Ex-libris (bookplate) - Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs Secession

Klimt was the most significant personality of Austrian Art Nouveau, one of the founders of the Wiener Secession (1897). The members of this artist group were characterized by a special cult of Pallas Athena the figure of the mythological goddess appeared on the poster of their first exhibition, as well as on the coverplate of the catalogue (1898). The bust of Pallas Athena was also put on the ex libris of the Wiener Secession. This composition is identical with the poster design for the 18th Art Nouveau exhibition. Klimt's interpretation of the Pallas Athena picture is characterized by the duality of white and black, positive and negative, appeal and repulsion - the dual nature of feminity, represented by the Medusa head below Athena's portrait.