Abstract (eng)
This paper analyses the history of the Moderne Galerie at the Belvedere from its founding in 1903 until the Gallery’s second director Franz Martin Haberditzl left office in 1938. After 8 years, the institution was renamed the “Österreichische Staatsgalerie” and in 1921 again as the “Öster-reichische Galerie”. The rebranding followed a broadening of the collection’s focus and the foundation of three minor museums: The Museum of Baroque Art, the Gallery of the 19th cen-tury and a second Moderne Galerie, that was opened in 1929.
Until now, the evolvement of the Moderne Galerie was only reviewed under certain aspects, e.g. provenance research. This study tries to retrace the history of the Moderne Galerie continually and systematically and is based on the files from the Hausarchiv at the Belvedere Research Cen-ter, the files form the Austrian State Archive and part of the written legacy of Franz Martin Haberditzl that is available at the Wienbibliothek im Rathaus in Vienna. In addition to that, the contemporary daily press, especially the Neue Freie Presse, was considered as a complementary source regarding Gallery-related events. As well, articles in scientific magazines that catered to art history, gave insight into the discourse of the museum world.
The exhibition design of the Moderne Galerie could be retraced via the aforementioned sources. Gallery director Haberditzl adapted first the baroque rooms at the Untere Belvedere and later on the rooms in the Orangery to be better fitted for modern art. Thereby, he realised a progressive exhibition display that had, up to then, only been shown in Vienna by the Viennese Künstlerver-einigung and limited to temporary shows.
The neutral interior design with separately hung art works in a single row became an Austrian trademark and was touted by the Moderne Galerie as such. Beside that, the Moderne Galerie was the first museum to show the contemporary Viennese art of the turn of the century. The gallery staff chose the works of art, therefore laying down a canon of modern Austrian art and contrib-uting to the establishment of a national art history.
The People’s Education Movement of Red Vienna did not manifest itself prominently at the Moderne Galerie. The customary educational program consisting of scientific lectures at the mu-seum and the Urania as well as guided tours was on offer for a mainly intellectual audience. Despite the modern aspirations to exhibition design that were aiming rather towards sensual art appreciation and less to a highbrow art education, the Moderne Galerie managed only to broaden the range of its audience to a certain extent. Especially in regard to modern art it was necessary to build up an audience. This consisted at first mainly of private collectors and sponsors of modern art, who supported the Gallery by donations of money or art works. The tight network of private art collectors and patrons was very important for the new institution, because it had only limited financial means. Nevertheless, this network was largely destroyed after 1938.
The study underlines the role that the Moderne Galerie played for the fostering of modern art and the popularisation of modern ways of art display in Vienna. By means of the museum’s files, it was possible to draw a detailed picture of the institution’s evolution and the dealings of the involved parties.