Developments in Design History 1850 - 1930
Wiener Werkstratte
Bauhaus Archive Berlin Museum of Design
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Wiener Werkstratte Developments in Design History 1850 - 1930 Xin Rong William Wu
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Published in 2022 Edited by Ron Hamilton Institute of Art, Design & Technology Kill Avnue, Dun Laoghaire Co.Dublin Ireland Phone +353 1239 4000 Email: info@iadt.ie www.iadt.ie Copyright © 2022 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including but not limited to photocopying, recording other electronic / mechanical method without prior written permisson of the publisher Text and cover design by Xin Rong William Wu
Bauhaus Archive Berlin Museum of Design
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Contents
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Summary of The Wiener Werkstätte
De Stiji
The Arts & Carfts Movement
Key ideas & Accomplishments
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H1 11
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Summary of the Wiener Werkstätte
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Wiener Werkstätte
1 The Wiener Werkstätte (Viennese Workshops) was one of the longest-lived design movements of the twentieth century and a key organization for the development of modernism. Centered in the Austrian capital, it stood at the doorway between traditional methods of manufacture and a distinctly avant-garde aesthetic. The Wiener Werkstätte’s emphasis on complete artistic freedom resulted in a prodigious output of designs, and this, along with an army of skilled craftsmen and a complex network of production and distribution made it the standard for Austrian design between the dawn of the century and the depths of the Great Depression.
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1
“ The limitless harm done in the arts a
production on the one hand and b
styles on the other is affecting the w
It would be madness to swim again
founded our workshop Where appro
without compulsion and not at any p
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Wiener Werkstätte
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and crafts field by low quality mass
by the unthinking imitation of old
whole world like some gigantic flood
nst this tide. Nevertheless, we have
opriate we shall try to be decorative
price.” Pamphlet from 1905
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Led by the unassuming architect Josef Hoffmann and his associates such as Dagobert Peche and Koloman Moser, the Wiener Werkstätte drew from movements such as the Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau as well as from traditional folk art and forecasted the flowering of Art Deco and the International Style in the interwar period. Its demise during repeated financial crises demonstrates the ultimate inability of artistic enterprises to completely free themselves from the economic concerns of the age.
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Wiener Werkstätte
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Germ
“ Lieber zehn Tage an
arbeiten, als zehn G einem Tag zu produz
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man
n einem Gegenstand Gegenstände an zieren”
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Eng
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“ Better to work ten da
to produce ten ob
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Wiener Werkstätte
glish
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ays on an object than bjects in one day ”
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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. 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; this became known as Wiener-Werkstätte-Stil (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.
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Wiener Werkstätte
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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.” It is regarded as a pioneer of modern design, and its influence can be seen in later styles such as Bauhaus and Art Deco. As the movement forged a new degree of excellence associated with Austrian design, Werkstätte heavily emphasized ideals surrounding complete artistic freedom. This resulted in a plethora of output/designs between the dawn of the century and The Great Depression. The firm even coined the term Gesamtkunstwerk, or “total work of art,” in which they sought to create a unified aesthetic across an entire designed environment.
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“ SIMPLICITY LIES NOT IN
BUT IN SYNTHE
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Wiener Werkstätte
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N OMISSION, ESIS ”
KOLOMAN MOSER
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Typography and Graphic Design
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Peche’s arrival also prompted a revolution in the Werkstätte’s graphic work. The Werkstätte’s official logo, created by Moser around 1903 but not registered officially until 1914, consisted of an interlocking sans-serif “WW” that uses thick weights for the characters’ arms, framed by a square with a weight of equal thickness; it formed the basis for most of the group’s early typography. he emphasis on the two-dimensional surface, meanwhile, constitutes an homage to honest graphic design in its pure form and forecasts the sans-serif lines used by many bauhaus designers such as Herbert Bayer. For example, Werkstätte created postcards which often featured the Workshops’ output in architecture, textiles, fashion, glass, and ceramics. It was this move that helped the firm attain two of its goals: first, narrowing the gap in prestige between artistic genres; and second, bolstering the commercial visibility of its designs.
