At the same time as the major exhibition devoted to Klimt and Italian Art, the Mart is presenting a second exhibition on Vienna in the 1920s – a great European capital in an era of profound social and cultural transformation. It was in this context that the Vienna Secession took hold, and its echoes profoundly affected all cultural disciplines, ranging from cinema to photography, and including advertising and magazines.

Entitled Cabaret Vienna, the exhibition on the Atelier Manassé explores and develops these subjects in five thematic sections. 120 photographs, film clips, documents, magazine covers and artists' books describe the worldly, glamorous atmosphere prevailing at the turn of the century.

Portraits of the stars of show business and cinema, visual calembours, nude images (used in both fashion and advertising) and exotically inspired photographs contributed to the emergence of modernity and extravagance.

Inextricably linked to the time and the place in which it developed, the Atelier Manassé's production showcased the “Roaring Twenties”. It was an innovative and remarkable period, especially for women who, in the name of a newly asserted sexual equality, also liberated themselves through gestures considered revolutionary: wearing short hair, smoking, driving or dressing like men. A modern medium par excellence, photography effectively became a staunch ally of female emancipation. Thus, there was a new awareness on the part of the subjects of Olga and Adorjan's photos, conscious that they were representing only themselves and were no longer simply muses that inspired.

The photographs often evoke a mysterious and fatal femininity, but there is no shortage of ironic and surreal touches that recall the visual experiments of the various Avant-garde movements spreading throughout Europe.

Not only did the most famous actresses and dancers pose in front of Olga and Adorjan's lens, but also the entire Viennese nobility. The fame and prestige of the Atelier crossed borders and reached other European cities, such as Berlin and Paris.

After Adorjan's death in 1946, the studio's work was continued by Olga until the late 1960s.

 

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