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Abstract

This article investigates the mutual reception of the Brussels and Viennese avant-garde in four periodicals: the Viennese magazine Ver Sacrum and the Brussels periodicals Van Nu & Straks, L‟Art Moderne and La Jeune Belgique. Ver Sacrum, the magazine of the Secession, claimed to be the first avant-garde periodical in Vienna and this article thus deals with its reports on Belgian avant-garde artists. Van Nu & Straks is considered to be the first Flemish avant-garde journal, while L‟Art Moderne and La Jeune Belgique were two Brussels periodicals written in French. With respect to these three Brussels periodicals, this article pays particular attention to their documentation of the upcoming Viennese avant-garde. In special editions, articles and references on Belgian artists in Ver Sacrum, the lack of biographical references is the most noteworthy aspect. In L‟Art Moderne the reporting on Viennese art, artists and avant-garde institutes is very concise and mainly related to Belgian artists. Despite its interest in other artistic developments in Europe, Van Nu & Straks and La Jeune Belgique did not report on Viennese avant-gardism.

Keywords: Brussels,  Vienna,  Secession,  avant-garde