Emilie Mediz-Pelikan

Emilie Mediz-Pelikan (2 December 1861, Vöcklabruck - 19 March 1908, Dresden) was an Austrian landscape painter. Many of her works show some Symbolist influence.

Emilie Mediz-Pelikan
Portrait of Emilie Mediz-Pelikan (The Meditative Emilie), by her husband, Karl Mediz
Born
Emilie Pelikan

(1861-12-02)2 December 1861
Vöcklabruck, Austria
Died19 March 1908(1908-03-19) (aged 46)
Dresden, Germany
NationalityAustrian
Known forPainting
Spouse(s)
Karl Mediz
​
(m. 1891)​

Biography
View from Lokrum

Her father was a government financial officer. In 1883, she became the last private student of the landscape painter, Albert Zimmermann,[1] who she had earlier assisted in Salzburg. Two years later, she accompanied him to Munich, where he died in 1888. She also lived at the artists' colony in Dachau, where she worked with Adolf Hölzel and Fritz von Uhde. Later, she spent time in Paris and the artists' colony in Knokke.[1]

In Dachau, she had made the acquaintance of a Viennese painter named Karl Mediz and met him again at Knokke. In 1891, they went to Vienna and were married, but had little success there. At first, they moved to Krems an der Donau, where their daughter was born.[2] In 1894, they decided to settle in Dresden.[1]

They made numerous trips to Tyrolia, Italy and the Adriatic coast. In 1898, she finally had a major showing at the first exhibition of the Vienna Secession. In 1901, this was followed by a showing at the Internationale Kunstausstellung in Dresden.[2] She and Karl had a joint exhibition in 1903, sponsored by the Hagenbund.[1] She also had two major exhibitions at the Berlin Künstlerhaus.

View from the Ruins of Dürnstein Castle

In 1908, aged only forty-seven, she died suddenly of heart failure.[2] The collaboration with her husband had been very intense; he and his work never fully recovered. Although much of her work was in the hands of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, he refused to allow any exhibitions. After his death, her paintings passed into the possession of the East German government and were forgotten. In 1986, a small exhibition was held at the Oberösterreichische Landesmuseen in Linz,[2] but it is only since 2000 that her work has been rediscovered.

Her work was included in the 2019 exhibition City Of Women: Female artists in Vienna from 1900 to 1938 at the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere.[3]

References
  1. R. Schmidt: "Mediz(-Pelikan), Emilie". In: Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Vol. 6, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1975, ISBN 3-7001-0128-7, p. 185.
  2. Brief biography @ Hieke Kunsthandel.
  3. "City of Women". Belvedere Museum Vienna. Retrieved 26 June 2020.

Further reading
  • Erich Tromayer: Emilie Mediz-Pelikan. Bilder, Briefe, Gedanken. Self-published, Vienna, 1986
  • Daniela Nittenberg: Das Frühwerk der Emilie Mediz-Pelikan. Thesis, University of Vienna, 1990
  • Therese Backhausen: Ménage à trois. Emilie Mediz-Pelikan und Karl Mediz, Doctoral Dissertation, University of Salzburg, 2008
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