Leopold Museum: more than 620,000 exhibition visitors worldwide in 2023

2024 Brings Focus on New Objectivity and Treasures of Viennese Modernism

More than 620,000 exhibition-goers saw the Leopold Museum’s presentations in 2023 – some 380,000 in Vienna and around 240,000 in Tokyo, who visited the presentation of the collection at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. While the museum’s current emphasis is on Expressionism, with retrospective exhibitions dedicated to Max Oppenheimer and Gabriele Münter, 2024’s presentations will focus on New Objectivity. An overview exhibition of the German representatives of this art movement, set to open in the spring, will be followed in the autumn by the first comprehensive monographic presentation in Vienna dedicated to the eminent Austrian exponent of New Objectivity, Rudolf Wacker. Marking 200 years since the founding of the Wiener Städtische Versicherungsverein – a long-standing partner of the Leopold Museum – the museum will be showing exhibits from the international insurance company’s art collections, which include works ranging from Classical Modernism to the present. A particular highlight of the upcoming exhibition year is the first ever presentation of the Backhausen Archives, which include precious items of Viennese Modernism, designed by artists from Koloman Moser to Josef Hoffmann.

2023: SPECTACULAR PRESENTATION OF THE WÜRTH COLLECTION AND EXPRESSIONISM EMPHASIS
In 2023, the Leopold Museum delighted its visitors with the exhibition Hagenbund. From Moderate to Radical Modernism (2022/23) – the most comprehensive presentation to date dedicated to the artists’ association Hagenbund – and with AMAZING. The Würth Collection – the first large-scale presentation of the Würth Collection in Austria, which drew more than 180,000 exhibition-goers. Remaining on display until February 2024 are the current exhibitions on two eminent protagonists of Expressionism: Max Oppenheimer. Expressionist Pioneer (until 25th Feb.) and Gabriele Münter. Retrospective (until 18th Feb.). Another highlight, attracting visitors from Austria and tourists from all over the world, is the Leopold Museum’s permanent presentation of 20th-century Viennese avant-garde art: Vienna 1900. Birth of Modernism, showcasing 1,300 exhibits over three exhibition floors. Based on the collection of the Leopold Museum compiled by Rudolf Leopold, and complemented by new acquisitions and select loans from more than 50 private and institutional collections, the exhibition conveys the atmosphere of the world’s former cultural capital Vienna. Further on display until 14th January is the exhibition Habitat which presents 27 works by the five up-and-coming artists who were nominated for the 2023 Ö1 Talent Scholarship supported by the Wiener Städtische Versicherungsverein.

GUESTS IN JAPAN: RESOUNDING SUCCESS OF SCHIELE PRESENTATION IN TOKYO WITH MORE THAN 240,000 VISITORS
With a comprehensive presentation of key works from its Egon Schiele collection in Japan – the first exhibition of highlights from the Leopold Collection in Asia in 30 years – the Leopold Museum reached a particularly wide audience. Despite strict measures to prevent the spread of Covid, the exhibition Egon Schiele from the Collection of the Leopold Museum – Young Genius in Vienna 1900, shown from 26th January to 9th April 2023 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, was a resounding success visited by 242,293 exhibition-goers. Thus, the Leopold Museum was able to welcome in excess of 622,000 exhibition visitors in Austria and abroad. The presentation in Tokyo featured more than 40 masterpieces by Egon Schiele in a dialogue with around 70 works by eminent exponents of Austrian Jugendstil and Expressionism, including Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Koloman Moser, Albin Egger-Lienz, Richard Gerstl and Anton Kolig.

FOCUS ON SUSTAINABILITY: AWARDING OF THE AUSTRIAN ECOLABEL
In 2023, the Leopold Museum’s efforts to operate sustainably were recognized with the award of the Austrian Ecolabel Österreichisches Umweltzeichen. The distinction honors a careful and gentle use of resources and an awareness of a socio-political responsibility towards the environment. A prominent example of addressing the climate crisis in a museum setting was the Leopold Museum’s intervention A Few Degrees More as part of the museum’s permanent presentation Vienna 1900, which recently received prestigious prizes, among them iab webAD and distinctions awarded in association with the Golden Drum Awards.

APRIL 2024: MAINTENANCE WORK DURING NORMAL OPERATIONS
The Leopold Museum will continue its efforts to improve its ecological footprint in 2024. With the maintenance work scheduled to be carried out in April 2024 during normal operations – such as exchanging the existing lights on Level 0 for state-of-the-art lighting – the museum is consistently following its path towards an environmentally friendly future.

2024 BRINGS NEW OBJECTIVITY AND HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE COLLECTIONS OF THE VIENNA INSURANCE GROUP
The first new exhibitions in 2024 will open in May. From 8th May, the Leopold Museum will showcase an eminent selection of works from the collections of the Wiener Städtische Versicherungsverein – a long-standing partner of the museum – in the exhibition Unknown Familiars. The Collections of the Vienna Insurance Group to mark the insurance group’s 200-year anniversary. The exhibition will feature highlights from the VIG’s six collections, which include Austrian holdings as well as compilations from the Czech Republic, Serbia and Latvia. Featuring some 200 works by artists including Oskar Kokoschka, Josef Čapek, Jindřich Štyrský, Toyen, Oswald Oberhuber, Martha Jungwirth, Dei Leči, Judith Fegerl, Julia Haller and Kris Lemsalu, the presentation will reflect the collections’ broad spectrum raging from Classical Modernism to contemporary artistic practices.

