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Pair of vases Josef Hoffmann Wiener Werkstatte ca. 1920

SKU 539

Pair of vases, design Josef Hoffmann, execution Wiener Werkstatte, ca. 1920, marked

  • Height: 33cm, Width: 13.5cm, Depth: 13.5cm
  • 1920 to 1926
    Epoch: Art Nouveau
    Technique: Brass, chased, soldered, polished, hammered decoration
    Provenance: Private collection, Vienna

    Both vases marked with “JH” and “Wiener/Werk/Statte”

    16.000,00 VAT inclusive
    SKU 539
    Description

    Josef Hoffmann designed this pair of vases in the early 1920s, probably around 1921. Hammered entirely out of brass, this pair exudes a particularly fine elegance. The uncompromising craftsmanship of the Wiener Werkstätte manifests itself in the finish and the hammered surface decoration.

    The stylistic transition phase between Art Nouveau and Art Deco in the 1920s was not very pronounced in Austria given the effects of World War I. This makes such exceptional objects from this difficult period for the Wiener Werkstätte all the rarer.

    The design is reminiscent of two delicate stylized calyxes that seem to grow from a plant. The influence that Dagobert Peche exerted on Josef Hoffmann with his playful, ornamental style is clearly apparent in these two vases.

    Artist

    Josef Hoffmann (Brtnice 1870 – 1956 Vienna), co-founder of the Viennese Secession and of the Wiener Werkstätte, was an extremely productive and versatile architect and designer. Throughout his career he experimented with various forms, techniques and materials. In his designs, he was striving for a strong reduction of the form to the essential and was a pioneer of geometric Jugendstil. This is how his characteristic geometric style was established. The scope of his designs ranges from buildings and entire interiors, following the concept of the “Gesamtkunstwerk” (total work of art), all the way to small details of everyday life. One of his most significant works is the Palais Stoclet in Brussels, a Gesamtkunstwerk which he executed for a wealthy entrepreneur between 1905 and 1911 in collaboration with, among others, Gustav Klimt and Koloman Moser.

    Execution

    Wiener Werkstatte 1903 – 1932

    The Wiener Werkstatte was a production community founded on the model of the Arts and Crafts movement, which aimed to provide a platform for artistically designed and high quality crafts. Or, as G. Fahr-Becker puts it “…it was a workshop that gathered many, a work of art as the result of all the arts.”

    Founded in 1903 by Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser and industrialist Fritz Waerndorfer, the Wiener Werkstatte (WW) initially produced and distributed only metal objects. The range was subsequently rapidly expanded to include furniture, furnishings, textiles, jewellery, accessories made of ceramics and glass, leather, etc.

    The wide range of products was sold in the company’s own business premises in Vienna and, for a time, also in branches in Zurich and New York.

    The founding fathers and artistic directors J. Hoffmann and K. Moser originally pursued the ideal of artistic penetration of all areas of life in the sense of the Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art). This radical aspiration could only be realized in a few projects, which were commissioned primarily by upper-class patrons. Impressive examples of this are the Palais Stoclet in Brussels or the Villa Skywa-Primavesi in Vienna.

    In its early years, the company was still committed to a strict geometric style, but this functionalism was soon expanded to include more pleasing forms. As a representative of a more decorative line, we should mention Dagobert Peche, who with his playful, imaginative ornamentation contributed designs for all divisions of WW.

    An important creative contribution, especially in the decorative sections of the WW, was made by the female artists from around 1915. The best known would probably be the ceramic artists Vally Wieselthier and Gudrun Baudisch. The significance of many of these female designers has only been duly appreciated in recent years*.

    The increasingly difficult economic environment after World War I led to the liquidation of the WW in 1932. Gabriele Fahr-Becker writes: “The financial difficulties which the Wiener Werkstatte had to face during its existence were not primarily the result of economic ignorance, but were based on the fact that the broad public could not be reached as buyers” (G. Fahr-Becker, Wiener Werkstätte, Taschen 1994, p. 12).

    Beyond the relatively short period of its existence, the Wiener Werkstatte exerted a lasting influence. Arts and crafts as well as applied arts were decisively revalued and a whole generation of architects, artists and designers were influenced by the artistic will of their founding fathers.

    *Bib.: C. Thun-Hohenstein, A.-K. Rossberg, E. Schmuttermeier (ed.), Die Frauen der Wiener Werkstatte (The Women of the Wiener Werkstatte), exhibition catalog Museum of Applied Arts Vienna, Wien 2020

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    Pair of vases Josef Hoffmann Wiener Werkstatte ca. 1920

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