(or Biedermaier), a style that developed mainly in German and Austrian art circa 1815–48.
The Biedermeier style received its name from a simple-hearted German commoner whose fictitious surname appeared in the title of L. Eichrodt’s collection of poems Biedermaiers Liederlust (published in 1850). Economic progress during the restoration of the feudal police regime contributed to the appearance of an apolitical philistine commoner characteristic of the burgher class and preoccupied with personal welfare. In its spirit of intimacy and domestic coziness, the German commoner’s concept of a respectably organized life corresponded to the Biedermeier style’s characteristic adaptation of the Empire style (primarily in interiors and decorative and applied arts).
The Biedermeier style was characterized by unbroken papered wall surfaces in pastel tones (yellow, blue, and pink) with a pattern of tiny flowers; similar upholstery of stuffed, good quality furniture of unpainted light wood (birch, linden, or ash), of lighter proportions than Empire furniture but very sturdy and durable; stoneware dishes in the style of English Wedgwood; women’s corseted dresses with narrow waists, puffed sleeves, and lace trimming; and patterned waistcoats, colorful tight frock coats, and top hats for men. In a vulgarized, cheapened way the Biedermeier style copied aristocratic customs of the turn of the century, but the Biedermeier style was more comfortable and tidier than the aristocratic style.
Biedermeier painting, which was a distinct variant of romantic painting, was influenced by the petitbourgeois liberal democratic movement. In the Biedermeier style concern for the private man, the small joys of the petite bourgeoisie, the everyday life of burghers, peasants, and natural surroundings replaced the interest in exceptional personalities that was typical of romanticism. Biedermeier paintings are small. The technique is fine and painstaking. Biedermeier painting shows an interest in the environment, in daylight or artificial light, a love for the details of everyday life, and a striving to achieve intimacy and sincerity of images, often with a touch of humor. Biedermeier art lacks a moving principle. This stamps it with thematic narrowness, contemplativeness, and idealization of a serene, mainly family way of life. This is shown in G. F. Kersting’s genre portraits, with their subtle poeticizing of the cozy interiors of the homes of burghers; L. Richter’s somewhat sentimental genre scenes against backgrounds of idyllic landscapes; C. Spitzweg’s paintings of everyday episodes in the lives of eccentric commoners, which are imbued with sympathetic humor; J. P. Hasenclever’s intimate genre paintings; and the lively studies of street scenes in F. Kriiger’s paintings of parades. Typical masters of the Biedermeier style were M. Schwind, an Austrian painter of poetic landscapes, genre paintings, and works on literary subjects and fairy tales, in which the charm of folk legends is rendered with gentle humor; and F. G. Waldmiiller, who painted portraits rich in details of everyday life and idyllic genre scenes and landscapes. The work of the Danish artists K. V. Eckersberg and C. Købke is close to the Biedermeier style; however, it is marked by greater directness of observation and a total abandonment of idealization.
I. M. GLOZMAN