The Erotic Art of 19th and early 20th century Vienna

The Erotic Art of 19th and early 20th century Vienna
Peter Fendi: Die Lauscherin (1833), in the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna.

Although Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele are by the far best known Viennese painters of erotic subjects, there were many others. Peter Fendi (1796–1842) was an accomplished painter and lithographer from earlier in the 19th century, but he is much better known for his erotic art, although there is a question of whether he painted them all. Wikimedia Commons has statements challenging this widely accepted attribution. Certainly, looking at the two images above and below, it's hard to imagine it is the same painter. Above is Fendi's Die Lauscherin (The Eavesdropper) - although she's really a voyeur, isn't she? The image below is from around 1835 and is one of many that are probably not by Fendi at all.

Peter-Fendi-erotic-scene

Other Viennese erotic artists included Johann Geiger (1805-1880), who was most active around 1840 and, much later, Franz von Bayros (1866-1924), who was a prolific producer of erotic art. In 1904, he moved to Munich, where his most famous collection was Tales at the Dressing Table (Erzahlungen vom Toilettentisch) (1911), which was so controversial it got him arrested and kicked out of Germany. The image below, Ex-Libris of Sweet Snail, is from around 1900, presumably a private image.

von-Bayros_Sweet-Snail

Some one else to note is Hungarian artist Mihály Zichy (1827-1906), who was often in Vienna.

Wikipedia has a wide selection of the art of all these artists.