Alfred Roller

Alfred Roller (1864 Brno - Vienna 1935) - Secession XIV Exhibition. Poster. Colored lithograph on cream wove paper. (1902). Consisting of 3 sheets, each approx. 70.5 x 80.5 cm (total sheet size approx. 210 x 80.5 cm). Edition size unknown. - Created in 1902 for the exhibition of the Vienna Secession, which was held in honor of the composer Ludwig van Beethoven - The poster shows a detail from the mural "The Sinking Night", which hangs behind the Beethoven monument at the exhibition - Roller co-founded the Vienna Secession in 1897 and was its president in the year this poster was created In 1902, Alfred Roller designed the poster for the XIV exhibition of the Vienna Secession, which was held in honor of the composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). Max Klinger's Beethoven monument stands in the main hall of the exhibition as a tribute to this artist who, as the catalog states, "brought clarity to our view of art through his creative activity as well as through his words". Roller, then president of the association, contributed a large, stencilled painting "The Sinking Night" as a huge backdrop to the sculpture, from which the poster shows a section. Embedded in a strict patterned ornamentation, floating, deeply inclined angelic figures carry the extinguished suns to their graves. Nature or man as a model is dissolved into purely ornamental, almost geometric forms, in which the line of the human figure is merely schematically indicated. The poster picks up a single figure from the procession and combines it with bold, condensed lettering: Roller shows himself to be a master of poster art here, skillfully combining ornamental form, lettering and color into a harmonious, almost artistic unison. Provenance: Collection/estate of Serge Sabarsky, New York; Collection/Foundation Vally Sabarsky, New York. Taxation: Taxed on the difference plus 7% (VAT: Margin Scheme (non EU)).