Fin-de-siècle Vienna: mental illness and modernism

Abstract

Sexual excesses and immoderate consumption of caffeine and alcohol (not to mention “stock market crashes, wars, socialism, and other awful things”) were responsible for an epidemic of “nerves”, argued Austro-German psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing in the 1880s. Quite obviously, he insisted, modern civilisation was bad for people. The frantic pace of life in big cities such as Vienna in 1900 was guaranteed to result in a nervous overload. Was it any wonder that the middle-classes and elite of Vienna struggled to cope with all the noise, pollution, overwork, and relentless emphasis on the pleasures of the body? Like electrical circuits, it was inevitable that the human organism would burn out. The modern man and woman were becoming morbidly anxious and desperately exhausted.What if the cure was as simple as altering a person's environment? Modernist architecture could be restorative. Why not jettison the imposing, prison-like lunatic hospitals that had been built in previous, unenlightened centuries and replace them with pastoral retreats, dominated by an architecture that was as efficient and balanced as a machine? Abundant sunlight and fresh air would refresh tormented souls. Unornamented walls and simple, proportionate furniture would soothe eyes and brains fatigued by gratuitous stimulation. The highly regimented spaces of the new sanatoriums—in which patients were led in an orderly way from their comfortable beds to ultramodern treatment rooms and dining halls—would strengthen frayed nerves. Although Sigmund Freud's consulting room in urban Vienna was set in a cluttered apartment, these spacious, white sanatoriums built on the leafy outskirts of Vienna were regarded by many physicians and patients as a great achievement of modern civilisation. They were to remain so until the Nazis came to power and sanatoriums were “aryanized” in 1938.The lived experiences of “nervous” men and women are just one of the themes of the simple but startlingly beautiful Madness and Modernity: Mental Illness and the Visual Arts in Vienna 1900. Art and architecture are used to depict the crisis of modernity in Vienna around 1900. We are given a unique tour of medical worlds through the eyes of both the mentally ill and their self-appointed carers. The exhibition allows us to step into the past, explore different and often perplexing sensibilities, and marvel at the ingenuity of minds and bodies at the fin de siècle.Austrian psychiatry was certainly buzzing between the 1890s and the 1910s. Somatic understandings of mental illness competed with psychoanalysis in an intellectually productive jumble. The tension between the two approaches can perhaps best be characterised as the difference between an architectural approach to mental processes and an archaeological one. Psychiatrists like Krafft-Ebing sought to construct an efficient and calming edifice around tortured minds and bodies, holding them up, if you like, by the assertion of therapeutic authority. Nervous ailments were physical ailments, Krafft-Ebing lectured. They could be cured by abiding to the doctor's strict regime of rest and recreation. By contrast, as Freud gently explained, the psychoanalyst was “like the archaeologist in his excavations”. Patients as well as physicians were engaged in the process of uncovering “layer upon layer of the patient's psyche, before coming to the deepest, most valuable treasures”. Both approaches claimed to epitomise “modernism”.Architectural versus the archaeological styles are also reflected in the specialisms and enthusiams of curators Gemma Blackshaw and Leslie Topp. Topp's knowledge about the history of asylum architecture in Vienna is unsurpassed. The contrast between the “Tower of Fools”, a forbidding building that was built in 1784 to confine “lunatics”, and the modernist sanatoriums of the 1900s couldn't be starker. By contrast, Blackshaw is more of an art historian, for whom we must thank for the inclusion in this exhibition of works by the artist Egon Schiele. These are some of the most terrifying self-portraits of fin-de-siècle Europe. As Blackshaw has argued elsewhere, Schiele's merciless images were partly influenced by his traumatic early life, but they also emerged from a late 19th-century obsession with photography as a tool for diagnosing mental illness (see webvideo). Paintings of the tortured body of the artist shattered customary distinctions between madness and sanity. Schiele's grotesque paintings of himself grimacing and masturbating are mesmerising.This exhibition is a “must see” for anyone interested in the nervous body and the visual arts; its exhibits have been carefully chosen, and many appear in the UK for the first time. Accompanying the exhibition is a book in which Blackshaw and Topp deftly, and with an exquisite eye for compelling images, explore the themes of their exhibition in a more nuanced way. Furthermore, Krafft-Ebing's warning in the 1880s about the epidemic of “nerves” due to “stock market crashes” and the overly enthusiastic consumption of caffeine, alcohol, and sex may even provide reflections for physicians today. Vienna's patients and physicians of 1900 have taken on a new life.View Large Image Copyright © 2009 Wellcome LibraryMadness and Modernity: Mental Illness and the Visual Arts in Vienna 1900Show full captionWellcome Collection, London, UK, until June 28, 2009. See http://www.wellcomecollection.org/exhibitionsandevents/exhibitions/Madness-and-Modernity/index.htmView Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download (PPT) Sexual