Permanent CollectionMAK Permanent Collection Vienna 1900
Design / Arts and Crafts 1890-1938
MAK Permanent Collection Vienna 1900
Vibrant and manifold: VIENNA 1900 in a new light The fascinatingly complex cultural epoch denoted by the term “Vienna 1900” has long been the stuff of legend. And the equally
multifaceted and momentous output of this period’s artisans and designers is now the focus of a newly completed section of
the MAK Permanent Collection. At this presentation’s thematic core is the multifarious struggle to arrive at an Austrian, modern, bourgeois, and democratic
style. Today, this chapter of design and arts and crafts history—subsumed under the terms of Secessionism and Jugendstil—serves
like no other to underpin Austrian identity. But around 1900, the search for a suitable style reflected an identity crisis
of the bourgeois class. The entirely contradictory results of this search were tied together by a central characteristic of
the modern era: a pioneering desire for expressive individuality. The MAK now invites visitors to engage in a multilayered examination of the “Vienna 1900” phenomenon that covers three rooms.
This section of the Permanent Collection, which had gone unchanged since 1993, is the first to have been reconceived. The
new presentation’s content was developed by Christian Witt-Dörring together with the museums’ collection curators, and the
Viennese designer Michael Embacher was responsible for the individual rooms’ design. VIENNA 1900. Design / Arts and Crafts 1890–1938 adheres to a largely chronological structure: the first room is dedicated to the search for a modern style; the second room
features a close look at the Viennese style; and the third room points the way to the International Style. Around 500 collection
objects are shown in various thematic combinations that serve to shed light on art-historical and sociopolitical aspects relevant
to Viennese modernism. In several respects, the new “Vienna 1900” section of the MAK Permanent Collection deals with Viennese modernism differently
than did previous rooms devoted to the topic. Embedded chronologically between the late 19th century’s overcoming of Historicism
and the National Socialists’ seizure of power in 1938, this new presentation facilitates a broader historical understanding
of the era. It opens up a view on international relationships, illustrating both influences from abroad and developments elsewhere
that emerged simultaneously. Furthermore, the presentation highlights formal and/or cultural fallbacks as well as continuities:
some objects, for example, hark back to the Biedermeier era or make visible use of patterns from Moravian folk art.“Traces” of Central European Modernism In fact, a great number of innovative designers—in addition to the well-known Moravian-born opponents Josef Hoffmann and Adolf
Loos—came from the territory of today’s Czech Republic. So the era of Viennese modernism thus saw the longstanding reciprocal
relationship between Vienna, Bohemia, and Moravia remain a fruitful one: many architects and designers who had come to Vienna
for their professional training went on to play a significant role in the dissemination of modern design in their home regions.
The new Permanent Collection rooms on the “Vienna 1900” theme document these mutual effects,making an important contribution towards underpinning a broader understanding of Central European modernism’s development. The MAK will also be conveying this new approach outside its own walls: with support from the EU, the museum will be spending
the next few years developing a Central European cultural route between Vienna and Brno entitled “Traces.” This route will
link the region’s most influential modern-era buildings and also include locations of significance to Viennese intellectual
life around 1900. In order to accomplish this, the MAK will be using its cooperative relationship with the Moravian Gallery
at the Josef Hoffmann Museum (run jointly since 2006) in order to have the cultural region of Moravia–Lower Austria–Vienna
once again be known as an influential source of modernist impulses.Curator Christian Witt-DörringPublicationThe MAK/GUIDE published on the occasion of the reinstallation of the MAK Permanent Collection VIENNA 1900 is edited by Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, with contributions by Rainald Franz, Sebastian Hackenschmidt, Barbara Karl, Peter
Klinger, Kathrin Pokorny-Nagel, Elisabeth Schmuttermeier, Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, Johannes Wieninger and Christian Witt-Dörring.German/English, 224 pages, 100 color illustrations, 24 x 12,5 cm, paperback, MAK Vienna / Prestel Verlag, 2013. Available
at the MAK Design Shop
“Partage Plus”: Jugendstil goes digital
This EU project is dedicated to the scholarly research and digitization of selected Art Nouveau-era objects, ultimately providing
online access to the public via Europeana, a multi-media Open Access data base. The MAK, alongside other international museums,
thus has been offered a unique opportunity to publicize its valuable holdings from this era, in particular works by artists
from the Wiener Werkstätte and the Secession. Numerous objects presented in the MAK Permanent Collection VIENNA 1900 and in the exhibition A SHOT OF RHYTHM AND COLOR will be digitized and published online until 2014.
“Partage Plus” is funded by the Commission’s ICT Policy Support Programme as part of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework
Programme.
partage-plus.eu, europeana.eu
Opening Hours
Tue 10 a.m.–10 p.m.Wed–Sun 10 a.m.–6 p.m.Mon closed
Admission
€ 12 / reduced € 9Free admission for children and teens under 19Tuesdays 6–10 p.m. admission € 5 Family ticket € 15(two adults and at least one minor child up to 14)Vienna 1900-Combined Ticket€ 20 / reduced € 16valid for MAK and Leopold Museum Guided Tours
MAK TOURS – every Saturday at 11 a.m. a tour through the MAK in German; every Sunday at noon in English.Attendance fee: € 3,50 per person (1 h), € 5 per person (1,5 h), except children up to 6 and holders of
“Hunger auf Kunst und Kultur-Pass”
Special and Group Tours
by advance bookingGabriele Fabiankowitsch, Head of Educational Program and Guided ToursT +43 1 711 36-298(Mon–Fri 10 a.m.–4 p.m.), Multimedia Guide
for Vienna 1900, Asia, Carpets: € 2Or download the app for free to your own tablet (iOS and Android)! Barrier Free Access
Elevator and toilets at the entrance Weiskirchnerstraße 3
