DOI Artikel:
Levetus, A. S.: Austrian architecture and decoration
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41876#0199
AUSTRIAN ARCHITECTURE AND DE-
CORATION. By A. S. Levetus
r-g—1HE year 1912 was a very important one both from an archi-
tectural point of view and that of decorative art generally.
The fact that the “ Deutscher Werkbund ” for the first time
held, at the Austrian Museum for Arts and Industries, its
annual meeting in Vienna made a second exhibition of archi-
tecture and applied art possible. For it was but natural that all
Austrians interested in the progress and development of modern
applied art should be eager to show their best to their German
confreres. The Ministry of Public Works again gave material help,
as did a number of manufacturers, while the efforts of the architects
and artists contributed largely to the success of the exhibition. At
the same time there was held an exhibition of work by the students,
male and female, of the Imperial School of Arts and Crafts, and this
gave ample opportunity for judging the steady development that is
taking place and how healthy this progress is. Not only are the
designs themselves of a high artistic value, but they are well
adapted to their purpose and to the material to be employed ; and in
most cases the designer is craftsman or craftswoman, as the case may
be. Everywhere the three great qualities which the cc Deutscher
Werkbund ” aims at were perceptible in the Austrian exhibits,
namely, quality in design, in material, and in workmanship. Nor is
it alone in Vienna that this high purpose is observable, for in other
parts of the country, and more particularly in regard to public build-
ings, in the furnishing and decoration of hotels, and even in private
houses, the modern movement is holding sway, and the Vienna
architects and decorative artists are being kept busy.
In Vienna three young architects, all pupils of Oberbaurat
Professor Otto Wagner, have designed, decorated, and furnished the
grand stand at the Race-course ; these same talented young men,
together with Professor Otto Prutscher, are now engaged on the
Cur-Palace at Abbazia, in Istria, the chief city on the Austrian
Riviera, and they have also done some excellent work in Graz, the
capital of Styria, and other cities of the provinces. Professor Josef
Hoffmann is engaged upon a horticultural college, cottages, and the
laying-out of gardens, and on a building for a leading printing and
publishing firm. Many architects are similarly employed on works
of more or less importance—Robert Orley, Karl Witzmann, Hartwig
Fischel, Jan Kotera, Alfred Keller, Cesar Poppovits, Otto Prutscher,
Hans Prutscher, Dr. Josef Frank, Dr. Oskar Strnad, E. Wimmer,
A. O. Holub, Josef Zotti, Ernst Lichtblau, Theiss und Jaksch, Karl
Klaus, Jurkovic, and Gottfried Czermak, to mention but a few.
187
CORATION. By A. S. Levetus
r-g—1HE year 1912 was a very important one both from an archi-
tectural point of view and that of decorative art generally.
The fact that the “ Deutscher Werkbund ” for the first time
held, at the Austrian Museum for Arts and Industries, its
annual meeting in Vienna made a second exhibition of archi-
tecture and applied art possible. For it was but natural that all
Austrians interested in the progress and development of modern
applied art should be eager to show their best to their German
confreres. The Ministry of Public Works again gave material help,
as did a number of manufacturers, while the efforts of the architects
and artists contributed largely to the success of the exhibition. At
the same time there was held an exhibition of work by the students,
male and female, of the Imperial School of Arts and Crafts, and this
gave ample opportunity for judging the steady development that is
taking place and how healthy this progress is. Not only are the
designs themselves of a high artistic value, but they are well
adapted to their purpose and to the material to be employed ; and in
most cases the designer is craftsman or craftswoman, as the case may
be. Everywhere the three great qualities which the cc Deutscher
Werkbund ” aims at were perceptible in the Austrian exhibits,
namely, quality in design, in material, and in workmanship. Nor is
it alone in Vienna that this high purpose is observable, for in other
parts of the country, and more particularly in regard to public build-
ings, in the furnishing and decoration of hotels, and even in private
houses, the modern movement is holding sway, and the Vienna
architects and decorative artists are being kept busy.
In Vienna three young architects, all pupils of Oberbaurat
Professor Otto Wagner, have designed, decorated, and furnished the
grand stand at the Race-course ; these same talented young men,
together with Professor Otto Prutscher, are now engaged on the
Cur-Palace at Abbazia, in Istria, the chief city on the Austrian
Riviera, and they have also done some excellent work in Graz, the
capital of Styria, and other cities of the provinces. Professor Josef
Hoffmann is engaged upon a horticultural college, cottages, and the
laying-out of gardens, and on a building for a leading printing and
publishing firm. Many architects are similarly employed on works
of more or less importance—Robert Orley, Karl Witzmann, Hartwig
Fischel, Jan Kotera, Alfred Keller, Cesar Poppovits, Otto Prutscher,
Hans Prutscher, Dr. Josef Frank, Dr. Oskar Strnad, E. Wimmer,
A. O. Holub, Josef Zotti, Ernst Lichtblau, Theiss und Jaksch, Karl
Klaus, Jurkovic, and Gottfried Czermak, to mention but a few.
187