Wiener
werkstatte EL PASO MUSEUM OF ART August 22, 2016 - November 30, 2018
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The beginning of Vienna’s modern age started between 1897 through 1899 with the help of artist Gustav Klimt. With the intensions of breaking away from the well-known and outmoded Viennese Künstlergenossenschaft (artists’ cooperative), Klimt led the uprising art world against the old generations and established a new organization for artists called the Secession. As a result of this movement, the 8th Secession Exhibition influenced two significant Secession founding members into creating the Wiener Werkstätte or Vienna’s workshops. Architect Josef Hoffman, graphic designer and painter Koloman Moser and banker Fritz Waerndorfer founded the Wiener Werkstätte in 1903. It began in a three-room apartment, then in October of that same year, moved to Neustiftgasse,Vienna VII to a three-story building. Rooms were white to convey a sense of cleanliness and reflect light. The founders of the Wiener Werkstätte evoked the spirit of gesamtkunstwerk or total work of art. Singly, the ideas of the Wiener Werkstätte were nothing special; but together, they were explosive. The Wiener Werkstätte was a production company that brought together art and craftsmanship through workshops in the areas of architecture, industrial design, graphic design, and fashion.
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rchItectur Josef Hoffmann, Palais Stoclet, 1906-1911.
With this in mind, the Wiener Werkstätte hoped to unite several fields of art in order to compose simplistic and structural architectural environments. The beginnings of Wiener Werkstätte architecture were partially influenced by the architect and urban planner Otto Wagner. Werkstätte founder Josef Hoffman’s intentions were that rather than copying shallow forms, he endeavored to comprehend the principles of classical and vernacular architecture. The ideas began to merge with new, foreign influences––from Art Nouveau curves and British ideals of craftsmanship––to influence the young architects’ earliest interiors. One building in particular that expressed these ideas was the Palais Stoclet, which was completed in 1911. This building, from the inside out, displays a simple yet elegant geometric structure, from the decorations and furniture by the Werkstätte artists to the exterior of the Viennese Art Nouveau. Another example, the Purkersdorf Sanatorium was the Werkstätte’s most important collaborative project, and its first major commission. The Sanatorium was constructed to treat people with nervous disorders. The consideration of designing every element of the building with extreme detail was important to the clients. The wealthy clients of Wiener Werkstätte wanted homes that reflected their status. Werkstätte architecture met the craft ethics of the group. Furniture was not only a major element to any interior, but it is because of the furniture designs that the Werkstätte is probably best known today.
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Hoffman and Moser worked with the existing furniture industry in Austria in collaboration with artist and craftsmen. The method used to build the furniture designs goes back to the early years of the nineteenth century, where bending woods in an acute angle formed new shapes. One example portraying these ideas was the Chair designed for the Café Museum,Vienna by Adolf Loos. The Wiener Werkstätte’s two leaders had different concepts in forming the furniture designs. Hoffman loved square and cubic forms, which later were known as Quadratl or little squares. In contrast to Hoffman, was Moser who was fond of geometric devices influenced by the Jugendstil or German Art Nouveau. The Egg rocking chair by Hoffman and the writing desk and chair by Moser illustrate their distinctive approach to furniture. Nevertheless, glass and ceramic also contributed to the approach both of these artists were taking. Moser’s glass designs exposed the simplistic approach by the use of material that allowed the ornamental flare be sufficient. Similar to the glass designs, was the ceramic work that implemented the same structure as the Werkstätte designs. For example, the Tafelaufsatz by Hoffmann and a vase by Moser incorporate the Werkstätte style of geometric and structural work.Graphic Design was involved in everything the Werkstätte did. Its graphic style reflected the Viennese Secession, the fading Art Nouveau of the late 1890s and the decadence of postwar period, with its self-conscious naïveté and folkish touches. From 1907, the Werkstätte began to produce its own picture postcards featuring work by members Oskar Kokoschka, Egon Schiele, Rudolf Kalvach and Moriz Jung. This later expanded to greeting cards, fashion, clothing, and architectural views. Although there was success, production fell due to the start of the First World War. Works in particular that contained Werkstätte graphic style were The Werewolf by Josef Diveky and Cherub with Bell by Berthold Löffler. These postcards adopted decorated borders, ornamentation and patterns throughout. In terms of typography, in 1903 the Werkstätte designed monograms for the Beethoven exhibition catalogue. These could be considered prototypes of the monograms that Wiener Werkstätte artists and craftsmen later affixed to their products. The first Werkstätte trademark, called Rosemark, contains those four such marks in the “WW” logo. Werkstätte artists used their monograms to identify their work and were published in the Kachelalmanch anniversary catalog in 1928.
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In the same way, the Werkstätte focused on reforming fashion. In 1910, the Wiener Werkstätte opened its first fashion department under the direction of Eduard Josef Wimmer-Wilsgrill. Its first collection with the textile department rescued the group from financial crisis. This was due to the First World War. The fashion line had a basic idea of “Refomkleid” (reform dress). The clothing did not flatter the female figure; instead it attempted to assimilate to foreign influences and the Viennese style. This included Empire waists, which meant from the waist down, the fabric had a wide shape. Other characteristics were long dresses that came from the shoulders all the way to the ankles, accompanied by glamorous hats in a variety of shapes. The first successful Werkstätte garment designs were basically low-key clothing that mirrored a dull tone of the early war years. When the war ended, the Werkstätte fashion department became well recognized and respected. It reached its first major international accomplishment when the German Crown Princess Cecily displayed the Werkstätte fashion line on the 1914 Cologne Werkbund Exhibition.
Wiener Werksttate, Ladies’ coat, 1919.
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legacy All these fields of art made up the successful enterprise that was the Wiener Werkstätte. From its geometric and structural architecture to its ornamented, decorative postcards, all have influenced today’s society. In the February, 2011 issue of Vogue there is a clear correlation between the designers’ choices of fabric and the construction to the Wiener Werkstätte style. Designers such as Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors and Rodarte all reference Werkstätte style in their clothing and accessories. The Wiener Werkstätte movement was a true inspiration of new ideas that composed original work that today is still seen everywhere. Both leaders, Josef Hoffman and Koloman Moser, created an atmosphere of sharp, congruent, and simplistic work. As Art Nouveau and other artists once inspired this institution, the Wiener Werkstätte institution now inspires many artists.
From left to right:Vogue, Rodarte, 2011., Wiener Werkstatte, Ladies’ outfit, 1919., Eduard Josef Wimmer-Wisgrill, Outfit and coat, 1920.
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