with the moonbecause of a numerological connection between the fourteenpieces of his body and the twenty-eight-day moon cycle.90Osiris's robe also contains two small birds with compactbodies and dark-rimmed eyes (Fig. 14, c). Although ab-stracted, they may represent hawks, mourning birds found inscenes with the dead Osiris and his sister goddesses Isis andNephthys." Another bird cropped by the edge of the robe onthe right (Fig. 14, d) has a curvilinear body and slender beak.This ibis symbol represents the magician, Thoth, who taughtIsis the chants used to revive Osiris. With a similar cropping,Klimt depicted an earlier Thoth in the spandrel at theKunsthistorisches Museum beneath the nude woman's leftelbow (Fig. 3). One of the most subtle details in the StocletFrieze is a fish found on the left edge of Osiris's robe (Fig. 14,e), symbolizing his lost member thrown into the Nile.Tangent to the robe of Isis, this fish-penis indicates themagical intercourse that took place during the couple'sembrace when, in spite of Osiris's mutilation, Isis conceivedthe god Harpocrates.

Although Nephthys played an important role in helpingher sister to search for Osiris, her identifying attributes arefew in Egyptian art. Typically, she accompanied Isis in scenesdepicting the dead or newly resurrected Osiris. Within thistradition, the dark-haired dancer, formerly called "Expecta-tion" (Fig. 6) can be connected to the goddess "Nephthys,"positioned here as a spectator to her brother's magicalresurrection. In the article on Egypt mentioned earlier,Hevesi describes scenes in which Isis and Nephthys mourntheir brother Osiris.02 Following his discussion of the Graf

" Plutarch filtered the Egyptian myth through the Greek pantheon, asindicated by names in parentheses. He identified three fathers, Apollo,Hermes, and Chronos, for these children and claimed that the ElderHorus was a fifth child. Later he clarified that Horus (Apollo) was the sonof Isis and Osiris, conceived while still in their mother's womb. Plutarch,Moralzav.12 (355D-356A) and v.54 (373B-373C), 30-35, 130-133.84 Babbitt translates the encasing tree as "heather," although it is morecommonly called an "Ericatree"; Plutarch, Moraliav.15 (357A), 38-39;also see Budge, I, 4-5.15 Plutarch is unclear about the specifics of Osiris's resurrection, but hecredits Isis for finding the parts and fitting him together. See Plutarch,Moralzav.18 (358A-358B) and v.54 (373A), 44-47, 130-131; Horus isoccasionally credited with the revival, accomplished with the aid of Isisand Nephthys. See Budge, I, 74-75, 86.

86 Plutarch, Moralza v.32-41 (363D-367E), esp. v.38 (366A), 76-101.17The "Ka"hieroglyph symbolizes an embrace and contains twoverticalarms connected by wavy lines to represent chest muscles. R.T.R. Clark,Myth and Symbolzn AnczentEgypt, London, 1978, 231-234; see alsoBudge, II, 128-130.88 Plutarch, Moraliav.53 (372E) and v.77 (382C), 128-129, 180-181.89 bzd.,v.10 (354F-355A), 26-27.90 Plutarch, Moralzav.42 (367E-368B) and v.63 (376F) 100-103, 150-151. Elsewhere he explains Isis's relationship to the moon, v.52 (372D)128-129.9' Plutarch, Moralia v.51 (371E), 125; G. Griffiths, The Orzgzns of Oszrzsand His Cult, Leiden, 1980, 2, 49-50.92 Hevesi, "Neues aus Aegypten," inAltkunst-Neukunst, 07-408.


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13 Klimt, EmbraceofIsis and Osiris,formerly "Fulfillment,"1908-09, 195 x 120 cm. Vienna, Osterreichisches Museum fuirAngewandte Kunst (photo: Museum)

mummy (Fig. 7), he notes the pervasiveness of the eye motifin Egyptian art, connecting this symbol to the "mystical eyes"of the god Ra. On the Dancer's robe several large frontal eyesymbols are placed within gold and silver triangles, whileothers contain spiral designs echoing the branches of the"Tree of Life."

