Research Project
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Who influenced the style of the Wiener Werkstätte (WW) from the moment it was founded in 1903? Names that immediately come to mind are those of the great male artists Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser, and Dagobert Peche. Yet, from the outset, women artists were also involved in the WW’s creations.
5.5.2021—3.10.2021
Upper Exhibition Hall
Their number grew constantly until the company’s liquidation in 1932, and especially in the interwar years Mathilde Flögl, Maria Likarz, Felice Rix, or Vally Wieselthier defined the look of the WW with fantastic fabric patterns and expressive ceramics. In the course of our research, about 180 female artists were identified and approximately half of these are represented in this exhibition.
Educated at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts and employed at the WW by Hoffmann, the women designed fabrics, fashion, home accessories, toys, and commercial art and, in addition, also took over the field of ceramics where they were able to work purely artistically. Furthermore, they also developed exceptional murals for interiors—be it flats, restaurants, or exhibition spaces. Although highly recognized at their time, the women artists were mostly forgotten after the end of the WW. The catalog and exhibition want to give them a face and raise awareness for an oeuvre that was involved in constituting the unique position of the Wiener Werkstätte between Art Nouveau and Bauhaus.
The exhibition is accompanied by the publication WOMEN ARTISTS OF THE WIENER WERKSTÄTTE, edited by Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, Anne-Katrin Rossberg, and Elisabeth Schmuttermeier, with contributions by Megan Brandow-Faller, Elisabeth Kreuzhuber, Anne-Katrin Rossberg, Elisabeth Schmuttermeier, Lara Steinhäußer, and Angela Völker. German/English, 288 pages with numerous color illustrations. MAK, Vienna/Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 2020. Available at the MAK Design Shop and online at MAKdesignshop.at for € 44.95.
Audio Tour through the exhibition WOMEN ARTISTS OF THE WIENER WERKSTÄTTE. Read by the acress Louise Prack free on soundcloud.com/makwien
Immerse yourself in the MAK.digiSTORIES! The new format makes it possible to experience exhibition content digitally in a visually appealing way. Easily accessible, it combines exciting background information with digital storytelling. With MAK.digiSTORIES, you can ideally prepare for your visit to the exhibition or read up on exciting details. Available for free for smartphone, tablet and desktop.
The MAK.digiSTORY for the exhibition WOMEN ARTISTS OF THE WIENER WERKSTÄTTE offers lovingly prepared background information on the women artists and the history of the Wiener Werkstätte as well as fascinating visual material. Biographies of individual women artists and the history of Vienna around 1900 are interwoven in images and text.
© MAK
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CURATORS
Anne-Katrin Rossberg, Curator, MAK Metal Collection and Wiener Werkstätte Archive
Anne-Katrin Rossberg, Curator, MAK Metal Collection and Wiener Werkstätte Archive
Guest Curator: Elisabeth Schmuttermeier
EXHIBITION DESIGN
Claudia Cavallar, Lukas Lederer
Claudia Cavallar, Lukas Lederer
WOMEN ARTISTS OF THE WIENER WERKSTÄTTE
