MAK Permanent Collection Baroque Rococo Classicism

Porcelain Room from Dubsky Palace in Brno, Vienna, ca. 1740, Ke 6201/1912

Table Centerpiece from Zwettl Monastery, Vienna, 1768 and earlier, Ke 6823 / 1926, Glass display case: Donald Judd

Baroque Rococo Classicism

Name: MAKtour: Opulence and Reduction (in German)
Start: 2024-12-22T11:00
End: 2024-12-22T12:00
Location: MAK – Museum of Applied Arts

For US artist Donald Judd, the presentation of the Permanent Collection Baroque Rococo Classicism was a great challenge. With their opulent ornaments, the collection objects from the 18th century provide a stark contrast to Judd’s own Minimal Art style. He decided to present the richly decorated exhibits on simple, white marble, thus placing special emphasize on their opulent forms.

MAK – Museum of Applied Arts

In the middle of the room, the spatial installation of the famous Dubsky room is located. The porcelain room of Dubsky Palace in Brno can be admired as a complete Baroque interior design decorated with more than 3,000 porcelain pieces—documents of the earliest Viennese porcelain production.

On the minimalist marble platforms by Donald Judd, outstanding examples of Austrian and German furniture art from the 18th century are presented around this installation. They reflect the stylistic and artisanal but also social developments of this era: For example, the prestigious cabinet from the 17th century is replaced by a secretary desk. In France, the chest of drawers as a new case furniture for storage in the living area comes into existence, a development towards more privacy and comfort. A new type of furniture is also the desk the way we still use it today.

Credits

Artistic intervention

Donald Judd

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Central group of the centerpiece from Zwettl Monastery, Ke 6823 / 1926

One of the historically most important objects of the MAK Collection is the artfully worked cabinet by David Roentgen, delivered to the governor-general of the Austrian Netherlands, Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, in the royal palace in Brussels in 1776. The piece of luxury furniture, more than three meters tall and crowned with a gilt Apollo figure, is one of the highlights of European cabinetmaking. On the surface, artistically designed wooden marquetry presents motifs from art, science, and trade. The highly complex mechanical interior of the cabinet can also be considered excellent artistic performance: Upon pressing a button, a reading desk is automatically extended as well as a coin cabinet connected to a musical mechanism that plays the flute when the cabinet is opened—a highly elegant and melodic safety mechanism.

A further highlight is the Zwettel centerpiece created in 1768, which is presented in a showcase designed by Donald Judd: The splendid Baroque tableware consists of 50 figures made of the finest Viennese porcelain and is an impressive witness of the opulent use of forms in this epoch.