Charlie Rose

Susan von Kloos  05/28/2008 04:47 PM Report

Hello:

Just read the comments from Mr. Stevens and wanted to comment that G. Klimt's son, Gustav Uciky (sp?), whose wife is still living in Wien and loaned paintings to the Belvedere for the Klimt and Woman show, was a noted sympathizer of the Nazi and in fact made propaganda films for them. Also, I beleive the painter to whom here referred is not E. Schiele, but Richard Gerstl and the Schoenberg family. This was told to me by Dr. Becker, the foremost living authority on G. Klimt and his wife, Suzanne. They are neighbors of the Klimt villa in Hietizing on Feldmulergasse. I have worked with them here in DC to get the Friends of the Klimt villa its 501(3)(c) status. In any case, it was a wonderful show and hopefully more people here in North American will be familiar with G. Klimt and his work.

Thank you.

Susan von Kloos

Washington, DC

James Banks  06/01/2007 08:16 PM Report

I am thankful for the attention Charlie gives to the arts and brings to his viewers. The passion Lauder has for his "Mona Lisa" with his lack of pretention, and, as usual, Charlie's knowledge on his subject made this program one of the most enjoyable ever.

George M Stevens  05/30/2007 09:50 AM Report

Forgive the double post, but I have gone back over my source materials. First, corrections: the third spandral is entitled Jurisprudence, not Law, as I originally wrote; and, Emilie Floge isn't wearing a hat in her portrait, but there is a separate background around her head. For my money, Klimt's most spectacular portrait is of Fredericke Maria Beer with fantastic use of all colors and the busy Japanese print copies subject matter in the background. For speculation about a potential model who might have been a paramour of Klimt, see the paintings Judith & Holopherne, and Judith II. Klimt's son who became an important film maker was Gustav Ucicky; his stand out films - The Broken Jug (1937) and The Postman (1940 and NOT starring Kevin Costner thank God). Another important source book is "Klimt" by Dr. Ilona Sarmony-Parsons, which not only has important text (for her comments on Bloch-Bauer I see page 65 where she discusses the "decorative motifs overloaded with erotic symbolism" that likens the high society women in some of Klimt's portraits as "richly plumed birds in gilded cages." Quite a different take than Mr. Lauder's idea Bloch-Bauer as Klimt's Queen. Dr. Sarmony-Parsons' book also has excellent representations of Klimt's major paintings and numerous drawings. She also shows the two works that Klimt was working on at the time of his death, The Bride, and Baby. He also left unfinished Adam and Eve. For Gustav's philosophy of art, the sayings of the Viennese Secession Movement - "Truth is fire and to speak the truth means to shine and burn;" and, "To every age it's art, and to art it's freedom!"

George M Stevens  05/30/2007 04:43 AM Report

I just finished watching the show with Mr. Lauder about Gustav Klimt. I am an actor, teacher and lawyer (inactive) who has portrayed Klimt in acting classes and workshops and done artwork in the art noveau style as part of those portrayals. I have done considerable research on Klimt. While I greatly enjoyed your interview with Mr. Lauder, I would like to add some information. It seemed to me that when you were talking about Ms. Bloch-Bauer as a possible paramour of Mr. Klimt you might have been confusing her with Emilie Floge, generally considered to be Klimt's muse and about whom there is considerable speculation about whether she was one of his lovers. She never acknowledged it and there is a letter indicating such. One of my favorite Klimt portraits is of Floge in a flowing gown, probably of her own making, and a big hat, with lots of blue and other colors in much richer tone than Bloch-Bauer II. Floge and her sisters had a dress and fashion shop and brought English models to Vienna to model clothes, but they also modeled for Klimt. I do not think Bloch-Bauer was a Klimt paramour. Klimt had plenty of models to spend time with and I don't think he would have risked his lucrative portrait business of leading Viennese women by dabbling romantically with them, especially after Schiele's fiasco painting a family portrait and having an affair with the family wife which ruined his psyche and the family's marriage. Klimt also went to great lengths to keep his private life private, and he also took ample financial care of his offspring, one of whom, a son, became a signficant filmmaker in the '30's and who stood up to the Nazi regime. Klimt had been spurned by the Hapsgburg government significantly; first, over not being appointed as a faculty member at the leading art university, and then when his more important masterpieces, Philosophy, Medicine and Law, were rejected by the government as part of a multiple spandral project for one of the most prominent buildings in Vienna. Those works were destroyed by the Nazis. Klimt needed the portrait business to be able to pursue his other subjects. He also came to be disappointed in his work from the "Gold Period" as not being able to stand up to the emerging work of Picasso and Matisse. Once he freed himself from the Gold work, his coloration became rich and varied. Another of his controversial masterpieces was a freize for a Beethoven exhibit that covered several walls and had challenging subject matter for the time. The Bloch-Bauer I painting was influenced in coloration and technique by the Ravenna mosaics, but it was also a statement on the emerging psychology of Freud about inner motivations. It has kind of a kalidescope effect like one gets when rubbing one's eyes and keeping them closed. He was representing inner consciousness with the outer form of the head and hands of Bloch-Bauer. It is as if she is swimming in her own shimmering psyche. Klimt was also heavily influenced by the philosophy of Schopenauer and Neitzsche, which is reflected in the drawings and photographs of the rejected spandral project and the Beethoven frieze. He also has a plethora of amazing drawings and sketches, so of which are very erotic. He also decorated dozens of his own handmade postcards, which are supposedly incredibly rare and exceptional. The best researched single volume biography is "Klimt" by Frank Whitford. What I have found so amazing about his work is that he created masterpieces in almost every style and subject, of his day and to come into the future. He stature continues to grow and rightly so. Thank you for highlighting his work on your show.