Table “Five balls” Josef Hoffmann J. & J. Kohn ca. 1908
Viennese Jugendstil table “Five balls”, design Josef Hoffmann, manufactured by J. & J. Kohn Vienna, mod. no. 1262, ca. 1910, bent beechwood, brass, glass plate
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Description
This table follows the same design concept as Hoffmann’s famous 7-ball chair. Josef Hoffmann was commissioned to design a complete house with furnishings for the Kunstschau 1908 at an affordable price. In doing so, he drew on many of his already established furniture designs, including the Sitzmaschine and the Fledermaus Suite. The outdoor area of the house also features a Seven-ball bench, which, together with the Seven-ball chair and the Seven-ball stool, as well as a 24-ball table, are considered Hoffmann’s most modern series furniture designs.
The table is made of beechwood, stained in rosewood, and then polished. The top is adorned with a glass plate and Backhausen fabric, while the base is decorated with finely hammered brass. Due to their avant-garde design and rarity, these pieces of furniture gained high demand and are now among the most coveted collector’s items by Josef Hoffmann.
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
Werkstätte Hagenauer – stylistic evolution and importance
Today, the Werkstatte Hagenauer is rightfully among the most important Austrian Arts & Crafts manufacturers of the 20th century. The clear, strict formal language combined with dynamic poses and the usage of brass, nickel-plated, patinated or bare, along with copper, alpaca and exotic wood shows a high level of recognition.
However, it took the siblings Karl and Franz Hagenauer quite some time until they developed their own unique style. Karl and Franz both attended the Vienna School of Arts & Crafts and studied under Josef Hoffmann, Oskar Strnad, Anton Hanak and Dagobert Peche.
Until the closure of the Werkstatte Hagenauer on December 30, 1987, art objects of outstanding quality were still being produced. The siblings Karl and Franz Hagenauer strongly contributed in coining the term „design“ through their legacy and are surely among the most influential Austrian artists of the 20th century.
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