DOI article:
Wójcik, Agata: The Society for Polish Applied Art versus the Vienna Workshops - an attempt at comparison: stylistic analogies in furniture an interior design
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51757#0135
THE SOCIETY FOR POLISH APPLIED ART VERSUS THE VIENNA WORKSHOPS...
133
3. Edward Trojanowski, The study of Władysław Reymont,
c. 1908. Courtesy of Graphic Art Room,
The Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow
4. Josef Hoffmann, Hall in the villa
of Friedrich Viktor Spitzer, 1900-1903,
“Art et Decoration”, 1904, vol. 16, p. 64
white colour and fabric with the motif of geometrized trees.38 A similar formal solution was applied in the
bedroom of the lady of the house and in the guest bedroom in the villa of Professor Pickier in Budapest
(1909). The furniture of very simple form, devoid of decorations or ornamented with rhombuses, was
combined with patterned fabrics and wallpapers.39 Similar solutions to bedroom sets reign at the time in
Moser’s work. The servant’s room in the apartment of Eisler von Terramare (1903) was furnished with
simple furniture, devoid of any curvatures yet painted red and decorated with a motif of contrasting white
squares40 (Fig. 5, 6). Equally purist forms were used by Moser when designing the bedroom of well-to-do
clients - of Jerome Stonborough and Margarette Stonborough-Wittgenstein in Berlin (1905). The furniture
was based on straight angles; the only wavy line appears in the shape of a sofa. The white color of the
furniture pieces comes alive thanks to metal plaques, fabrics, wallpapers, and fur rugs. The Tichy arm-
chair, which does not have equivalents in Polish furniture of the early 20th century, could be compared
with Hoffmann’s and Moser’s chairs and armchairs of ultralight construction created with arrangements
of squares and rectangles. The examples include: Moser’s chairs for the reception in the Flöge sisters’
fashion salon (1904), chairs and armchairs for Margarethe Hellmann’s lounge (c. 1904), Hoffmann’s
chairs for the hall and dining room in Johannes Salzer’s apartment (1902). The motif of alternating light
and dark squares and triangles used by Tichy as the only decoration often appears on the furniture from
the Vienna Workshops, e.g. white and black checked pattern decorate Hoffmann’s glass cabinet from the
Leopold Museum (around 1906), as well as the seats of Moser’s armchairs for the hall of the sanatorium
in Purkersdorf (1903).
Although furniture whose form and ornamentation reflected the influence of “Quadratstil” can easily
be found, it is much more difficult to find interiors partially preserved or well-documented photographi-
cally where Vienna’s influence is visible. The exception is the hall and staircase in Karol Tichy’s own
house on Na Groblach square in Krakow. The house was built around 1913, but the project was probably
created a few years earlier. The walls of the entrance hall in the lower part were covered with black tiles
and in the upper part, they were painted white; the edges of the walls were underlined with stripes of
alternating white and black squares. The ceiling was divided with black stripes into squares; the inter-
sections of the lines were filled with a lighter color, while inside squares, on the blue background, gold
and gold-blue geometrical rosettes were alternately painted. The motif of squares appears consistently in
subsequent elements of the interior. Both the entrance door and the one leading to the staircase were also
divided into squares; the divisions were additionally underlined with a darker color at the intersections
38 Witt-Dörring, Max Biach Residence..., pp. 165—167.
39 “Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration”, 33, 1913/14, p. 308; “Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration”, 25, 1909/1910, pp. 400, 401.
40 G. Pichler, Kolo Moser “Wohnungför ein junges Pare” - Gerta und Dr. Hans Eisler von Terramare, [in:] Koloman Moser
1868-1918, ed. R. Leopold, M. Bisanz-Prakken, München-Wien 2007, p. 199.
133
3. Edward Trojanowski, The study of Władysław Reymont,
c. 1908. Courtesy of Graphic Art Room,
The Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow
4. Josef Hoffmann, Hall in the villa
of Friedrich Viktor Spitzer, 1900-1903,
“Art et Decoration”, 1904, vol. 16, p. 64
white colour and fabric with the motif of geometrized trees.38 A similar formal solution was applied in the
bedroom of the lady of the house and in the guest bedroom in the villa of Professor Pickier in Budapest
(1909). The furniture of very simple form, devoid of decorations or ornamented with rhombuses, was
combined with patterned fabrics and wallpapers.39 Similar solutions to bedroom sets reign at the time in
Moser’s work. The servant’s room in the apartment of Eisler von Terramare (1903) was furnished with
simple furniture, devoid of any curvatures yet painted red and decorated with a motif of contrasting white
squares40 (Fig. 5, 6). Equally purist forms were used by Moser when designing the bedroom of well-to-do
clients - of Jerome Stonborough and Margarette Stonborough-Wittgenstein in Berlin (1905). The furniture
was based on straight angles; the only wavy line appears in the shape of a sofa. The white color of the
furniture pieces comes alive thanks to metal plaques, fabrics, wallpapers, and fur rugs. The Tichy arm-
chair, which does not have equivalents in Polish furniture of the early 20th century, could be compared
with Hoffmann’s and Moser’s chairs and armchairs of ultralight construction created with arrangements
of squares and rectangles. The examples include: Moser’s chairs for the reception in the Flöge sisters’
fashion salon (1904), chairs and armchairs for Margarethe Hellmann’s lounge (c. 1904), Hoffmann’s
chairs for the hall and dining room in Johannes Salzer’s apartment (1902). The motif of alternating light
and dark squares and triangles used by Tichy as the only decoration often appears on the furniture from
the Vienna Workshops, e.g. white and black checked pattern decorate Hoffmann’s glass cabinet from the
Leopold Museum (around 1906), as well as the seats of Moser’s armchairs for the hall of the sanatorium
in Purkersdorf (1903).
Although furniture whose form and ornamentation reflected the influence of “Quadratstil” can easily
be found, it is much more difficult to find interiors partially preserved or well-documented photographi-
cally where Vienna’s influence is visible. The exception is the hall and staircase in Karol Tichy’s own
house on Na Groblach square in Krakow. The house was built around 1913, but the project was probably
created a few years earlier. The walls of the entrance hall in the lower part were covered with black tiles
and in the upper part, they were painted white; the edges of the walls were underlined with stripes of
alternating white and black squares. The ceiling was divided with black stripes into squares; the inter-
sections of the lines were filled with a lighter color, while inside squares, on the blue background, gold
and gold-blue geometrical rosettes were alternately painted. The motif of squares appears consistently in
subsequent elements of the interior. Both the entrance door and the one leading to the staircase were also
divided into squares; the divisions were additionally underlined with a darker color at the intersections
38 Witt-Dörring, Max Biach Residence..., pp. 165—167.
39 “Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration”, 33, 1913/14, p. 308; “Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration”, 25, 1909/1910, pp. 400, 401.
40 G. Pichler, Kolo Moser “Wohnungför ein junges Pare” - Gerta und Dr. Hans Eisler von Terramare, [in:] Koloman Moser
1868-1918, ed. R. Leopold, M. Bisanz-Prakken, München-Wien 2007, p. 199.