Josef Maria Auchentaller (1865 – 1949) was born in Vienna and attended the Academy of Fine Arts. He moved to Munich in 1892 where he became acquainted with members of the Munich Secession and began illustrating for the magazine Jugend. When he returned to Vienna in 1896, he joined the Vienna Secession and played an integral role in the group’s graphic arts. He was a member of Ver Sacrum’s editorial committee in 1900 and 1901, designing two covers and numerous illustrations. He also designed the poster and the catalogue cover of the Seventh Exhibition (1900) and worked extensively in the field of arts and crafts.  His most important contribution was a large frieze for the Fourteenth Secession Exhibition (1902) titled “Freude schönen Götterfunken” which was exhibited across from Gustav Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze. Due to the failing health of one of his daughters, he moved his family to the Italian town of Grado on the Adriatic coast where he designed numerous advertising posters. From 1904 onwards, Auchentaller lost touch to the Viennese art scene, devoting himself to portraiture and landscape painting. Click here for more information on his life.