2676) Tina Blau (1845-1916), Republic of Austria: "Austria's Unsung Heroines Coin Series,”: First Coin in the Series is a €50 Gold Coin honouring the artist: Date/Year of Coin issue: 2023:
The Austrian Mint has begun a Gold Coin Collector Coin Series titled - “Austria’s Unsung Heroines,” which focusses on the many contributions of Austrian women in the disciplines of Art and Science.
Austria’s Unsung Heroines is dedicated to five of Austria’s great women who received far too little attention for their achievements in the arts and sciences.
Back then, studying at university was the exception rather than the rule for women, as was the unbiased assessment of their work.
The stories of how these five remarkable women managed to excel in environments that were still the preserve of men are often moving and show just how much strength of character, tenacity and self-belief were needed for talented women to accomplish their goals in very challenging circumstances.
The series also focusses on the obstacles they had to overcome, as well as highlighting the successes of the five women featured in their respective different fields of occupation.
One hundred years ago, studying at university was the exception rather than the rule for women, and despite excelling in scholarly endeavours, employment wasn’t always guaranteed, as it was perceived women should endeavour to become good wives and mothers rather than work outside the home.
Austria’s Unsung Heroines is dedicated to five of Austria’s great women who received far too little attention for their achievements in the arts and sciences.
The series explores what it meant to be a creative and talented woman in Austria during the late-19th and early-20th centuries, looks at the obstacles they had to overcome and highlights the successes of the women featured in their five different fields.
The stories of how these five remarkable women managed to excel in environments that were still the preserve of men are often moving and show just how much strength of character, tenacity and self-belief were needed for talented women to accomplish their goals in very challenging circumstances.
The series, when completed, will include the following:
Through their irrepressible struggle for self-realisation - Tina Blau - painter (2023), Veza Canetti - author (2024), Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky - architect (2025), Hilde Loewe-Flatter - musician (2026) and Lise Meitner - scientist (2027) challenged the prevailing gender norms of the time, whether they intended to or not, and are still role models today.
About Tina Blau (1845-1916):
The Header/Banner showcases the Obverse and Reverse of the 50 Euro Gold coin against a background presentation of one of Blau's paintings and her portrait which has influenced the Coin design.
The first coin in the Series features the painter Tina Blau (1845–1916), who was the only Jewish woman artist of her generation to be recognised by her peers.
Born as Regina Leopoldine Blau in Vienna on the 15.11.1845, she was encouraged by her family to pursue her dreams, particularly by her father.
However, she had been told by him that if she wished to pursue being an artist, she would first have to learn to overcome insurmountable problems.
It was he who Blau partly credited her successful career to, a physician originally from Prague, who it was said lived out his own artistic dreams vicariously through his daughter.
As with other women artists of her generation, Blau was denied an art education and had to take private lessons. However, she eventually made her artistic debut in 1867 when her paintings were included in the 1873 Viennese World Exhibition.
Blau travelled to Munich to pursue her studies, then to Italy, the Netherlands, and France, spending the summers of 1873 and 1874 in the Hungarian artist colony at Szolnok.
Returning to Vienna in 1875, she rose to international fame with shows in Vienna in 1882 and Paris in 1883, as her works were praised for her modern and innovative uses of light and colour.
In 1883, she moved to Munich where she taught at the Women Artists’ Association.
That same year, and after converting to Protestantism, she married the painter Heinrich Lang (1838-1891).
After his passing away in 1891, she resettled in Vienna, though, at that time, Blau was already a well-recognised artist, having received several state decorations and awards.
After her first major exhibition in 1890, she exhibited her work at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 and her work was presented at many subsequent international exhibitions.
In 1897, she helped found the Wiener Frauenakademie, an art school for women in Vienna, where she taught until 1915.
A truly modern painter and thinker, Tina Blau was a courageous and independent personality who had a profound effect on the next generations of women artists.
Blau’s work is most recognised for representing her own innovative place in terms of Austrian landscape paintings during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
Her style was in the so-called Austrian "Stimmungsimpressionismus" (or "Atmospheric Impressionism").
Her style was most assuredly influenced by Dutch landscape painting and by the Barbizon School art movement, whose works she had first seen at the Munich exhibition in 1869.
Blau passed away on the 31.10.1916 and was accorded an honorary grave in the Zentralfriedhof Cemetery in Vienna.
The Commemorative Coin:
The Obverse of the €50 Gold Coin features an image of Tina Blau inspired by a photograph taken during her youth.
A broad brushstroke dominates the background of the coin.
In a vertical direction, the text "REPUBLIK OSTERREICH" ("Republic of Austria") is placed to the left of the portrait with the denomination and year of issue - "50 EURO 2023" shown on the lower periphery.
Her name "TINA BLAU" is also shown in a vertical direction and positioned to the right of her portrait.
On the Reverse of the €50 Gold Coin is seen a decoration with trees and flowers and highlights the landscape painting for which Tina Blau became famous.
The portraits of two women depicted on the left represent Blau having taught at the Vienna Women’s Academy ("Wiener Frauenakademie")
The specifications of the Gold Coin are:
Country: "REPUBLIK OSTERREICH" ("Republic of Austria"); Date/Year of Coin issue: 15.02.2023; Denomination: €50 (Fifty Euro); Coin Series Theme: "Austria's Unsung Heroines"; Coin Theme: "Tina Blau - Painter"; Metal Composition: .986 Fineness Gold (Au); Diameter/Size: 22.00 mm; Weight: 7.89 grams; Coin Quality: Proof (P); Mintage: 20,000 pieces; Mint: Mint of Austria, Vienna; Designers: Helmut Andexlinger and Catherine Kuntn; Certificate of Authenticity (COA): Yes, numbered.
The individual Coin Presentation Case/Box
Collector Case:
Made of solid oak from Austria this ingenious collector ‘tower’ comes in a dark-red protective box.
The tower is divided into five separate discs each with a recess that houses and protects one of the five coins in the Austria’s Unsung Heroines series.
The discs can be fanned out so that collectors can proudly display all their coins at the same time. Cleverly designed and beautifully finished, this superb collector case perfectly complements this most commendable of coin series.
Measurements: height ca. 9 cm, width ca. 8.4 cm, depth ca. 8.4 cm.
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