excesses and immoderate consumption of caffeine and alcohol (not to mention “stock market crashes, wars, socialism, and other awful things”) were responsible for an epidemic of “nerves”, argued Austro-German psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing in the 1880s. Quite obviously, he insisted, modern civilisation was bad for people. The frantic pace of life in big cities such as Vienna in 1900 was guaranteed to result in a nervous overload. Was it any wonder that the middle-classes and elite of Vienna struggled to cope with all the noise, pollution, overwork, and relentless emphasis on the pleasures of the body? Like electrical circuits, it was inevitable that the human organism would burn out. The modern man and woman were becoming morbidly anxious and desperately exhausted. What if the cure was as simple as altering a person's environment? Modernist architecture could be restorative. Why not jettison the imposing, prison-like lunatic hospitals that had been built in previous, unenlightened centuries and replace them with pastoral retreats, dominated by an architecture that was as efficient and balanced as a machine? Abundant sunlight and fresh air would refresh tormented souls. Unornamented walls and simple, proportionate furniture would soothe eyes and brains fatigued by gratuitous stimulation. The highly regimented spaces of the new sanatoriums—in which patients were led in an orderly way from their comfortable beds to ultramodern treatment rooms and dining halls—would strengthen frayed nerves. Although Sigmund Freud's consulting room in urban Vienna was set in a cluttered apartment, these spacious, white sanatoriums built on the leafy outskirts of Vienna were regarded by many physicians and patients as a great achievement of modern civilisation. They were to remain so until the Nazis came to power and sanatoriums were “aryanized” in 1938. The lived experiences of “nervous” men and women are just one of the themes of the simple but startlingly beautiful Madness and Modernity: Mental Illness and the Visual Arts in Vienna 1900. Art and architecture are used to depict the crisis of modernity in Vienna around 1900. We are given a unique tour of medical worlds through the eyes of both the mentally ill and their self-appointed carers. The exhibition allows us to step into the past, explore different and often perplexing sensibilities, and marvel at the ingenuity of minds and bodies at the fin de siècle. Austrian psychiatry was certainly buzzing between the 1890s and the 1910s. Somatic understandings of mental illness competed with psychoanalysis in an intellectually productive jumble. The tension between the two approaches can perhaps best be characterised as the difference between an architectural approach to mental processes and an archaeological one. Psychiatrists like Krafft-Ebing sought to construct an efficient and calming edifice around tortured minds and bodies, holding them up, if you like, by the assertion of therapeutic authority. Nervous ailments were physical ailments, Krafft-Ebing lectured. They could be cured by abiding to the doctor's strict regime of rest and recreation. By contrast, as Freud gently explained, the psychoanalyst was “like the archaeologist in his excavations”. Patients as well as physicians were engaged in the process of uncovering “layer upon layer of the patient's psyche, before coming to the deepest, most valuable treasures”. Both approaches claimed to epitomise “modernism”. Architectural versus the archaeological styles are also reflected in the specialisms and enthusiams of curators Gemma Blackshaw and Leslie Topp. Topp's knowledge about the history of asylum architecture in Vienna is unsurpassed. The contrast between the “Tower of Fools”, a forbidding building that was built in 1784 to confine “lunatics”, and the modernist sanatoriums of the 1900s couldn't be starker. By contrast, Blackshaw is more of an art historian, for whom we must thank for the inclusion in this exhibition of works by the artist Egon Schiele. These are some of the most terrifying self-portraits of fin-de-siècle Europe. As Blackshaw has argued elsewhere, Schiele's merciless images were partly influenced by his traumatic early life, but they also emerged from a late 19th-century obsession with photography as a tool for diagnosing mental illness (see webvideo). Paintings of the tortured body of the artist shattered customary distinctions between madness and sanity. Schiele's grotesque paintings of himself grimacing and masturbating are mesmerising. This exhibition is a “must see” for anyone interested in the nervous body and the visual arts; its exhibits have been carefully chosen, and many appear in the UK for the first time. Accompanying the exhibition is a book in which Blackshaw and Topp deftly, and with an exquisite eye for compelling images, explore the themes of their exhibition in a more nuanced way. Furthermore, Krafft-Ebing's warning in the 1880s about the epidemic of “nerves” due to “stock market crashes” and the overly enthusiastic consumption of caffeine, alcohol, and sex may even provide reflections for physicians today. Vienna's patients and physicians of 1900 have taken on a new life. Web Extra Material https://www.thelancet.com/cms/asset/81690a5b-095a-4f39-b1d2-19b4e4c42e25/mmc1.mp4Loading ... Download .mp4 (12.7 MB) Help with .mp4 files WebvideoMadness & Modernity: Mental illness and the visual arts 1900 https://www.thelancet.com/cms/asset/81690a5b-095a-4f39-b1d2-19b4e4c42e25/mmc1.mp4Loading ... Download .mp4 (12.7 MB) Help with .mp4 files WebvideoMadness & Modernity: Mental illness and the visual arts 1900