Martha Alber, Mea Angerer, Adele Appoyer, Hilda Ascher, Gudrun Baudisch, Eilfriede Berbalk, Fritzi Berger, Helene Bernatzik, Ilse Bernheimer, Margret Bilger, Charlotte Billwiller, Camilla Birke, Else Birnbacher, Emilie Bittner, Irene Blahy, Grete Blatny, Edith Blau, Hilde Blumberger, Nelly Brabetz, Gertrud Brandt, Maria Vera Brunner, Hertha Bucher, Lotte Calm, Hedwig Denk, Mizzi Donin, Lida Doxat, Brunhilde Dreher, Alice Ehmann, Christa Ehrlich, Lucie Fell, Karoline/Lotte Fink, Alice Fischer, Else Flech, Mathilde Flögl, Gertrude Foges, Beatrix Foltin, Marie Freund, Olga Freund, Eva Frieberger, Mizi Friedmann, Lotte Frömel-Fochler, Helene Gabler, Hermine Ginzkey, Ella Graf, Gabriele Hackl, Marie Händler, F. J. Häsel, Lilly Hahn, Lotte Hahn, Margarete Hamerschlag, Fanny Harlfinger-Zakucka, Bianca Hausig, Irene v. Herget, Clara Herzig, Heddi Hirsch, Leopoldine Hirsch, Maria Hochstetter, Gertrud Höchsmann, Maria Josefa Hödl, Ingrid Ipsen, Sofie Iszkowska, Lilly Jacker, Lilly Jacobsen, Hede Jahn, Hilda Jesser, Helene John, Maria Jungwirth, Margarete Kempf, Adalberta Kiessewetter, Annalise Knapp, Olga Kneiser, Mela Koehler, Leopoldine Kolbe, Erna Kopriva, Valentine Kovačič, Eva Kowarcz, Rose Krenn, Lisa Kümmel, Dina Kuhn, Helene Kurz, Klara Kuthe, Frieda Lagus, Elisabeth Leisching, Marianne Leisching, Anna Lesznai, Maria Likarz, Lizzy Lindner, Melitta Löffler, Fritzi Löw, Marta Loewin, Kató Lukáts, Elena Luksch-Makowsky, Lydia Lunaczek, Paula Lustig, Grete Luzzatto, Louise Eleonore Maaß, Maria Makasy, Valerie Mautzka, Ella Max, Grete May, Maria Mayreder, Johanna Meier-Michel, Gabi Möschl, Ditha Moser, Antonie Mutter, Grete Neuwalder, Gertrude Neuwirth, Rosa Neuwirth, Emilie Niedenführ, Amalie Nowotny, Erna Pamberger, Marianne Perlmutter, Valerie Petter, Camilla Peyrer, Angela Piotrowska, Josefine Podboy, Minka Podhajská, Klara Posnanski, Fritzi Pracht, Maria Pranke, Carmela Prati, Erna Putz, Hertha Ramsauer, Grete Reichle, Margarete Reinold, Felice Rix, Kitty Rix, Anna Rothziegel, Emmy Rothziegel, Ena Rottenberg, Marta Ruben, Juliana Ryšavy, Margarete Sattler, Susanne Sautter, Reni Schaschl, Ilse Schenk, Anna Schmedes, Hedwig Schmidl, Else Schmidt, Maria Schober, Gabriele Schramm-Brisker, Mizzi Schreiner, Anny Schröder, Ida Schwetz-Lehmann, Jutta Sika, Emilie Simandl, Susi Singer, Julia Sitte, Olga Sitte, Camilla Sodoma, Marie Sorer, Luise Spannring, Grete Sperl, Agnes Speyer, Marie Stadlmayer, Eva Stammbusch, Elli Stoi, Luise Stoll, Else Stübchen-Kirchner, Dora Suppantschitsch, Amalie Szeps, Melanie Taussig, Alice Teichtner, Maria Tlusty, Therese Trethan, Maria Trinkl, Emilie Vogelmayer, Mizzi Vogl, Emma Wabak, Getrud Weinberger, Hermine Weiss, Christine Weißenberg, Marie Weißenberg, Vally Wieselthier, Hanna Wintersteiner, Anny Wirth, Marie Wohlmann, Grete Wolf, Marianne Zels, Nora Zuckerkandl, Emmy Zweybrück
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Media
Vally Wieselthier, Advertisement for the fashion of the “Wiener Werkstätte Kärntnerstrasse 32 u. 41,” Vienna, before 1928 © MAK
Charlotte Billwiller, Mathilde Flögl, Susi Singer, Marianne Leisching, and Maria Likarz, Photograph, 1924 © MAK
Wandmalereien von Lotte Calm, Lilly Jacobsen, Fritzi Löw, Anny Schröder und Vally Wieselthier in der WW-Textilabteilung, Kärntner Straße 32, 1918
Mathilde Flögl, Seite aus der Jubiläumsschrift Die Wiener Werkstätte 1903-1928. Modernes Kunstgewerbe und sein Weg, 1929 © MAK
MAK Exhibition View, 2021
WOMEN ARTISTS OF THE WIENER WERKSTÄTTE
in the front: Rose Krenn, Cigar cabinet, Execution: Karl Adolf Franz, Florian Hrabal, Vienna 1912
MAK Exhibition Hall
© MAK/Georg Mayer
MAK Exhibition View, 2021
WOMEN ARTISTS OF THE WIENER WERKSTÄTTE
in the front: Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Johanna Staude (dressed in an item of clothing made from the WW fabric [Leaves] by Martha Alber), 1917/18
MAK Exhibition Hall
© MAK/Georg Mayer