Josef Engelhart was a leading figure in the lively art world of turn of the century Vienna. He was both a painter and a sculptor as well as an illustrator and chronicler of the city’s life.
He studied in the art academies of Vienna and Munich (1883-87) and travelled widely through Europe and also to Egypt. He was one of the original members of the Vienna Secession founded in 1897 by a group of artists, designers, and architects, including Gustav Klimt, Kolomon Moser, and Josef Hoffmann, who in opposition to the prevailing conservatism of the city’s art institutions sought to introduce new artistic trends like French Impressionism and present their own inventive and varied styles. While some of the other founding members eventually broke away, Engelhardt remained steadfast and was President of the Secession from 1899-1900 and again from 1910-11. Although he did produce some works in the decorative, patterned style of Klimt, and occasionally depicted historical or literary figures, like Salome, or painted portraits of well-known personalities, like the opera singer Richard Mayr, Engelhart was best known as the König der Strasse (King of the Street), for his vivid studies of Vienna’s street life – both the everyday characters of high and low society and the political and social activities that he observed .
