Author: Blackshaw, Gemma

Source: Austrian Studies, Volume 16, Number 1, 1 December 2008 , pp. 105-122(18)

Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association

Abstract:

Sixteen years after his death in 1889, the Austrian-born painter Anton Romako was `re-discovered' by Vienna's curators, collectors and critics. Two exhibitions at the Galerie Miethke in 1905 and 1913 launched Romako as a manifestly modern artist and tied his work into the nascent history of the city's early-twentieth-century avant-garde. This article charts Romako's posthumous reception from this moment onwards. In particular, it explores the agendas that lay behind his recuperation as the `father' of the young Oskar Kokoschka, ultimately calling for a renegotiation of the polarized relationship that persists to this day between nineteenth- and twentieth-century art in Austria.

German
Sechszehn Jahre nach seinem Tod wurde der 1889 verstorbene österreichische Maler Anton Romako von den Kuratoren, Kunstsammlern und Journalisten Wiens `wiederentdeckt'. Zwei Ausstellungen, die 1905 bzw. 1913 in der Galerie Miethke stattfanden, positionierten Romako als eindeutig modernen Künstler und stellten sein Werk als Teil der Entwicklung der Wiener Avantgarde des frühen zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts dar. Dieser Artikel zeichnet Romakos posthume Rezeption nach. Insbesondere werden die Beweggründe untersucht, die hinter der Wiederentdeckung Romakos als `Vaterfigur' für den jungen Oskar Kokoschka standen. Dabei wird letztendlich eine Revision der scharfen, bis heute in der Kunstgeschichte wirksamen Polarisierung zwischen der Kunst des neunzehnten und des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts in Österreich eingemahnt.

Keywords: 1889; Anton Romako; exhibitions; Galerie Miethke; early-twentieth-century avant-garde; posthumous reception; Oskar Kokoschka; 1889; Anton Romako; Ausstellungen; Galerie Miethke; Wiener Avantgarde des frühen zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts; posthume Rezeption; Oskar Kokoschka

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: University of Plymouth

Publication date: 2008-12-01

More about this publication?

• Austrian Studies is an annual journal reflecting sustained interest in the distinctive cultural traditions of the Habsburg Empire and the Austrian Republic. By publishing a wide range of articles in English, together with a selection of book reviews, it aims to make recent research accessible to a broadly based international readership.
  
  The focus is on Austrian culture from 1750 to the present. Literature is considered in relation to psychology, philosophy, political theory, music, theatre, film, and the visual arts. 'Austrian' includes German-language culture of former areas of the Habsburg Empire, such as Prague and the Bukovina, as well as the work of people of Austrian origin living abroad. Austrian interactions with other linguistic and ethnic groups -- the Jewish communities of Austria-Hungary, for example -- are also taken into account.
  
  Each volume of Austrian Studies has a coherent but broadly conceived theme, and reviews of the most important recent publications in the field of Austrian studies. Each volume also includes a number of substantial review essays devoted either to keeping readers up to date with major cultural debates and events, or to areas of scholarship in which activity has been particularly intense.

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