Erika Giovanna Klien (12 April 1900 – 19 July 1957) was an artist and art educator.

Career

Erika Giovanna Klien was born on 12 April 1900, in Borgo Valsugana,

Trentino Trentino ( lld, Trentin), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento, is an autonomous province of Italy, in the country's far north. The Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, an autonomous region ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. She began her studies at the

Vienna School of Applied Arts en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, also known as ''

Kunstgewerbeschule A Kunstgewerbeschule (English: ''School of Arts and Crafts'' or S''chool of Applied Arts'') was a type of vocational arts school that existed in German-speaking countries from the mid-19th century. The term Werkkunstschule was also used for thes ...

Wien'' in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

in 1919 and graduated in 1925.Erika Giovanni Klien, Visual Artist and Art Educator
/ref> A student of Dr.

Franz Cižek Franz Cižek (12 June 1865 – 17 December 1946) was an Austrian genre and portrait painter, who was a teacher and reformer of art education. He began the Child Art Movement in Vienna, opening the Juvenile Art Class in 1897. Life Franz Cižek wa ...

, Klien became one of his teaching assistants. In Cižek's course, "Theory of Ornamental Form", Klien was introduced to a new style known as Viennese Kineticism – a style that emphasized movement and modern vitality, in a way similar to French

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

, Italian

Futurism Futurism ( it, Futurismo, link=no) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such ...

and Russian

Constructivism Constructivism may refer to: Art and architecture * Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes * Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in Russia in the 1920s a ...

.Origins of Art Teaching at Dalton
/ref> After learning about the technique and theories of Kinetism, Klien became one of its leading exponents. After graduation, Klien found it difficult, as did many women, to earn a living as an independent artist. She worked as a commercial graphic artist and taught at the Elizabeth Duncan School, at Klessheim near Salzburg, from 1926 to 1928. Klien's work was included in several international exhibitions, such as the Paris Decorative Arts Exhibition of 1925, the Armory Show in New York City in 1927 and the Fourth International Congress of Art Education in Prague in 1928.Art Directory, Erika Giovanni Klien Biography
/ref> In 1928 Klien had a son, whom she kept secret from her family. In 1929 Klien sailed for the United States, bringing with her hopes for an artistic career and the reform theories of children's art education she had acquired in Vienna. To earn a living for herself and her son, she taught simultaneously at four institutions from 1930 to 1940 – the New York’s

Stuyvesant High School Stuyvesant High School (pronounced ), commonly referred to among its students as Stuy (pronounced ), is a State school, public university-preparatory school, college-preparatory, Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school ...

, Spence School,

Dalton School The Dalton School, originally the Children's University School, is a private, coeducational college preparatory school in New York City and a member of both the Ivy Preparatory School League and the New York Interschool. The school is located in ...

and the

Walt Whitman High School (New York) Walt Whitman High School is a four-year public secondary school located at 301 West Hills Road, in Huntington Station, New York. It is South Huntington Union Free School District's only high school, serving students in Huntington Station, South ...

. Klien became a U. S. citizen in 1938. She died on 19 July 1957 from a heart attack in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Klien's son

Walter Klien Walter Klien (27 November 1928 – 9 February 1991) was an Austrian pianist. ] Career Klien was born in Graz in 1928. His mother was the artist Erika Giovanna Klien (1900-1957). She emigrated to the United States in 1929, and their only furth ...

became a noted concert pianist. He died in 1991.

Exhibitions

*1930: The New School for Social Research, New YorkErika Giovanni Klien Biography & Links
/ref> *1975: Galerie Pabst, Vienna *1986: Retrospective at Gallery Pabst, Munich *1987: Museum des XX. Jahrhunderts (Museum of the 20th Century), Vienna (250 works) *1989: Rachel Adler Gallery, New York *2001: Bolzano *2006

*Permanently: Phillips Collection, Phillips Collection Art Museum in Washington, D.C.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klien, Erika Giovanna 1900 births 1957 deaths People from Borgo Valsugana Modern painters Landscape artists Artists from New York (state) 20th-century American painters 20th-century Italian painters 20th-century Italian women artists 20th-century American women painters Italian emigrants to the United States