Additional eye motifs forming blossoms on the "Tree ofLife" (Fig. 15) symbolize later episodes in the myth. Osirisasked his son, Horus, to avenge his death. Coveting hisnephew's inherited birthright, the murderer Seth accusedHorus of illegitimacy. They engaged in a violent battleduring which Horus lost an eye and Seth suffered even more.Thoth again intervened with magic chants to restore Horus'seyesight. The eye blossoms in the Stoclet Frieze representthe eyes of Horus, identified by Plutarch as the sun and themoon.93 Three birds perch in the spiraling branches of each

a

b

14 Author's diagram of Klimt's Embrace fIsisand Osiris

long wall mosaic (Figs. 2, 15). Differing from the birds onOsiris's robe, they are most likely falcons, a symbol ofHorus.94 Throughout the "Tree of Life" small clusters oftriangular designs, perhaps radically stylized lotus blossoms,grow on small tendrils (Fig. 15). These curious detailsconnect the Stoclet Frieze closely to Plutarch's explanationfor the numerological significance of triangular forms:

This triangle has its upright of three units, its base of four,and its hypotenuse of five, whose power is equal to that ofthe other two sides. The upright, therefore, may belikened to the male, the base to the female, and thehypotenuse to the child of both, and so Osiris may beregarded as the origin, Isis as the recipient, and Horus asthe perfected result. Three is the first perfect odd num-ber, four is a square whose side is the even number two;

93 Plutarch,Moraliav. 19 (358B-358E) and v.52-55 (372B-373E), 46-49and 126-135. 94The Horus falconeither guards or resurrects his father's body. Forexamples, see Budge, I, 5, 48, 87 and II, 21-43.


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15 Klimt, TreeofLife (detail), 1908-09. Vienna,Osterreichisches Museum fur Angewandte Kunst(photo: Museum)but five is in some ways like to its father, and in some wayslike to its mother, being made up of three and two.95

Although Klimt's triangles are equilateral rather than righttriangles, he incorporates Plutarch's numerical symbolism bycreating clusters of differently sized triangles combined insets of twos, threes, and fours. Three triangles representOsiris, four triangles represent Isis; their combination withina cluster indicates their sexual union. Other triangularclusters, grouped into sets of threes and twos, symbolizeHorus, numerologically derived from his parents as theabove quotation suggests. In the detail (Fig. 15), a "Horus"cluster of triangles, "two + three = five," is placed in closeproximity to the falcon.The love between Isis and Osiris is underscored by theinclusion of a small rosebush in each of the long wall mosaics(Fig. 2, f). The rose symbolizes love, both for its sweet-smell-ing flower as well as its thorns. Traditionally an attribute oflove goddesses, the rose was connected to Isis, replacing thelotus as her symbol following the introduction of rosecultivation in Egypt. This flower accompanied her assimila-tion into the Greek and Roman pantheons, and it was animportant feature of Isis worship recorded in LuciusApuleius's account in The GoldenAss in which an enchantedass eats the roses of Isis, which return him to human form.96While the rose can be connected directly to Isis, Klimt oftenincluded roses or rose bushes in his compositions celebratinglove, including Love (1895) and the Beethoven Frieze (1902),where the couple embraces in front of a stylized rosebush.97Still to be deciphered is the "abstract" panel on the shortwall at the end of the room (Figs. 1, 16). A comparison can bemade to Seth's ornamental chest which first enticed Osirisand led to his doom, but other aspects of the myth offeranother identification of this mosaic. According to Plutarch,

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16 Klimt, DjedColumn,1908-09, 196 x 90 cm. Vi-enna, Osterreichisches Museum ffirAngewandteKunst (photo: Museum)Isis was responsible for the many tombs of Osiris throughoutEgypt because she had conducted a funeral wherever shefound one of his missing parts. She also fashioned replicas ofOsiris's missing penis, initiating the celebrations of hisresurrection based on phallic worship."98 hese rebirth ritualsconsisted of a procession with a Tet or Djed column, awooden effigy that has been compared to the sacrum, thevertebrae, or the penis of Osiris. During these rites, the Djedcolumn was raised from a horizontal to a vertical positionsymbolizing his rebirth."99 raditionally, Djed columns were

95 Plutarch,Moraliav.56 (374A), 134-137.96 B. Seward, TheSymbolicRose,New York, 1960, 10-11.97 Dobai, 102.

98 Plutarch, Moralia v.18 (358A-358B) and v.51 (371F), 44-47, 124-125.99 Budge, I, 48-61; Clark (as in n. 87), 235-238.


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decorated with lotus blossoms and occasionally they werecombined with human features. In Klimt's mosaic, a cohesivevertical shape emerges in the center, formed with verticalrectangles, stylized plant tendrils, and more abstract orna-ment. The top of this panel, with its fusion of anthropomor-phic and geometric forms, has been compared to a humanface.l'0 By combining the organic forms of nature andvertical rectangular symbols of phallic rejuvenation, Klimtrecreates the symbol of Osiris worship, the Djed column, anithyphallic signifier of his resurrection and the coming ofspring.

