Die Bucher Der Chronika Der Drei Schwestern 14 1900

Heinrich Lefler made this illustration, "Die Bucher Der Chronika Der Drei Schwestern 14," featuring dense Art Nouveau decoration, sometime around the turn of the 20th century. Lefler’s highly stylized image participates in a broader artistic effort to revive medieval aesthetics and mythologies. The turn of the century was a moment of intense nationalism, especially in Germany and Austria. The architecture, the stylized lettering, and the symmetrical composition contribute to the feeling of a constructed Germanness. The image also suggests the influence of the Vienna Secession, a group of artists interested in the integration of the arts. By combining architecture and illustration with mythological subject matter, Lefler promotes a vision of art that is intertwined with national identity. To better understand this image, we might look at how the art market helped promote certain kinds of images, or how museums and world fairs presented national identities. We might consider how the turn of the century was a period of both great optimism and great anxiety about the future of Europe.