VIENNA MODERNISM. FEMININE. RESISTANT
11.04.2026 – 17.01.2027
FANNY HARLFINGER-ZAKUCKA AND VIENNESE WOMEN’S ARTMulti-talented artist Fanny Harlfinger-Zakucka (1873–1954) was a radical advocate for the equal rights for women at the beginning of the twentieth century. One hundred years ago, she founded the Association of Viennese Women Artists. To mark this anniversary, the Landesgalerie Niederösterreich is dedicating an exhibition to this nearly forgotten figure of Viennese Modernism. The exhibition offers fresh insights into her diverse artistic output and highlights the struggle of the female art scene for emancipation and recognition in the interwar period.
REDISCOVERY OF A MULTI-TALENTED ARTIST
As a painter, graphic artist, illustrator, and craftswoman, Fanny Harlfinger-Zakucka left behind a richly varied body of work. Born in Mank, Lower Austria, she moved to Vienna to study art, produced remarkably avant-garde color woodcuts as early as 1903, and broke into the then exclusively male domain of furniture design.
She participated in the legendary exhibitions of the progressive Klimt Group and exhibited with the New Art Group founded by Egon Schiele.. Always at the forefront of modernism, she created illustrations for influential art journals “Ver Sacrum”, “Der liebe Augustin”, and “Die Fläche”. Harlfinger-Zakucka also collaborated with the Wiener Werkstätte and her works were shown at special exhibitions in Vienna as well as at the Paris Salon.
The artist received an honorary award from the City of Vienna for her innovative design of a modern children’s room 1929, featuring furniture in a vibrant lemon yellow punctuated by a striking red lattice pattern. These furniture pieces were not only functional—they combined storage with playful interaction.
The rediscovery of Harlfinger-Zakucka’s artistic, curatorial, and emancipatory achievements provides a crucial corrective to our historical understanding.
Fanny Harlfinger has a deep understanding of what is important in painting. She possesses painterly intelligence.
PIONEERS IN THE STRUGGLE FOR RECOGNITION
The exhibition highlights numerous works by Harlfinger-Zakucka that were long believed lost, as well as the association of women artists she initiated, known as Wiener Frauenkunst. In 1926, under Harlfinger-Zakucka’s leadership, a group of female artists broke away from the traditional Austrian Association of Women Artists (VBKÖ) and founded Wiener Frauenkunst, a collective regarded as progressive and left-liberal.
The most expressionistic ceramicists, the most radical painters, the most innovative sculptors and architects sought to challenge the prevailing stereotypes of women’s art. They pursued a new feminist approach and set innovative standards in exhibition design. The artists not only developed new spatial concepts but also introduced previously unknown thematic exhibition formats and exhibition catalogs featuring theoretical texts.
In 1930, parallel to the International Women's Congress, the Vienna Women's Art Association organized the exhibition “Wie sieht die Frau?” (What does a woman look like?), thereby actively intervening in the debate on women's creativity that had been ongoing since the beginning of the century. Just one year later, the association participated in the exhibition “Die schaffende Österreicherin” (The Creative Austrian Woman) at the Secession, in which the artists were represented not only by their works but also by their portrait photos. In this way, the women themselves took center stage and made visible who was behind the art.
WOMEN ARTISTS OF VIENNESE MODERNISM
In addition to Fanny Harlfinger-Zakucka, works by the following artists are also on view at the Landesgalerie Niederösterreich: Bettina Bauer-Ehrlich, Maria Cyrenius, Helene Funke, Margarete Hamerschlag, Stephanie Hollenstein, Hilda Jesser-Schmid, Broncia Koller, Dina Kuhn, Gabi Lagus-Möschl, Frieda Salvendy, Annie Schröder-Ehrenfest, Marianne Seeland, Susi Singer, Louise Spannring, Maria Strauss-Likarz, Helene Taussig, Hilde Wagner-Ascher, Franziska Zach and Liane Zimbler.
FEMINIST ART
Fanny Harlfinger-Zakucka died in Vienna in 1954 at the age of eighty-one. Through her artistic work and sustained advocacy, she profoundly shaped Viennese Modernism and played a decisive role in redefining the position of women in art.
In the early 1970s, the feminist avant-garde and the Internationale Aktionsgemeinschaft bildender Künstlerinnen (IntAkt) built upon the achievements of Viennese women artists and once again called for equal rights.
Many of the earlier pioneers—including the successful artist and committed cultural policy maker Fanny Harlfinger-Zakucka—had by then been forgotten by art historians.
Curator: Sabine Fellner