In the last years of the nineteenth-century, discontented artists in Germany and Austria chose to leave the formal, academic salons to form a “free association for mounting art exhibitions.” The Munich Secession formed in 1892, the Vienna Secession in 1897 and the Berlin Secession in 1898.
German artist Franz Heinrich Louis Corinth (1858-1925), later called Lovis Corinth, founded the Munich Secession. It’s interesting to note this influential artist hadn’t yet sold a single painting—his first sale was in 1895. Corinth then moved to Berlin, where he joined the 65 dissident artists of that Secession, eventually serving as their president from 1915 to 1925.
By that time, however, the power of the organization was lessening. There was a new generation of young artists who objected to what had become the establishment. They left Corinth’s Secession and formed their organization, they called The New Secession.
Corinth created over 900 prints, including 60 self-portraits. The Graphic Arts collection is fortunate to own these two drypoints.