Missing from this elaborate program is any representationof Seth, the evil brother who first drowned Osiris, then cut hisbody into pieces, and later battled Horus for his birthright.In the Beethoven Frieze (1902), Klimt had represented thepowers of evil as the hybrid monster Typhoeus and thefemale personifications of disease, madness, death, sensual-ity, lechery, intemperance, and sorrow. In that narrativecycle, their presence was a powerful counterpoint to theyearning for happiness that was finally resolved in the joyousembrace of the lovers. Created in the midst of his battles overthe University paintings, the Beethoven Frieze reflected themalevolent forces surrounding Klimt and attempting tosuppress his creative expression. Klimt began the StocletFrieze just after his decision to withdraw the Universitypaintings and to found the Klimt Group. While he was stillscarred from those earlier battles, he eliminated any overtreferences to the forces of evil within this scene and selectedinstead a moment from the myth when the defeats of the pasthave been overcome. As Isis resurrects Osiris, the earthwelcomes spring. It is a joyous celebration that looks onlytoward the future.

The Theme of Mythic Rebirth and Its PersonalSignificance for KlimtIn my view, Klimt choose an Egyptian myth celebrating arebirth and the return of spring as part of a larger projectsignaling the revitalization of the Secession. The PalaisStoclet, the most elaborate artistic endeavor of the KlimtGroup and the Wiener Werkstitte, offered an opportunity toreaffirm their initial dedication to the rebirth of Austrianart.'"' The legend of Isis and Osiris, and its ritual celebrationof rebirth and sacred springtime, had a personal significance

for Klimt as well. Following the bitter battles and his finalabdication of the University paintings, Klimt's creative spirit,like the mutilated body of Osiris, was in need of healing. TheStoclet Frieze celebrates the fulfilled hopes and abundancefound in the inevitable return of spring. For Klimt, it was anaffirmation that his art, now freed from the limiting expecta-tions of retrenched patrons, could revive and grow.Embracing couples, like the ones in the "Fulfillment"panel of the Stoclet Frieze (Fig. 13), recur throughoutKlimt's career.2"'Recent studies, aided by Klimt's correspon-dence which hinted at the intrigues of his many romances,have explored this motif in connection to the women in his

life."'3 Many of these women were the models whose facesappear in his paintings, and despite Klimt's protests that hedid not paint self-portraits,104 scholars have accumulated evi-dence to interpret his embracing couples as glimpses into hisprivate life. Most problematic were the almost four hundredpostcards and fragments of letters he wrote to Emilie Fl6gebetween 1897 and 1917. Although warm and affectionate,these notes contain little evidence of impassioned love, and adebate has arisen over the extent of their intimacy. A con-jecture that their long relationship was platonic was sup-ported by Emilie's niece and co-worker, Helene Donner, andby her friend, Hedwig Paulick Langer.'05 On the other hand,drawings of the embracing lovers depicting Emilie in thenude offered support for their alleged intimacy.16o Whateverthe physical nature of their relationship might have been, itis clear that throughout their long accquaintance, theymutually influenced and supported each other as artists.Klimt's personal relevations in The Kiss and the StocletFrieze are significant because he created them at such apivotal time in his career. Strobl noted that in preliminarydrawings for both works, the man wears the type of looseoff-shoulder robe that Klimt often designed for himself.l07Emilie has been connected to both works and, indeed, sheconsidered the embracing couple in The Kiss to be a symbolicrepresentation of Klimt and herself.'"s Emilie's interpreta-tion of The Kisswas reinforced by the discovery of a drawingby Klimt from 1917 for an unexecuted brooch, containing anembracing couple with her name inscribed on the leftedge.'09 It has also been proposed that the woman in The Kisswas Adele Bloch-Bauer, identified by the odd position of herright hand which has a disfigured finger."o Klimt's portrait

100The top has been compared to designs by Koloman Moser and A.Bahm, although Strobl identifies it as a mandala; Strobl, II, 184-185;also Neustifter (as in n. 6), 28.101 Another detail of the Palais Stoclet can be related to the Osiris myth.The relief sculpture of the large staircase window by Emilie Schleiss-Simandl has been identified as two women in a sacrificial attitudecarrying a basket of flowers. They can now be identified as Isis andNephthys attending the funeral bier of Osiris. Ill. in Sekler, 86, 89.102 Dobai interpreted Klimt's embracing couples as signifying maturelove within his explorations of the cycle of life. For Dobai, the pinnacle ofthis evolution was TheKzssn the Osterreichische Galerie, included in theKunstschau Wien 1908 exhibition and closely linked to the turmoilsurrounding the rejection of the University paintings and his withdrawalof those works in 1905; pp. 87, 94-96.103His affair with Mizzi Zimmermann (1899-1903) produced two sons,Gustavand Otto, while another son, Gustav,was born to Maria Ucicky in1899. Heredity claims for fourteen illegitimate children were placed bytheir mothers after his death. C. Nebehay, "Gustav Klimt schreibt an

