Female portraits and nudes, mothers & children, and couples by the three most outstanding painters of Viennese modernism. In the early 20th century, the traditional relationship between the sexes was challenged by a number of social, economic,
and philosophical changes. It was above all the incipient
development towards gender equity that provoked vehement
counter-arguments. On the other hand, sexual liberation can
be seen as a common goal of men and women, since they
both sought to escape the restrictive moral taboos of the 19th
century. Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, and Oskar Kokoschka—then
the three most outstanding painters of Viennese modernism—
approached the subject matter generally referred to as the
"woman question" from slightly different, albeit overlapping
perspectives. The book will present an in-depth exploration of
these differences and similarities.