Pen tray “Luna” Gustav Gurschner ca. 1898

Gustav Gurschner was one of the most important bronziers of Viennese Jugendstil. He was member of the artists association Wiener Secession and Hagenbund and contributed his distinctive formal language to Viennese arts and crafts around 1900.
What is interesting about this rectangular pen tray is the depiction of symbolist and secessionist stylistic elements. A sleeping woman’s head is shown, with the stylized woman’s hair nestling artfully around the bowl. The empowerment and mystification of women was a core element of Symbolism and was consistently taken up and used by the Secessionists in Austria.