eine Liebe," in Klimt Studzen,Mzttezlungender Osterrezchischen alerze,XXII/XXIII,978-79, 101-118; N. Powell, "Emilie Flage and Her LoverGustav Klimt,"Apollo,cxvi, July 1982, 112-114, and Fischer, 111-112.104 Nebehay, 32.105 Fischer, 128. Partsch cautions against taking these comments tooseriously. S. Partsch,Khmt:Lzfeand Work,London, 1989, 188.'06 EmzlieFlogeundGustavKhmt:Doppelportrit nIdeallandschaft,xh. cat.,Historischen Museums der Stadt Wien, Vienna, 1989, 18, cat. no. 2.10.107 Strobl, 161-162.'10 Partsch (as in n. 105), 275.109Fischer, 129, 153.I0 According to this analysis, Klimt transformed the face of the womanin TheKzss o disguise the identity of his married lover. In his portrait ofBloch-Bauer, Klimt hid the defect within the gesture of her hands. S.Grimberg, "Adele,"Art andAntzques, II,Summer 1986, 70-75, 90.


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Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907) is filled with Egyptian-inspiredsymbols in the details of her dress, and this repetition ofEgyptian symbols raises the question whether a disguisedimage of Bloch-Bauer might also be included in the StocletFrieze.

If the women in his paintings are all composites of thewomen in his life, the search to identify specific lovers withspecific paintings leads to frustration. But the fact remainsthat Emilie was closely connected with the Stoclet Friezefrom the beginning. In the summer of 1905, when Klimt wasprocrastinating on the commission despite pressure from theWiener Werkstditte, Emilie helped with the preliminarydrawings."' During July 1910, in the midst of the delays withthe execution of the panels by the Wiener Werkstaitte, Klimtexpressed his frustrations to her. In 1914, three years afterthe Frieze was completed and installed, Klimt returned toBrussels to visit the Stoclets. He wrote to Emilie his impres-sions of the work which evoked his memories of the "vexa-tion and the joys and sorrows of that time, with a longing forthat time-and many more things.""'2

The extent of the intimacy between Klimt and Fl6ge mightnever be revealed, but Klimt's choice of the myth of Isis andOsiris for the Stoclet Frieze offers one more clue to thepuzzle. A curious aspect of the mythic embrace of Isis andOsiris is that no physical union occurred. If the physicalintimacy between Klimt and Fl6ge had been suspended, thismyth with its peculiar asexual embrace helps identify thewoman depicted as Emilie. Isis's right hand (Fig. 14, a) withthe insistently straight fingers of the "Ka" hieroglyph elimi-nates any allusion to Bloch-Bauer. At the heart of this myth isa tale of a goddess who brought a god back to life. WhateverKlimt's relationship with Emilie, she clearly had the power torevive his creative spirits.ConclusionKlimt was led to his choice of Egyptian motifs for the StocletFrieze by many factors, including the aesthetic theories ofFather Desiderius Lenz and the Fayyum portraits of The-odor Graf. Possibly also inspired by contemporary dance, heemphasized gesture, minimized spatial illusion, and chose amythic tale of the return of spring. First in the BeethovenFrieze (1902) and then in the Stoclet Frieze, Klimt createdelaborate narratives that echoed his own disappointmentsand creative triumphs. His choice of the legend of Isis andOsiris for the Stoclet Frieze resonated with his own personal

and artistic resurrection following the battles over the Univer-sity paintings and the break of the Klimt Group from theSecession. After this project, Klimt's use of Egyptian imageryand mythology did not continue. His move toward Expres-sionism, his meeting with Egon Schiele,"3 and his subse-quent borrowings of Asian imagery in the portraits of the1910s, redirected the course of his stylistic development. TheStoclet Frieze culminated his transformation of archaicdecorative ornament, while remaining the most glorious andcomplete expression of his "Golden Style." This Egyptianmyth of rebirth and the return of spring unfolds its elabora-tive narrative through a glittering profusion of symbolicornament contained within these three dining room mosaics.Like the restoration of Osiris to life, Klimt celebrated hereinthe revival of his creative energies. Hidden here among thegods and goddesses of Egypt, he intimated his own searchfor love and immortality.Marjorze Elizabeth Warlick has published articles in the ArtJournal and Leonardo, and compiled European Paintings: AnIllustrated Catalogue (1985)for theNational GalleryofArt. Sheis currentlycompletinga bookentitled Max Ernst and Alchemy: AMagician in Search of Myth [School ofArt, University ofDenver,Denver, Colo. 80208].

"' Nebehay, 274.112 Fischer, 161-163, 184, Fl6ge coll., cat. A, no. 324."3 Scholars have long assumed that they met during the summer of1907, although Schiele's newly published correspondence indicates thatthey actuallymet in 1910; Van der Meyden (as in n. 70), 436.

Frequently Cited SourcesAllan,M.,MyLzfe ndDanczng, ondon,190

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Gustav Klimt's Stoclet Frieze

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