Under the heading “Wiener Werkstaette – a Total Work of Art”, Galerie bei der Albertina will present from 23rd October 2003 to 31st January 2004 exemplary works by artists of Wiener Werkstaette and their followers on the occasion of the centenary of the foundation of Wiener Werkstaette.

THE WIENER WERKSTAETTE:

In June 1903, the Wiener Werkstaette (WW) was founded in the form of a “productive co-operative of craftsmen” by Josef Hoffmann and Kolo Moser under the patronage of the Viennese industrialist Fritz Waerndorfer. The company’s aim was to reform the contemporary applied arts with works of exceptional quality.
The idea of an equality of applied arts and the traditionally “free” fine arts, on the one hand, and the penetration of all areas of life with arts, on the other, were the basic principles of Wiener Werkstaette. The proclaimed aim was to surround the daily life with beautiful items, and thus to create a “total work of art”. Within three decades, a group of highly qualified architects and craftsmen succeeded in realising their dream of the “total work of art” in the form of buildings and interiors. The most significant example is Palais Stoclet in Brussels, which was designed by Josef Hoffmann and entirely furnished by the Wiener Werkstaette.
The field of activity of the Wiener Werkstaette was extensive: beside furniture they produced tableware, cutlery, jewellery, enamels, ceramics, and pieces of glass, book covers, wall papers, different types of papers, but also post cards and short-lived fashions were part of their oeuvre.
Apart from a large number of permanent contributors and freelancers (for example Gustav Klimt for Palais Stoclet), most of all, the designs of Carl Otto Czeschka, Dagobert Peche, Josef Hoffmann, Kolo Moser, Bertold Loeffler, Michael Powolny, Vally Wieselthier, Otto Prutscher, and Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel shaped the look of the Wiener Werkstaette.

THE EXHIBITION:

With the jubilee show, the Galerie bei der Albertina will create an insight into the variety and creativity of the Wiener Werkstaette.

One focus will be the metal works of the Wiener Werkstaette. Numerous works in silver, brass and other metals by Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser and Dagobert Peche will be presented; among them, for instance, the famous, early squared trellis-work designs of Josef Hoffmann for baskets, vases and flower tables. Particularly impressive is also a caviar bowl by Josef Hoffmann, which attracts the viewer with its unpretentious shape and severe floral decoration. An especially extravagant silver goblet of 1923 by Dagobert Peche is among the highlights in this field.

Also exceptional drawings in pencil and crayon by Gustav Klimt and an expressive, powerful nude by Egon Schiele of 1914 will be exhibited.

The post cards of the Wiener Werkstaette are the largest post card series of the Viennese Art Nouveau period. From 1908, post cards of the Wiener Werkstaette were published with regularity over many years. Oskar Kokoschka, Rudolf Kalvach and Egon Schiele are among the most prominent of the around fifty artists who were committed with the post card designs. A broad collection of outstanding post cards will be presented in this show.

Numerous artists of the Wiener Werkstaette also created designs for glassware, which were then executed by different manufacturers. Above all, the companies E. Bakalovits Sons and Lobmeyr engaged well-known artists such as Otto Prutscher and Josef Hoffmann to supply designs. In addition, the Bohemian manufacturer Johann Loetz’ Widow, who had reached international fame with their lustre glass, made use of designs by respected WW-artists.The Galerie bei der Albertina will present Loetz vases in rare shapes and with various decorations. An attractive selection of Loetz glasses with characteristic overlaid and etched, geometric or organic decorations by Hans Bolek and Josef Hoffmann as well as extraordinary glass designs for Lobmeyr and Bakalovits will be on show: for example Ludwig H. Jungnickel’s wine glass with a monkey frieze, which is strongly related to the animal friezes executed by him in the children’s room of Palais Stoclet, or goblets with tall stems and cubic decorations by Otto Prutscher.

In 1905 Michael Powolny and Bertold Loeffler founded the Wiener Keramik whose production was sold by the Wiener Werkstaette from 1907. In the spirit of the Wiener Werkstaette and under the influence of Josef Hoffmann, those models, which were so far executed in colourful glazes, were then produced in a stylised, strict black-and-white from 1911/12. A rich variety of ceramic designs of both protagonists with polychrome as well as black-and-white glazes will enrich the show.

From Eduard Klablena who founded his ceramic studio in Langenzersdorf in 1911 will be shown his famous, stylized animal figures and fashion ladies, which were also sold in the Wiener Werkstaette from 1912 on.

The foundation of the Wiener Werkstaette’s own ceramics department in 1917 brought with it a new era of creativity above all in the person of the artist Vally Wieselthier. In contrast to the partly baroque forms of her teacher Michael Powolny, she developed a new language of form and uniquely contributed to a revival of this genre. The original ceramics of the 1920s on show are among others by the artists Vally Wieselthier, Susi Singer and Gudrun Baudisch. Their ceramics stand out due to their expressive-dynamic colouring and reflect the sculptors’ playful and experimental applications of glazes as a means of artistic expression. The almost 1 metre high “Figure with Headdress” of 1927 by Vally Wieselthier is proof of the artist’s high demand for quality.

Among the selected furniture on show, a cabinet with silver applications on its door designed by Koloman Moser in 1905 deserves particular emphasis: this piece of furniture was created for the villa of the Stonborough-Wittgenstein family in Berlin. Also a delicately designed glass cabinet by Adolf Loos of 1908 needs to be mentioned: this elegant piece was originally made for the summer apartment of Lina Loos, Adolf’s first wife. In addition, a rare armchair with aluminium mounts designed by Otto Wagner for the office of the news agency “Die Zeit” will be exhibited.

The aim of this sales show is to bring the viewer in touch with the extensive range of Wiener Werkstaette works by the help of a selection of representative objects and, at the same time, to illustrate the idea of the “total work of art”.