City of Women

About City of Women

A long overdue retrospective of the women artists who shaped Viennese Modernism at the beginning of the 20th century.

Although overshadowed by their male colleagues, many important women artists carved out successful careers in early 20th-century Vienna. They exhibited across Europe and their work was acquired by royal, state, and private collectors. Their names, however, are largely unknown today and their masterpieces relegated to footnotes in history. Artists such as Elena Luksch-Makowsky, Helene Funke, Erika Giovanna Klien, Ilse Bernheimer, Maria Cyrenius, Friedl Dicker, Marie Egner, and Louise Fraenkel-Hahn are profiled in this book along with vibrant reproductions of their works. The remarkable stories of how many of these women found their way to Vienna from Germany, Russia, and beyond are enhanced by explorations of their contributions to such movements as Atmospheric Impressionism, Secessionism, Expressionism, Kineticism, and New Objectivity. This book shows how the ingenuity and perseverance of these artists enabled them not only to carve out a place alongside their more renowned male peers, but also to create their own associations and exhibitions and become a pivotal part of the Viennese Modernism movement.