ADMISSION€ 15 / € 12 reduced / Free Admission for children and teens under 19 / MoreLectureShould it surprise us when a painter designs items of everyday use and even entire room interiors?Around 1900, this was not a new phenomenon in the Western world – including in Vienna. In fact, fine artists were working as craftspeople to design interiors and produce objects as early as the Renaissance, and they continue to do so to this day. New back then, however, was the fact that painters like Koloman Moser and architects like Josef Hoffmann harbored design ambitions that were universal in scope, encompassing all areas of human beings’ everyday lives. This ambition had its roots in the English Arts and Crafts movement, which called for an egalitarian unity of the arts (fine and applied art) as well as a return to ideals of high-quality craftsmanship.And it was in this spirit that Moser—whose original medium was the two-dimensional canvas—worked in three dimensions to arrive at exciting, ambiguous solutions that mediate between surface and space.Lecture Christian Witt-Dörring, MAK Curator
Should it surprise us when a painter designs items of everyday use and even entire room interiors?
Around 1900, this was not a new phenomenon in the Western world – including in Vienna. In fact, fine artists were working as craftspeople to design interiors and produce objects as early as the Renaissance, and they continue to do so to this day. New back then, however, was the fact that painters like Koloman Moser and architects like Josef Hoffmann harbored design ambitions that were universal in scope, encompassing all areas of human beings’ everyday lives. This ambition had its roots in the English Arts and Crafts movement, which called for an egalitarian unity of the arts (fine and applied art) as well as a return to ideals of high-quality craftsmanship.
And it was in this spirit that Moser—whose original medium was the two-dimensional canvas—worked in three dimensions to arrive at exciting, ambiguous solutions that mediate between surface and space.
Lecture Christian Witt-Dörring, MAK Curator
Around 1900, this was not a new phenomenon in the Western world – including in Vienna. In fact, fine artists were working as craftspeople to design interiors and produce objects as early as the Renaissance, and they continue to do so to this day. New back then, however, was the fact that painters like Koloman Moser and architects like Josef Hoffmann harbored design ambitions that were universal in scope, encompassing all areas of human beings’ everyday lives. This ambition had its roots in the English Arts and Crafts movement, which called for an egalitarian unity of the arts (fine and applied art) as well as a return to ideals of high-quality craftsmanship.
And it was in this spirit that Moser—whose original medium was the two-dimensional canvas—worked in three dimensions to arrive at exciting, ambiguous solutions that mediate between surface and space.
Lecture Christian Witt-Dörring, MAK Curator