--- type: exposition title: Klemens Brosch language: en url: "https://www.belvedere.at/en/klemens-brosch-0" --- # Klemens Brosch ## A Great Artist Rediscovered ![Klemens Brosch](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/header_cropped_1920x480_fp/public/jart-images/_499086514363.jpg.webp?itok=e9DNJxZt) **Duration:** 9 March 2018 - 3 June 2018 **In a career of just sixteen years, Linz-based artist Klemens Brosch produced one thousand drawings, watercolours, prints, and paintings. Alongside Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Alfred Kubin, and Oskar Kokoschka, Brosch was one of Austria’s greatest draughtsmen. This first major retrospective of the artist’s work in Vienna will be staged at the Lower Belvedere.** Brosch’s fantastical, meticulous drawings are timeless and existential, anticipating aspects of New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) and Surrealism. After the First World War, Brosch and many of his colleagues had to contend with a fundamentally altered art world. The end of the era of decadence also marked the end of art as a decorative, healing force. The war left behind hideous impressions while the major commissions, enjoyed by artists only a few years before, were now a thing of the past. Brosch was deeply affected by this change – dark subjects, like the mass killings of the First World War and visions, feature early on in his work and he grappled with the themes of mortality and death. In 1913, his career had begun when he co-founded the Linz artist association MAERZ. The war years had a lasting impact on him, manifested both in his work and his mental health as he struggled with these harrowing experiences for the rest of his life. Drug addiction and harsh treatments for his dependency started to dominate. In December 1926, he tragically committed suicide. Brosch left behind an extensive oeuvre, a testimony to a crisis-stricken era. The exhibition at the Lower Belvedere in 2018 will trace his life through its various stages. The exhibition is a joint project organized by the Belvedere, Vienna, in collaboration with the Museums of the City of Linz and the Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum. Curated by: Elisabeth Nowak-Thaller, LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz \#KlemensBrosch ## Impressions - ![Klemens Brosch — Klemens Brosch, around 1926 — Photo: Otto Kaiser, Linz, NORDICO Stadtmuseum Linz](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_499086514363_0.jpg.webp?itok=ZLpeEEX9) - ![Klemens Brosch — Klemens Brosch, Weigela Blooms, 1912 — © Graphic arts collection, Landesgalerie Linz, Upper Austrian State Museum](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_499086562387.jpg.webp?itok=x-qrq0fr) - ![Klemens Brosch — Klemens Brosch, The Madman, 1926 — © NORDICO Stadtmuseum Linz](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_499086562384.jpg.webp?itok=7cudcH_h) - ![Klemens Brosch — Klemens Brosch Starved Refugee, 1916 — © Graphic arts collection, Landesgalerie Linz, Upper Austrian State Museum](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_499086562383.jpg.webp?itok=ZI3wrDfn) - ![Klemens Brosch — Self-Portrait, 1911 — © Landesgalerie Linz](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_499086562381.jpg.webp?itok=TIo0Rh9S) - ![Klemens Brosch — Klemens Brosch The Madman, 1926 — © Graphic arts collection, Landesgalerie Linz, Upper Austrian State Museum](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_499086562376.jpg.webp?itok=n0p7ingd) - ![Klemens Brosch — Klemens Brosch Crocodile on the Moon, c. 1912 — © Landesgalerie Linz](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_499086562374.jpg.webp?itok=MKZIwF5f) - ![Klemens Brosch — Klemens Brosch, On the Beach, 1912 — © Graphic arts collection, Landesgalerie Linz, Upper Austrian State Museum](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_499086533366.jpg.webp?itok=2SrMVwyU) - ![Klemens Brosch — Exhibition view "Klemens Brosch. A Great Artist Rediscovered" — Photo: Johannes Stoll, © Belvedere, Vienna](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_517649747183.jpg.webp?itok=gW84T-am) - ![Klemens Brosch — Exhibition view "Klemens Brosch. A Great Artist Rediscovered" — Photo: Johannes Stoll, © Belvedere, Vienna](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_517649747184.jpg.webp?itok=haH0E3pp) - ![Klemens Brosch — Exhibition view "Klemens Brosch. A Great Artist Rediscovered" — Photo: Johannes Stoll, © Belvedere, Vienna](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_517649747185.jpg.webp?itok=svbTz339) - ![Klemens Brosch — Exhibition view "Klemens Brosch. A Great Artist Rediscovered" — Photo: Johannes Stoll, © Belvedere, Vienna](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_517649747186.jpg.webp?itok=6CiBPc9X) - ![Klemens Brosch — Exhibition view "Klemens Brosch. A Great Artist Rediscovered" — Photo: Johannes Stoll, © Belvedere, Vienna](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/equal_height_slider_1x/public/jart-images/_517649747187.jpg.webp?itok=aqx5GJBc)