Around 1900, Vienna was a
city of vibrant, stimulating intellectual life, a dynamic capital of
elite's that did pioneering work in many fields. Otto Wagner remarked in
1905 that "in spite of unfavourable conditions, Vienna is marching at
the head of cultural nations". In a similar vein, international critics
noted that Vienna was virtually unsurpassed in the sheer wealth of
modern architecture that it had to offer at the time. Gustav Klimt and
his adherents left the traditionalist guild of fine artists in 1897 and
founded their own association ("Secession"). Josef Maria Olbrich built
them a house that was a Gesamtkunstwerkin its own right. Otto Wagner put
his stamp on architectural Vienna, achieving a break-through for the new
style with his Wienzeile houses and constructing stations of the new
metropolitan railway in the Jugendstil. Critics, including Hermann Bahr,
soon made their appearance, called to the scene by the new style's rapid
success.
The new movement, which was joined by Otto Wagner and Josef Hoffmann and
had Max Fabiani among its ranks, cut down on décor and advocated the
sparing use of geometric and disciplined ornaments, while maintaining
the claim to create a Gesamtkunstwerk. Vienna's foremost building from
this phase is Otto Wagner's Postal Savings Bank. But it was Adolf Loos
who was most persistent in moving towards Modernism: he rejected all
ornaments and even turned against the Gesamtkunstwerk concept.
Nevertheless, Modernism was to remain of marginal importance for
Viennese architecture over the next decades. A new style known as
Heimatstil prevailed, which was rooted in the Biedermeier period. A
major representative of this movement that consciously returned to the
past was Leopold Bauer, who succeeded Otto Wagner at the Academy of Fine
Arts.
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