Wiener Werkstatte - The Centenary

Gustav Klimt was one of
founding member of the
Vienna Secession. Buy this
poster of his Silhouette II
from Art.com

The Wiener Werkstatte (Vienna Workshop) exerted an enormous influence on artists and designers throughout the first part of the 20th century, particularly with the Art Deco designers like Jacques Emile Ruhlmann.

In 1897 a group of progressive artists and designers, led by architect Josef Hoffman and painter Kolo Moser, formed the Vienna Secession which became the Wiener Werkstatte in 1903 when they received backing from a prominent businessman. This enabled them to equip workshops especially for working on modern design in a range of applied arts like glass, metalwork and jewellery.

The aim of the Wiener Werkstatte artists and designers was to bring good design and art into every part of people's lives. They also wanted to break with the past and bring new style to everything they produced. Emphasis was placed on the beautiful and unique as well as faultless craftsmanship.

By 1905 the Wiener Werkstatte employed around 100 people in, for the time, uncommonly good working conditions.

Art historians dispute whether any furniture was made at the Wiener Werkstatte. It is true that little was actually made on the premises but, arguably, furniture was designed by artists in the collective and to exceeding high standards even if it was made elsewhere. For example, Josef Hoffmann designed striking and innovatively elegant bentwood furniture for the company Jakob and Josef Kohn.

As well as furniture, the Wiener Werkstatte produced handpainted and printed silks, leather goods, enamel, jewellery and ceramics.

In 1905, Kolo Moser left after arguments about money but the workshops continued with their innovative designs. It was the First World War and the consequent shortages both during and after the war that started the downward spiral.

The work produced deteriorated in quality and the original sponsor was in financial trouble but in 1914 a new sponsor was found to continue to finance the workshops. They continued for another 16 years until 1932 when the Wiener Werkstatte finally closed.

The Museum of Applied Art in Vienna is holding an exhibition to commemorate the centenary of the founding of the Wiener Werkstatte. It opens on 24th September 2003 and continues until the end of the year.

Copyright © 2003 by Carol Fisher All Rights Reserved