FIRST EXTENSIVE PRESENTATION OF GERMAN NEW OBJECTIVITY IN AUSTRIA
The presentation New Objectivity in Germany, which opens on 24th May, is the first comprehensive exhibition in Austria dedicated to the leading art movement of the Weimar Republic. The works brought forth by this striking tendency in art of the 1920s and 30s are characterized by a sober and realistic approach, by socio-critical aspects and radical depictions of poverty and social injustices, but also by portrayals of the novel joie de vivre prevalent in interwar Germany. Artists, including Max Beckmann, Heinrich Maria Davringhausen, Otto Dix, George Grosz, Karl Hubbuch, Grethe Jürgens, Lotte Laserstein, Felix Nussbaum, Gerta Overbeck, Christian Schad and Rudolf Schlichter, found themes for their works not only in the aftershocks of World War I but also in the thriving amusement industry, the new life plans pursued by independent and confident women, as well as in the gradual intrusion of technological advancements into life and nature.

LONG OVERDUE RUDOLF WACKER RETROSPECTIVE
From late October, the Leopold Museum will devote an extensive exhibition to Rudolf Wacker (1898—1938), one of the most eminent exponents of New Objectivity in Austria. Following five years of war captivity, the young artist tried to establish a career in Berlin and Vienna, before returning with his wife Ilse Moebius to his hometown of Bregenz in 1924. His oeuvre was dominated by depictions of landscapes, backyards, self-portraits and female nudes, as well as by random items found by the artist which he incorporated into his compositions. In light of this era’s increasingly volatile political situation and frequent breaches with social taboos, his works can be read as encrypted messages. The exhibition showcases Wacker’s multi-layered painterly and graphic oeuvre, complemented by reference works by Otto Dix, George Grosz, Max Beckmann, and many others.

FIRST COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF HOLDINGS FROM THE BACKHAUSEN ARCHIVES
From 13th November, the Leopold Museum will afford first comprehensive insights into the impressive holdings of the Backhausen Archives in the exhibition Poetry of the Ornament. The Backhausen Archives. The company Joh. Backhausen & Söhne, founded in 1849, is one of the most tradition-steeped manufacturers of upholstery and decorative fabrics in Viennese history. The company’s main lines of production included premium fashionable fabrics, fabrics for upholstery and curtains, as well as damasks, brocades and carpets made from silk and wool. From 1903, Backhausen focused on collaborations with eminent artists of Viennese Modernism, such as Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Jutta Sika, Dagobert Peche, My Ullmann and Otto Prutscher. Backhausen specialized in the execution of their designs and established itself as the main supplier of the Wiener Werkstätte. The exhibition introduces numerous artistic positions and sheds light on individual production stages – from the design via fabric samples all the way to the execution. We wish to express our sincere gratitude and pay tribute to Dr. Louise Kiesling (1957–2022). With passionate enthusiasm and great ideational and monetary commitment, she championed the Backhausen Archives’ systematic scientific reappraisal, the creation of an inventory, the photographic documentation and the storing of the holdings in keeping with museum conservation standards, and thus managed to preserve this precious cultural heritage for posterity. Without her valuable work for the Backhausen Archives, which in 2022 have been placed under monument protection in their entirety on account of their uniqueness, this exhibition would not have been possible.

CONFERENCE VOLUME ON THE 5TH EGON SCHIELE SYMPOSIUM
The 2023 Schiele Symposium at the Leopold Museum highlighted the significance of the Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele’s (1890–1918) networks and friendships, with lectures by Philipp Blom, Regine Bonnefoit, Tobias Burg, Ulrike Emberger, Laura Feurle, Simone Hönigl, Kerstin Jesse, Alexander Klee and Alexandra Matzner. The conference volume on the 5th Egon Schiele Symposium Netzwerke und Freundschaften | Networks and Friendships will be published in July 2024. All the lectures will be translated in full into English to make them available to international research.

2024 EXHIBITION FACTS
Vienna 1900. Birth of Modernism
Since 16th March 2019
Curator: Hans-Peter Wipplinger

Max Oppenheimer. Expressionist Pioneer
6th Oct. 2023–25th Feb. 2024
Curator: Hans-Peter Wipplinger

Gabriele Münter. Retrospective
20th Oct. 2023–18th Feb. 2024
Curator: Ivan Ristić | Consultant: Annegret Hoberg

Habitat. The Exhibition of the Nominees for the Ö1
Talent Scholarship 2023
10th Nov. 2023–14th Jan. 2024
Curator: Dominik Papst

Unknown Familiars. The Collections of the Vienna
Insurance Group
8th May 2024–6th Oct. 2024
Curators: Philippe Batka, Vanessa Joan Müller

New Objectivity in Germany
24th May 2024–29th Sept. 2024
Curator: Hans-Peter Wipplinger

Rudolf Wacker. Magic and Abysses of Reality
30th Oct. 2024–16th Feb. 2025
Curators: Marianne Hussl-Hörmann, Laura Feurle

Poetry of the Ornament. The Backhausen Archives
13th Nov. 2024–9th March 2025
Curators: Ursula Graf, Aline Marion Steinwender

Info & Contact
Leopold Museum Private Foundation
Mag. Klaus Pokorny und Veronika Werkner, BA
Press/Public Relations
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