Wiener Werkstätte

The Wiener Werkstätte ("Vienna Workshop"), established in 1903 by the graphic designer and painter Koloman Moser, the architect Josef Hoffmann and the patron Fritz Waerndorfer, was a productive association in Vienna, Austria, which brought together architects, artists, designers and artisans working in ceramics, fashion, silver, furniture and the graphic arts.[1] The Workshop was "dedicated to the artistic production of utilitarian items in a wide range of media, including metalwork, leatherwork, bookbinding, woodworking, ceramics, postcards and graphic art, and jewelry."[2] This meant the workshop created many items used in domestic spaces, which, as the scholar Rebecca Houze has argued, were previously seen as the domain of women.[3] It is regarded as a pioneer of modern design, and its influence can be seen in later styles such as Bauhaus and Art Deco.[4]

Following World War I, the workshop was beset by financial troubles and material shortages.[5]

Style

The Workshop "derived inspiration from the rich tradition of the glorious past" with fine workmanship and high attention to detail, hearkening back to a more civilized, and secure, time.[6] Beginning with the 14th Exhibition of the Vienna Secession in 1902, the radical distinctiveness of certain Viennese artists began to emerge, setting a foundation for the widespread Modernist movement;[6] this became known as Wiener-Werkstätte-Stil (literally, the Vienna Workshops Style). Among the innovators were the Austrian designers Gisela Falke von Lilienstein and Else Unger, and the Viennese architect Josef Hoffmann. The latter's cubist sculpture created in 1902 marked a break into independence for many Viennese artists. His works from this period are especially remarkable when one considers that the term "cubism" only found its way into the art lexicon around 1907 to describe the work of Pablo Picasso.[7]

Dresses by Eduard Josef Wimmer-Wisgrill inspired Paul Poiret's when the latter visited the Workshop's Berlin exhibition in 1913. The work was considered both highly fashionable as well as functional. Other pieces at the exhibition included day and evening clothes, housedresses and negligees. Some of the earliest productions of the fashion workshop were artists smocks for Klimt and sculptor Anton Hanack.[6]

Josef Hoffman wrote in a 1928 retrospective on the 25th anniversary of the Workshop that:

"The Wiener Werkstatte... is an undertaking that furthers and nurtures all artistic and qualitative endeavors in the field of modern craftsmanship."[6]

The use of structured ornamentation was popularized by Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser.[8] Josef Hoffman asserted in 1928 that:

"Our main achievement has been to give practical and appropriate forms to all objects and then to make these unique and valuable through pleasing proportions and harmonious shapes. The materials, the tools, and sometimes the machine are our only means of expression. We do not dictate to an artist, but seek only to encourage him to follow his own intuition and develop his creative power."[6]

Production

Most of the objects produced in the Wiener Werkstatte were stamped with a number of different marks: the trademark of the Wiener Werkstatte, the monogram of the designer and that of the craftsman, who created it. The Wiener Werkstatte had about 100 employees in 1905, of whom 37 were masters of their trade.

The seat of the venture was in Neustiftgasse 32–34, where a new building was adapted to their requirements. Eventually the project exhausted Wärndorfer's fortune. The circle of customers of the Wiener Werkstatte and Josef Hoffmann mainly consisted of artists and Jewish upper middle class supporters of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Several branches of the workshop were opened in Karlsbad 1909, Marienbad, Zürich 1916–1917, New York 1922, Berlin 1929.

In architectural commissions such as the Sanatorium Purkersdorf and the Stoclet Palace in Brussels, the Wiener Werkstätte was able to realize its ideal of the Gesamtkunstwerk (total artwork), a coordinated environment in which everything down to the last detail was consciously designed as an integral part of the whole project.

For several years, beginning in 1904, the Wiener Werkstätte had its own carpentry workshop, though only few pieces of furniture were made there. Josef Hoffmann designed a furniture line noted for its simple forms for the firm of Jacob & Josef Kohn. Most of the furniture, known as Wiener Werkstätte Furniture, was made by cabinet-makers such as Portois & Fix, Johann Soulek, Anton Herrgesell, Anton Pospisil, Friedrich Otto Schmidt and Johann Niedermoser. Some historians now believe that there are no existing original products of the Wiener Werkstätte Furniture division.

From 1905, the Wiener Werkstatte produced handpainted and printed silks. The Backhausen[9] firm was responsible for the machine-printed and woven textiles. In 1907, the Wiener Werkstätte took over distribution for the Wiener Keramik, a ceramics workshop headed by Michael Powolny and Berthold Löffler. And in the same year Moser, embittered by the financial squabbling, left the Wiener Werkstätte, which subsequently entered a new phase, both stylistically and economically.

type	Public company
foundation	1903
defunct	1932
location	Vienna, Austria
key people	Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser, Dagobert Peche
industry	Art, interior decoration
products	Jewellery, ceramic, furniture, leather, fashion, metalworks

Origins

Style

Production

Expansion and End

Legacy

See also

External links

References