To mark the centenary of the First World War, triggered by the assassination of the Hambsburg heir to the thrones of Austria and Hungary, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Leopold Museum, Vienna, looks at Austrian art in the war years with around 200 works by artists including Schiele (right, One-Year Volunteer Lance-Corporal, 1916) and Klimt (9 May-15 September). “The art world did not stand still between 1914 and 1918,” say the curators, Ivan Ristic and Stefan Kutzenberger. “There was a busy exchange of art throughout the allied nations and even in neutral foreign countries.” In Austria, official war artists were given board and lodging and were far from mortal danger. “It was hardly surprising that countless artists sought employment with the war press office,” the curators say. They have also invited artists from Austria's former enemies, such as Italy, Russia and Serbia, to create interventions that aim to “offer a platform for a versatile discursive process”.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'The art of Austria’s war'