Snapshots and Film Reels

In my mind I have compared two snapshots in history: 1938 and 2010.

As I walk through Vienna I am in constant awe of its historical significance. This is the place where Hitler was denied entry into art school and where he says he learned his anti-Semitism. Dr. William Hagen told me of a story about Hitler’s partner while he was homeless and working as a portrait artist on the streets of Vienna. At some point Hitler’s partner cheated Hitler out of some cash and they parted. Years later, after the Anschluss Hitler found his former partner, had him arrested and sent to a labor camp as a political prisoner where he eventually died. As I walk through Heldenplatz I try to figure Hitler out. I need a lot more time.

The Hofburg is on the Ring, which is a street built where Vienna’s city walls used to be. The buildings on this new street were built in the historicist style, which meant they were built in the style of past times. For example, the Parliament building was built in Antique Classical style, echoing antiquities’ democracy. Not too far from Parliament is the Rathaus, the city hall, which is built in Neo-Gothic style, the contemporary time and style of the city’s heyday. Many other buildings on the Ring also reflect other times in history. It is however a weird juxtaposition to compare the ring with the real old of the city. The Rathaus looks like an old medieval building, like Stefansdom but in actuality it just looks old.

Here is a relatively old film of Vienna in 1936, of the relatively new Ringstrasse before the devastation of WWII:

Here we can see Vienna in the 'twilight' of WWII:

As I contemplate the architecture and construction of Vienna I ponder this speech in The Thrid Man

Times of great turmoil gave birth to great artistry; peace begot the cuckoo clock. The Ringstrasse marks the end of the need for fortifications and city walls, the end of the Revolutions of 1848 and the coerced peace of the Biedermeier era. The Ring copied the master artists of old. This time of complacent art produced artists who wanted art for art’s sake, not for the sake of representing the past. Schiele and Klimt emerged as artists countering the Ring, as the Secessionists, in the midst of WWI. Who is the Michelangelo to emerge from the terror and bloodshed after WWII?

Is there more to look forward to than the ugly modern buildings? Is that the art for our age?