MY ULLMANN

Living Kineticism: Pictures, Performance, Art in Architecture

The MAK is dedicating the first solo exhibition in Austria to My Ullmann (1905–1995), one of the co-founders of kineticism.

17.4.2024—1.9.2024

MAK Works on Paper Room

After training at the Vienna School of Applied Arts under the reformer of child art Franz Čižek, Ullmann initially worked as a craftswoman and commercial artist. Crystalline forms and curved lines characterize her work, which was shaped by the many stations in her life—including Berlin, Münster, Zurich, and finally Constance. Maria Ullmann, who signed as “My,” left behind an extensive oeuvre: stage and costume designs, artistic room and wall designs from her own my studio, and Art in Architecture, in which she continued her kinetic early work in her later work.

The exhibition and accompanying catalog were realized in collaboration with the Municipal Wessenberg Gallery Constance.

Curator: Kathrin Pokorny-Nagel, Head MAK Library and Works on Paper Collection/Archive
Guest curator: Barbara Stark, Director, Municipal Wessenberg Gallery Constance

Publication

MY ULLMANN. Bilder, Bühne, Kunst am Bau, edited by Barbara Stark and Lilli Hollein, with contributions by Sebastian Hackenschmidt, Barbara Lesák, Sabine Plakolm-Forsthuber, Kathrin Pokorny-Nagel, Anne-Katrin Rossberg, and Barbara Stark. German, 160 pages with numerous color illustrations. Municipal Wessenberg Gallery in Constance and MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna/Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2023. Available at the MAK Design Shop and online at MAKdesignshop.at for € 24.

My Ullmann, Carpet design, 1927 Pencil, watercolor, gouache, and gold paint Backhausen archive, inv. no. BA05585

My Ullmann, Costume design Mode [Fashion] for the carnival masquerade ball Die bunte Laterne [The Colorful Lantern], Berlin, 1933 Pencil and watercolor on tracing paper

My Ullmann, Writing desk, Florence, 1938 Execution: Aldo Pasquinelli (?) Walnut, brass, glass

My Ullmann with the model of a fountain for the city of Marl, ca. 1965

My Ullmann, Poster design for the Thonet company on the 100th anniversary of its foundation, 1930 Tempera

My Ullmann, Abstrakte Komposition [Abstract Composition], 1925 Crayon on tracing paper

My Ullmann, Design for a drinks cabinet, 1938 Pencil and black ink

My Ullmann, o. T. [Untitled], 1926 Crayon

My Ullmann, Design for decorative paper, undated Linoprint

MAK Exhibition View, 2024 MY ULLMANN. Living Kineticism: Pictures, Performance, Art in Architecture

Media

My Ullmann, ca. 1935 © My Ullmann Estate

My Ullmann, Bescheiden [Modest], 1925 © Kunstsammlung und Archiv, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Inv. Nr. 10.008/B

My Ullmann, Carpet design, 1927 Pencil, watercolor, gouache, and gold paint Backhausen archive, inv. no. BA05585 © Backhausen archive

My Ullmann, Costume design Mode [Fashion] for the carnival masquerade ball Die bunte Laterne [The Colorful Lantern], Berlin, 1933 Pencil and watercolor on tracing paper © Galerie Walfischgasse

My Ullmann, Writing desk, Florence, 1938 Execution: Aldo Pasquinelli (?) Walnut, brass, glass © MAK, Inv. Nr. H 3415

My Ullmann with the model of a fountain for the city of Marl, ca. 1965 © Private collection

My Ullmann, Poster design for the Thonet company on the 100th anniversary of its foundation, 1930 Tempera © Collection and Archive, University of Applied Arts Vienna, inv. no. 8974

My Ullmann, Abstrakte Komposition [Abstract Composition], 1925 Crayon on tracing paper © Collection and Archive, University of Applied Arts Vienna, inv. no. 8976/2

MAK Exhibition View, 2024 MY ULLMANN. Living Kineticism: Pictures, Performance, Art in Architecture © MAK/Christian Mendez