Diverse exhibits on in Vienna
Current exhibitions at museums in Vienna provide a fascinating insight into a wide spectrum of areas, from medals of the Royal Habsburg Family to photographic portraits of celebrated writers.On show at the citys Museum of Art (Kunsthistorisches Museum, KHM; www.khm.at) at the moment are 250 medals from the Roman-German empire and leaders of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy. The objects on display date from the period between 1500 and 1918.The Westlicht gallery (www.westlicht.at) is meanwhile showing photographs of Thomas Bernhard. The late Austrian novelist was an enfant terrible of literature in German-speaking Europe in the 20th century. The images on view to the public were taken by Sepp Dreissinger and Johann Barth. More than 130 photographs are on display at the gallery which is located in the Neubau district. Bernhard passed away in 1989. He would have turned 80 later this month.The MAK (www.mak.at), Austrias leading museum for the applied arts, is currently showing a collection of historic and modern bags from all over the world in its new “Leder, Stoff und Reißverschluss” exhibition. Most of the 270 objects on display are being shown to the public for the first time. The exhibit features bags produced between the Late Middle Ages and the 20th century.The latest exhibition at the Wien Museum focuses on the work of Trude Fleischmann, widely regarded as one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century. The member of Vienna’s Jewish community who died in New York, USA, in 1990 portrayed important personalities like theoretical physicist Albert Einstein and architect Adolf Loos as well as burlesque artists and naked dancers. An extensive sample of her work is now on at the Wien Museum (www.wienmuseum.at).