Recent Art Activities in Austria

THE past year saw in Vienna not only such ventures as were intended to awaken and maintain, by means of exhibits, new acquisitions by the museums, and the like, an interest in the art of by-gone centuries, but also noteworthy manifestations of living art. There was one especially interesting exhibition devoted to modern art addressed to a problem which is today more real than ever, and which more than ever calls for a solution. It will not be easily solved. The problem may be stated thus: what right to existence has creative art in a time in which all spiritual values are overshadowed by technique: in a broader sense, by utilitarianism? It is well known that Corbusier has expressed himself in very extreme terms on this subject. The remarks of the German governmental art custodian Redslob on this theme in the course of a lecture in Vienna were illuminating. Below I have given a report of the attempt to demonstrate this idea in an exhibition. First, however, I shall give a brief resume of the most important events in the world of art.