Vienna’s Leopold Museum is hoping people will pay to see art that’s broken, mouldy and eaten by worms. The prestigious home of Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele is displaying damaged artworks to raise funds for their restoration.
Around 185 pieces by Austrian artists, ranging from turn-of-the-century paintings to Art Deco chairs and lamps, are part of the unconventional Hidden Treasures exhibition.
Some, like Robert Russ’ 1885 “Mill with Evening Sky”, reveal damaging tears in the canvas or heavily flaking paint. Other forlorn pieces include a delicate porcelain figurine with its head missing, and the panel of an oil painting by Cecil van Haanen fallen victim to hungry woodworms.
“Usually you go to the museum to admire works in perfect condition – here we show the dark side of our collection,” says the Leopold’s new director, Hans-Peter Wipplinger.
Boasting around 6,000 pieces, the museum has gained global fame for its outstanding array of 19th- and 20th-century Austrian art.
Highlights include paintings by Klimt, the founder of Vienna’s Secession movement, and his protege Schiele, whose permanent exhibition at the museum is the largest of its kind in the world.
But the Leopold’s collection also contains many lesser-known gems that deserve to see the light of day again, says Wipplinger. “When I took on my role in October, one of the first things I did was visit the storage rooms. I discovered a number of works worthy of being exhibited, but too damaged.”
The museum needs 370,000 euros (Bt14.7 million) to restore the artworks, a sum that far exceeds its available funds. “That’s how I got the idea of finding patrons willing to finance the repairs,” Wipplinger explains.
Amid mould from exposure to dampness, rusty metal parts, bent frames, bad touch-ups, the exhibition continuing through February 22 illustrates the spoils and damages an artwork can suffer over the years. “It’s also about showing the public all the work and technical know-how required to present a piece in mint condition,” Wipplinger says.
Many of the works have never been publicly shown. There is rare Art Nouveau furniture by Koloman Moser, a co-founder of the illustrious Wiener Werkstaette arts collective.Some paintings are in a fairly good state but too frail to travel.
“Other museums often ask to borrow them, but they first have to be restored to survive the journey,” says the Leopold director. Repair costs range from 300 to 13,200 euros, with some paintings like Klimt’s “Life and Death” – part of the permanent collection – merely requiring new protective glazing.
In recognition of their support, patrons will see their name displayed on a small card next to the work they helped finance.
At the exhibition’s launch late last month, an elegant visitor in his 60s revealed he had flown in especially from Cyprus. “I’m willing to spend money if I have a fancy for something, but it needs to be special,” winked the man, identifying himself only as Wolfgang.
The museum, which opened in 2001, is the brainchild of Rudolf Leopold, a visionary collector who began buying Klimt and Schiele paintings in the aftermath of World War II, at a time when many considered the Austrian artists already outdated.
In 2010 the institution made global headlines when it reached a $19-million settlement with a Jewish art dealer’s estate in the United States over Schiele’s “Portrait of Wally”, a masterpiece stolen by the Nazis. US officials had seized the work in 1997 while it was on loan in New York. It was only returned to the Leopold after the museum agreed to the pay-out.
While the dust in that affair has since settled, the museum is still in negotiations with Austria’s Jewish community over several other Schiele drawings looted by the Nazis during the war.
This source first appeared on The Nation Life.