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Wiener Werkstätte
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Wiener Werkstätte
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Fashion and Textiles It was at their atelier that the loose, flowing gowns, portrayed in Klimt’s paintings, were first realized. Most of these iconic fabrics were made and woven by the Wiener Werkstätte themselves. These versatile textiles were originally inspired by Japanese art and designed to be applied to furnishings, wallpaper, curtains, clothing, and sometimes even wrapping papers. The Gesamtkunstwerk approach encouraged such versatile designs and means of use. As the firm’s fashion and textile division gained attention, this traction prompted the creation of new segments of the movement, including a special section dedicated to blouse design and construction. Werkstätte’s printed fabrics featured geometric compositions as well as colors and shapes inspired by the more temporal aspects of the natural world. In many of the surviving samples, order and chaos coexist in floral designs reduced to the simplest representational shapes, while forests of repeated forms swarm over the surface of silk swatches.
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CH 30
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THE ARTS & CRAFTS MOVEMENT
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THE ARTS & CRAFTS MOVEMENT
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One of the big influencers of the Arts & Crafts Movement who inspired the Bauhaus creators was William Morris. Him and a couple other artists founded decorative arts firm, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. in 1861, where they crated wallpaper, textiles, furniture, and stained glass.
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THE ARTS & CRAFTS MOVEMENT
Over the years, they got many important interior design commissions for places like, St. James’s Palace and the Green Dining Room at the now Victoria & Albert Museum. Morris was adamant that he had to master every technique that was made in an items production before he let it be made and wanted to be involved in every stop of production. In 1877 he opened a store on Oxford Street, with trained staff. Thanks to his work, the movement travelled to Europe and the USA. The Wiener Werkstätte‘s work in jewelry, furnishings, interior design, fashion, and other areas, which often celebrated the beauty of geometry, became widely known for elegance and innovation, and this “square style” influen6ced the work of the Bauhaus craftsmen in the 1920s as well as the work of Frank Lloyd Wright.
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WILLIAM MORRIS
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IF YO THAT W IS IT: HOUSES TO
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OU WANT A GOLDEN RULE WILL FIT EVERYTHING, THIS HAVE NOTHING IN YOUR S THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW BE USEFUL OR BELIEVE TO BE BEAUTIFUL”
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2 An influential piece is the Strawberry Thief by William Morris (1883) The pattern was intended to be used for curtains or hung on walls, as a medieval style of decoration The pattern was based on the thrushes that would steal strawberries from the kitchen in his country home at Kelmscott Manner. Peter Behrens was an architect that was well known for Pioneering in the field of industrial design. Up to that time Behrens had been a mediocre painter, producing woodcuts, book covers, ceramics, interiors, fabrics, and carpets. Peter Behrens was the first person to design logos, advertising material and publications with a consistent unified design
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THE ARTS & CRAFTS MOVEMENT
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“ DESIGN
HE ONCE SAID,
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ING FU ABOUT ACCORD THE OBJ TECHN
THE ARTS & CRAFTS MOVEMENT
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N IS NOT ABOUT DECORATUNCTIONAL FORMS – IT IS T CREATING FORMS THAT D WITH THE CHARACTER OF JECT AND THAT SHOW NEW NOLOGIES TO ADVANTAGE ”
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DE STIJL
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DE STIJL
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De Stijl, a Dutch art movement meaning quite literally “The Style” in Dutch. An artistic movement created by Theo Van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian in 1917 as a reaction against Art Deco and a response to the horrors of World War 1. The abstract and aesthetic-centered view they had with a strong use of geometric shapes and primary colors was vastly different and forward thinking for the time.
