Image: Belvedere 21, Vienna
The Belvedere is dedicating an extensive solo exhibition to the work of Austrian-American artist and art educator Erika Giovanna Klien (1900–1957). The exhibition at the Unteres Belvedere presents the latest research findings and examines all facets of Klien’s oeuvre.
The research brought previously unknown drawings, graphically designed texts, photographs, correspondence and other documents to light. It also reinterprets known bodies of work, including Klessheimer Sendbote, while examining the influence of Klien’s teacher Rudolf von Larisch. The findings open new perspectives on Klien’s life and work and produce a differentiated picture of her artistic and intellectual profile.
The research project focuses on Klien’s written utterances and on the use of letters and text in her work. Her practice involved the observation, analysis and arrangement of complex movements, including natural movements. Klien is identified as an outstanding representative of Viennese Kineticism.
She created dynamic depictions of vibrating bird flights, dancing bodies and rotating machines. Her passion for theatre and dance led to innovative stage-design projects and complex depictions of moving bodies. After moving to New York in 1929, Klien increasingly engaged with urban spaces and social questions.
The exhibition is a Belvedere project in Vienna made in collaboration with the University of Applied Arts Vienna’s art collection and archive and the Istituto Italiano di Studi Germanici in Rome. It is curated by Verena Gamper, with Veronica Liotti as co-curator.
