--- type: exposition title: "IN-SIGHT: Elena Luksch-Makowsky" language: en url: "https://www.belvedere.at/en/sight-elena-luksch-makowsky" --- # IN-SIGHT: Elena Luksch-Makowsky ## Silver Age and Secession ![young woman in the front - in the back young men, naked as her. ](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/header_cropped_1920x480_fp/public/media-directories/Elena_Luksch_Makovsky_5948.jpg.webp?itok=teNU0bQ8) **Duration:** 24 September 2020 - 10 January 2021 The rediscovery of the women artists of Viennese Modernism began in early 2019 with the *City of Women* exhibition at the Lower Belvedere. In 2020, the Belvedere continues this trajectory by dedicating an IN-SIGHT exhibition to Elena Luksch-Makowsky, one of the central protagonists of this period. At the beginning of the 20th century works by the artist were to be found in all major Viennese art institutions and media – including *Ver Sacrum*, Wiener Werkstätte, Secession, and Galerie Miethke. Curated by Alexander Klee. \#BelvedereInsight ### [Upper Belvedere](https://www.belvedere.at/en/visit/upper-belvedere) **Opening hours:** Monday to Sunday, 9 am - 6 pm **Address:** Upper Belvedere, 1030 Vienna ([Getting there]()) [Tickets](https://www.belvedere.at/en/tickets?location%5B0%5D=1) ## The Artist ![Woman holding her naked baby-son into the front, behind her a dark background. — Elena Luksch-Makowsky, Ver Sacrum (Self-Portrait with Her Son Peter), 1901 — Photo: Johannes Stoll © Belvedere, Vienna](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/full_content_width_no_crop/public/media-directories/7445.jpg.webp?itok=B_j-GqB4) Elena Luksch-Makowsky was born in 1878 into a wealthy Saint Petersburg artist family. At an early age she came into contact with numerous artists and travelled with her mother through Europe. She studied first in Saint Petersburg, then in Munich, with her artistic breakthrough occurring in the fall of 1898 during a stay in Dachau. In 1900, she married the Viennese sculptor Richard Luksch. Initially her style was influenced by the Peredvizhniki group, an artist cooperative to which her father's work was attributed. She soon abandoned this style, however, and turned to the Neu-Dachau painters and, through her brother, established close contacts with the artists of the St. Petersburg avant-garde. Luksch-Makowsky participated in Secession exhibitions in 1901, 1902, and 1903. Later, in 1911, the artist, now based in Hamburg, collaborated with the Wiener Werkstätte. In the years that lay between, she expanded her connections to and within Russia, enriching her own artistic oeuvre as well as that of the Vienna Secession’s through a channel of significance heretofore untapped. The show at the Belvedere places a particular focus on this aspect of her biography. ## The Exhibition - ![Gesicht der Malerin, von ihr selbst gemalt — Elena Luksch-Makowsky, Self-Portrait, 1896 — Photo: Christopher Kesting / Belvedere, Vienna](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/full_content_width_no_crop/public/media-directories/Elena%20Luksch-Makowsky-18_ChristopherKesting.jpg.webp?itok=4hfiWw7P) - ![young woman in the front - in the back young men, naked as her. — Elena Luksch-Makowsky, Adolescentia, 1903 — Photo: Belvedere, Vienna](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/full_content_width_no_crop/public/media-directories/Elena_Luksch_Makovsky_5948.jpg.webp?itok=qBGXKq9l) - ![women in a bath, getting undressed — Elena Luksch-Makowsky Banja, folk-art broadside, 1908 — Photo: Johannes Stoll / Belvedere, Vienna](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/full_content_width_no_crop/public/2020-09/10656%20Presse.jpg.webp?itok=ZQIYoaPb) - ![figure of a pregnant woman — Elena Luksch-Makowsky Portrait of Elena Luksch-Makowsky, Pregnant, c. 1901 — Photo: Christopher Kesting / Belvedere, Vienna](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/full_content_width_no_crop/public/media-directories/Elena%20Luksch-Makowsky-14_ChristopherKesting.jpg.webp?itok=4EthtIEI) - ![naked girl with jug — Elena Luksch-Makowsky Female Nude, c. 1898 — Photo: Christopher Kesting / Belvedere, Vienna](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/full_content_width_no_crop/public/media-directories/Elena%20Luksch-Makowsky-2_ChristopherKesting.jpg.webp?itok=5Xx7ItJI) - ![wooden toy carriage — From the former collection of Russian folk art by Elena Luksch-Makowsky Sleigh, undated — Photo: Christopher Kesting / Belvedere, Vienna](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/full_content_width_no_crop/public/media-directories/Elena%20Luksch-Makowsky-8_ChristopherKesting.jpg.webp?itok=SxlM2tk3) - ![Woman between Children — Elena Luksch-Makowsky Woman among Children, c. 1910 — Photo: Christopher Kesting / Belvedere, Vienna](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/full_content_width_no_crop/public/media-directories/Elena%20Luksch-Makowsky-3_ChristopherKesting.jpg.webp?itok=Kxsf_yM7) - ![Man in a brown coat in front of a door — Elena Luksch-Makowsky, Dwarf, 1900 — Photo: Johannes Stoll / Belvedere, Vienna](https://www.belvedere.at/sites/default/files/styles/full_content_width_no_crop/public/media-directories/10659.jpg.webp?itok=DQnwRTt4) The exhibition is designed as a continuation of the large-scale *City of Women* group show of 2019 at the Lower Belvedere – by placing the spotlight on one of the artists presented in 2019, the career of a key figure of Viennese Modernism is traced. The first monographic catalogue of Elena Luksch-Makowsky’s work will accompany the exhibition. ## Video ## IN-SIGHT The *IN-SIGHT* exhibition series at the Upper Belvedere is held three times a year and focuses on unique features of the museum's own collection. Works of art are examined from a new scientific point of view and presented to the public. ## Press