Vienna Berlin The Art Of Two Cities From Schiele To Grosz Exhibition Berlinische Galerie Landesmuseum Fr Kunst Fotografie Und Architektur October 24 2013 January 27 2014 Belvedere Vienna February 14 June 15 2014

This volume is the first to be devoted exclusively to the artistic parallels, divergences and interdependencies between Vienna and Berlin from the early twentieth century and into the interwar period. On the one hand was Berlin, a sprawling, ambitious metropolis with an almost American image and no historically evolved city center. On the other was Vienna, the city of the operetta, with its Baroque character and grand history. The point of departure is formed by the relationships, differences and commonalities between the two Secession groups around 1900. Even during Expressionism, Viennese art was characterized by psychological empathy, while the Berlin counterparts of this generation of artists cultiated gestures of ectasy or aggression. World War I led to greater proximity between the two nations, and to active artistic exchanges between them, for example in relation to the rise of New Objectivity. Gaining in importance at the same time in Vienna was Kineticism, whose counterpart in Berlin was the Dada movement, which confronted contemporary social issues in a critical and subversive manner, thereby engendering a type of anti-culture. While the images and perceptions of the two cities may contrast dramatically, this publication documents their creative symbiosis.