Josef Maria Auchentaller
“Josef Maria Auchentaller was one of the leading artists of the Vienna Secession, the group that rebelled against the conservatism of the Austrian artistic establishment in 1897. Their most celebrated show was the 14th Secession exhibition in 1902, inspired by Beethoven, particularly his Ninth Symphony. But whereas Klimt’s “Beethoven Frieze” is now one of the star attractions of the Belvedere Gallery in Vienna, Auchentaller’s similarly grand frieze, entitled “Joy, Fair Spark of the Gods” (from the opening line of Schiller’s “Ode to Joy,” sung in the fourth movement), has been lost without trace.”
