DOI Heft:
No. 237 (December 1912)
DOI Artikel:Levetus, A. S.: A Viennese exhibition of arts and crafts
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21158#0239
A Viennese Exhibition of Arts and Crafts
A VIENNESE EXHIBITION OF
ARTS AND CRAFTS.
For the first time since the opening of the
Austrian Museum in Vienna nearly fifty years ago
a summer exhibition of arts and crafts has been
held within its walls. That this one was held was
due to the fact that the members of the Deutscher
Werkbund held their annual meeting in Vienna
this year, and naturally everybody concerned was
anxious to show the very best in design and in work-
manship which Austria could produce. For the
Deutscher Werkbund is a society formed of artists,
manufacturers, industrial employers, and others who
take an interest in the promotion of the modern
arts and crafts, good workmanship in execution and
quality in material being as important as the
designs themselves. Everything exhibited was of a
high quality, and German, Austrian, and Hun-
garian members were highly satisfied with the result
of this exhibition, for it showed that “ our curious,
complex, aspiring age still abounds in subjects for
sesthetic manipulation, that the material for the
artists and their motives of inspiration are not yet
exhausted.” It showed, moreover, that the bond
between the designer and the craftsman who exe-
cutes his design is becoming ever closer and more
sympathetic, for the artist has dipped at the well
of the craftsman and the craftsman into that
of the artist; both work in that unison and con-
cord without which no true work of applied art
can be created. Another point of interest is that
the number of artists who execute their own
designs is gradually increasing, for it must be
remembered that many have learnt their trades and
shown special talent for designing at the Craft
Schools (Fachschulen) before entering the Vienna
Imperial Arts and Crafts Schools. Some have
even served apprenticeship in one or other of the
trades concerned in decorative art. Another and
most important factor in the success of the
movement is the fact that the manufacturers
DINING-ROOM WITH FURNITURE IN CARVED AND POI.ISH'BD EBONY INLAID WITH MOTHER-OF-PEARL, DESIGNED
BY PROF. JOSEF HOFFMANN, EXECUTED BY J. SOULEK. CARPET BY BACKHAUSEN AND SOHNE. HAND-PRINTED
SILK DESIGNED BY LOTTE FROMEL-FOCHLER, EXECUTED BY THE WIENER WERKSTATTE. (See also Chair OH p. 220)
217
A VIENNESE EXHIBITION OF
ARTS AND CRAFTS.
For the first time since the opening of the
Austrian Museum in Vienna nearly fifty years ago
a summer exhibition of arts and crafts has been
held within its walls. That this one was held was
due to the fact that the members of the Deutscher
Werkbund held their annual meeting in Vienna
this year, and naturally everybody concerned was
anxious to show the very best in design and in work-
manship which Austria could produce. For the
Deutscher Werkbund is a society formed of artists,
manufacturers, industrial employers, and others who
take an interest in the promotion of the modern
arts and crafts, good workmanship in execution and
quality in material being as important as the
designs themselves. Everything exhibited was of a
high quality, and German, Austrian, and Hun-
garian members were highly satisfied with the result
of this exhibition, for it showed that “ our curious,
complex, aspiring age still abounds in subjects for
sesthetic manipulation, that the material for the
artists and their motives of inspiration are not yet
exhausted.” It showed, moreover, that the bond
between the designer and the craftsman who exe-
cutes his design is becoming ever closer and more
sympathetic, for the artist has dipped at the well
of the craftsman and the craftsman into that
of the artist; both work in that unison and con-
cord without which no true work of applied art
can be created. Another point of interest is that
the number of artists who execute their own
designs is gradually increasing, for it must be
remembered that many have learnt their trades and
shown special talent for designing at the Craft
Schools (Fachschulen) before entering the Vienna
Imperial Arts and Crafts Schools. Some have
even served apprenticeship in one or other of the
trades concerned in decorative art. Another and
most important factor in the success of the
movement is the fact that the manufacturers
DINING-ROOM WITH FURNITURE IN CARVED AND POI.ISH'BD EBONY INLAID WITH MOTHER-OF-PEARL, DESIGNED
BY PROF. JOSEF HOFFMANN, EXECUTED BY J. SOULEK. CARPET BY BACKHAUSEN AND SOHNE. HAND-PRINTED
SILK DESIGNED BY LOTTE FROMEL-FOCHLER, EXECUTED BY THE WIENER WERKSTATTE. (See also Chair OH p. 220)
217