Barbara Sternthal Libros

His painting „The Kiss“ is the very icon of the Fin de Siècle era in Vienna, reproductions of his pictures are best sellers in museums the world over and his portraits of the ladies of the haute juiverie of Vienna continue to hit the daily headlines as objects of stolen art. Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) is beyond any doubt the most famous artist Austria has produced, a legend and a one-off whose life story is intertwined with countless rumours. Yet what do we know of this sensitive painter of women and supremely gifted draughtsman? Was he really the father of fourteen illegitimate children? Was he attracted to his beautiful and erotic female artists as a man as well as an artist? Was his relationship with the self-confident and elegant Emilie Flöge platonic or not? And is his syphilis mere film script invention? „I am not exceptionally interesting as a person“ is one of the very few authentic sentences known to have been uttered by Klimt. We beg to differ and set off on the trail of an artist and a man who left a virtually unrivalled mark on Viennese Jugendstil.

THEY ARE THE oldest cultured horse breed in Europe. Their ancestry can be traced back to the 16th century, and their name comes from a small village in modern-day Slovenia: the Lipizzaners, whose first home was Lipica and are now bred in Piber, near the Styrian city of Graz, owe their grace and learning ability to the over 400-year-old, carefully cultivated and constantly refined knowledge of proper breeding and training. Each year the finest Lipizzaner stallions are selected for the Spanish Riding School, the world-renowned institution where the classic art of horsemanship of the “haute école” has been practised for some 450 years. With their extraordinary performances in the famous Winter Riding School in Vienna’s Hofburg palace, these noble horses enthral visitors from all over the globe. This compact and beautifully illustrated book traces the history of the Lipizzaner breed, provides insights into their training, and describes the turmoil the “white stallions” faced during and after the Second World War as well as the outstanding position they occupy in today’s equestrian circles.

Hardly any other name epitomises life in Vienna at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century like his: Gustav Klimt, a gifted drawer and sensitive painter of women’s portraits. But beyond that, Klimt’s exceptional artwork is iconic of the shift to modernism. The dazzling period of the “merry apocalypse” in Vienna around 1900 was his epoch – the era in which the old was buried and the new was born.

Warum wandert jemand nach Venedig aus? Eine kleine Stadt, die – verglichen mit den Metropolen dieser Welt – wenige Möglichkeiten bietet, seinen Lebensunterhalt zu verdienen. Überdies ist es im Sommer heiß und schwül, dann kommt Aqua alta, dann der Nebel. Und dazwischen leidet die Stadt unter einem Overkill an Touristen. Dennoch gibt es Menschen, die genau das tun, die den Zauber der vielleicht schönsten Stadt der Welt mit der Bodenhaftung des Alltags kombinieren und den Traum vom Leben in Venedig in die Wirklichkeit umgesetzt haben. Wer sind diese Menschen? Was bewog sie, sich in Venedig niederzulassen? Was bedeutet ein Auswandern nicht einfach ins verlockende Italien, sondern in den urbanen Sonderfall Venedig? Wie lebt es sich zwischen Millionen von Touristen? Und vor allem: Wie sieht ihr Venedig jenseits von Markusplatz und Rialtobrücke aus? Ein Buch über Menschen, ihren Mut, ihre Beweggründe und ihren Einfallsreichtum – ein Buch, in dem Venedig die Hauptrolle spielt.