Current Exhibitions

Vienna was a center of creative activity between 1897 and 1932 with the emergence of the Secession and the Wiener Werkstätte. These artists' associations were intended to challenge the prevailing conservative and historicizing tendencies of many Vienna artists and exhibitions. Participants also strived to encourage among the public a heightened sensitivity to, and appreciation for, culture and the arts in everyday life. The line between fine and applied arts became blurred, and the concept of Gesamtkunstwerk, or unified work of art, was introduced. This resulted in a full range of objects and furnishings being designed for specific interiors to create a unified, harmonious ensemble.

The founding group of young artists who formed the Secession included the architect Josef Hoffmann, the painter Koloman Moser, and the painter Gustav Klimt, who was elected president. Workshops for painters, cabinetmakers, gold and silversmiths, jewelry makers, leather workers and bronze founders thrived during this era. Wiener Werkstätte fabrics were designed by a multitude of talented designers and were then produced on an industrial basis.

The goal of this intimate, focused exhibition is to examine the artistic values and development of the Secession and Wiener Werkstätte through textiles, one of the most resonant and revealing aspects of artistic creativity of the time and a key element in the realization of Gesamtkunstwerk. On view are approximately 50 textiles and related objects including fabric samples, a sample book, fabric covered books and boxes created by Josef Hoffmann, Dagobert Peche, Maria Likarz-Strauss and other textile artists working in Klimt's era.