Ver Sacrum (magazine)

With its six vintages (1898-1903) is the magazine Ver Sacrum (Latin for "Holy Spring" ), the official organ of the Association of Austrian Artists, undoubtedly the most revealing and artistically demanding companion through the early history of the Vienna Secession.

Ver Sacrum offers as many international journals, which were dedicated in 1900 the exchange and dissemination of the art, a wide range of information, supplemented by a wealth of illustrations and book decoration contributions. Ver Sacrum, however, is unique because of the almost square format. For the design of the magazine constantly changing work teams were responsible.

The first issue, published in January 1898, published texts by Hermann Bahr, Alfred Roller and Max Burckhardt. The iconic cover design comes from the main editor Alfred Roller: The roots of a flowering small tree which bears three unprinted coats of arms in the fields of architecture, painting and sculpture in the branches, blow up the staves of a confinement of the timber vessel. On the first page, created by Josef Engelhart profile shape of a teenage girl embodies the " Sacred Spring". Spring mood also convey the dancing or dreamy female figures, the flowering trees and the floral ornamentation of Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Maximilian Lenz and others. Similarly, Gustav Klimt, who a short time as a book jewelry artist was active. An important step nonrepresentational sat Ernst Stöhr, who represented the symbolic component in the final Ver Sacrum issue of 1899.

After Ver Sacrum had fulfilled his pioneering mission in fully satisfactory degree, came from 1900, the value of information to the fore. From the third year the magazine was published twice instead of once a month, but in the short-run.