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02/22/2010: "Vienna: Enchanted Journey"
For many years I had both devoured and savored books and images of Vienna's art: the works of Josef Hoffmann, Otto Wagner, Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser and other aesthetic geniuses. However, I was not prepared for the breathtaking assault the reality brings to the dream. In October I journeyed to Vienna expecting all of the enchantment that I have read about to come alive. My highest expectations were surpassed.
My first night in Vienna I go to the Secession. The visual impact of its filigree golden dome lighting up the cold, black sky is dazzling. The building and Klimt's murals encapsulate a driving force of art and architecture that took hold of Vienna in the early 1900's. Evidences of the Secession Movement and its legacy can be seen all around the Vienna. Ten stories down, the vista outside of my hotel room window affords one of the elaborate train stations designed by Otto Wagner. It is the egress to a fabulous park that is filled with ornate and refined statuary, archways, bridges and a canal. At dawn, the view astounds.
At certain times of day the light in Vienna is golden. Even on the chilly late fall days, a sky drenched a marvelous molten light illuminates the roofs and domes that are the city's landscape. This radiance makes Vienna glow, softens the edges of the buildings so that they seem to dreamily blend into the light. On the other hand, there are stark black and white vignettes that exemplify the crisp lines of art deco and other movements that communicate expressionism, the classical, the modern. Vienna is a city juxtaposing the opulent and the stark, the modest and the palatial. While Vienna offers up the iconic Klimts, Waggners, Hoffmanns, the famous artists, as gifts, there are a plethora of lesser known artists who were enormously talented and further enhance the city’s beauty and allure.
Vienna. Wein. The city conjures up many images. For me, an architectural photographer, Vienna immediately brings to mind timeless elegance, creative indulgence, intellectual passion. Wide boulevards, magnificent gardens, a city washed in soft light even on a bleak day when the values are dark. A civility pervades the atmosphere and it radiates a glow. It inspires me to take thousands of architectural photographs. At times I look through the lens and simply regard the visual splendor without snapping the shot. I am overwhelmed by all that I see. Ornamented, yet stately buildings and art that lavishes the viewer with a shower of visual impressions. This is the Vienna that I encountered for the first time in late October, 2009.
Architecturally, Vienna is a feast. The elaborate construction of the city appears to be airbrushed into the landscape. Everywhere one looks there is beauty. Tiny structures with brass knockers and iron door fastenings dating from the 1400s reside next to Baroque buildings of such magnificence that a first time visitor can hardly take in their perfection. Perfect proportions, flawless execution, architecture at its epitome. The buildings, parks, waterways coexist as naturally as the creams, ochres, greys, silvers, blues and greens blend into a seamless city of discernible delights for the artist or for Herbert Muschamp's "flaneur."
The first walk around the Ringstrasse creates the impression that Vienna is accessible. Although there are many districts that fan out from the Innere Stadt, the heart of the city enables the visitor to gain some perspective as to the extraordinary architecture that flourishes throughout Vienna. A walk around the ring and one is enveloped in history, luxury, chimerical energy. Streets, like spokes of a gigantic pinwheel made of precious metals, lead to this stunning facade or that intricately carved portal. Iron grills abound, made, it seems, by spinning the metal into elaborate curlicues or weaving it from the imaginations of the craftsmen who produced a covering for the windows like lace curtains.
Vienna provided a rich tapestry for my architectural photography. Turn this way and there is a gothic building that gives me numerous opportunities to express an architectural impression of sumptuous substance. And that for a fanciful art nouveau gate crocheted from wrought iron. It’s a city of visual splendors. I record as many of them as my visit permits. As I look at the photographs today, Vienna comes alive again and I notice, each time, a doorway, a window that I have not seen before. So I will return to capture the details I missed and those on streets I did not travel. Those that are waiting for me.
