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Austria's most influential and revered artist at the beginning of the last century was Gustav Klimt (1862-1918). Master of three genres-allegory, portraiture, and landscape-his alluring imagery, decorative colors, and sinuous line seduce the eye and stir the mind. His landscapes are studded with opulent symbols of regeneration and fecundity, while his philosophical allegories enact and question the eternal recurrence of life and death. During an age of lingering societal repression, Klimt's riveting, sumptuous portraits of society women delivered an unmistakable and urgent message of sensuality. In this landmark study of Klimt and the cultural climate of imperial Vienna, Comini discusses the "reverse" parallel between Freud's revelation of the supposed erotic content of dream symbols and Klimt's obscuring of the manifest content-the sexual imperative-through cumulative and symbolic ornament. Her text brings a startling new dimension to the compelling art of a very private man.
About the author
Distinguished Professor of Art History Emerita at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, Alessandra Comini was awarded Austria's Grand Medal of Honor for her books on Viennese artists Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt. Her Egon Schiele's Portraits was nominated for the National Book Award and her The Changing Image of Beethoven is used in classrooms around the country. Both books in new editions are now available from Sunstone Press as well as The Fantastic Art of Vienna, Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, and Schiele in Prison. Comini's travels, recorded in her memoir, In Passionate Pursuit, extend from Europe to Antarctica to China and are reflected in her Megan Crespi Mystery Series: Killing for Klimt, The Schiele Slaughters, The Kokoschka Capers, The Munch Murders, The Kollwitz Calamities, The Kandinsky Conundrum, The Mahler Mayhem, The Beethoven Boomerang, The Brahms Bust, The Schumann Shaming, and The Mendelssohn Malice. All Comini's scholarly books are available in new editions from Sunstone Press as is the entire Megan Crespi Mystery Series.