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IN THE WORDS OF MONDRIAN
“ ABSTRACT ART IS N
OF ANOTHER REALI VISION OF
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NOT THE CREATION ITY BUT THE TRUE F REALITY ”
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They felt that the shapes and primary colors were a universal language appropriate to the modern era. Some of the notable artists and creators would be the founders Theo Van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian along with Gerrit Rietveld. The style focused on horizontal and vertical lines and used primary colours and black and white as its colour palette for pieces. Pure geometric abstraction focuses on straight lines and basic geometric shapes. They made such pieces as “Composition A” by Mondrian which is a good example of Mondrian’s geometric abstraction with rectilinear forms made up of solid, outlined areas of color, “Rood-Blauw Stoel” by Rietveld which translates to “Red and Blue Chair” is a chair commended for its simplicity and clarity and was described as “Honest Design” by Rietveld himself.
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DE STIJL
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“ WHAT I AM TRYING TO REA
FORM WHICH ENTIRELY C SPIRITUAL V
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ALIZE IS A UNIVERSAL CORRESPONDS TO MY VISION ”
THEO VAN DOESBURG
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KEY IDEAS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS
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KEY IDEAS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS
4 The Wiener Werkstätte initially emphasized the creation of the Gesamtkunstwerk, or “total work of art,” that sought to create a unified aesthetic across an entire designed environment, though this effort eventually fragmented into a highly diverse set of fields, with less and less emphasis on architecture and large-scale interiors, due to the financial constraints of the group’s clients. Unlike other contemporaneous movements in the decorative arts and design, the Wiener Werkstätte did not seek to create an art that would be accessible to all and enlighten the masses; instead, the group focused on the highest quality craftsmanship and materials for a socioeconomic elite that, ironically, would treat its work more as art objects than utilitarian items.
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“ OUR AIM IS TO CREATE AN I
OUR OWN COUNTRY WHICH ARTS AND CRAFTS, WOULD WHO PROFESSES FAITH IN R JOSEF HOFFMANN
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KEY IDEAS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS
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ISLAND OF TRANQUILITY IN H, AMID THE JOYFUL HUM OF D BE WELCOME TO ANYONE RUSKIN AND MORRIS.”
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KEY IDEAS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS
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They sought out to find ideal fusions of form and function with the ideas of De Stijl felt heavily throughout the realms of art and architecture. The differences in materials and ways of working between the artists yet keeping with the same universal idea and reaction to The Great War showed the unity in the De Stijl artistic movement. They created work that embodied a utopian De Stijl vision for the future. However, when they realized their vision was unattainable, as well as the creative differences between Doesburg and Mondrian these problems brought about the group’s demise. The artistry of the Wiener Werkstätte always took primacy over the commercial bottom line of the enterprise, and its reliance on wealthy underwriters to sustain its activities contributed to its gross financial insolvency. This, exacerbated by periods of broader economic troubles, was primarily responsible for its demise.
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Bibliography: Wiener Werkstätte History “The Vienna Secession: a History”. theviennasecession. com. 2 June 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2016 Wiener Werkstätte Style The Wiener Werkstätte Movement Overview and Analysis”. The Art Story. Retrieved December 29, 2021. “Wiener Werkstätte”. Minnie Muse. Retrieved 2021-12-29. Mondrain/Theo van Doesburg Artwork Netherlands Years for history of Art Vol. 19 (1968)
Bauhaus Archive Berlin Museum of Design
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List of Images:
Wiener Werkstätte Histor 1. WIENER WERKSTATTE Workshop Photo 2.KOLOMAN MOSER ,Original Design for Opening of Wiener Werkstätte Showroom, 1905 3.Gustav Klimt, Textile Sample 4.the Strawberry Thief by William Morris (1883) 5.Composition A (1920) - Piet Mondrian
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Translated as the “Viennese Workshops,” the name Wiener Werkstätte represents well the nature of its organization: it incorporated the craft-based production of decorative arts in a mostly rural country, which was historically concentrated in its primary metropolis. Though its artists made ample use of new industrial materials, they resisted temptations to completely turn to mass production.
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