ID 2202 Jugendstil, Secessionstil, Wiener Wekstatte, Early Modernism

Jugendstil

- Austrian Art Nouveau

- Otto Wagner

- symmetry repetition, geometrical shapes

- Jugendstil = German for "youth style"

- Jugendstil in German speaking countries (Austria, Germany)

- simplified geometrical structure

- symmetrical

- applied ornament

- geometricizing organic patterns (vitalism on surface)

Otto Wagner

- 1841-1918

- architect working in both Jugenstil style and later the Wiener Werkstatte style

- lecturer in Architecture

- in 1896 he published a textbook entitled Modern Architecture in which he expressed his ideas about the role of the architect in developing "modernist styles"

Modern Architecture:

- stated that "new humans tasks and views

called for a change or reconstitution of

existing forms"

- called for the use of "new materials" like

glass and aluminum

- in pursuit of this ideal, designed and built

structures that reflected their intended

function and were also "nature idealized"

- also interested in urban planning -- in 1890, designed a new city plan for Vienna, his urban rail network, the Stadtbahn, was built

Karlsplatz station (Wagner)

- Vienna, 1898

- treated as museum now

- sunflower as the organic pattern of "nature geometrically idealized"

- in gilt stenciling applied to the marble slabs

- in bronze and iron three-dimensional patterns in the rails applied along the roof line

- vitalism only on surface -- applied

ornament

- applied ornament: decorative effects applied onto a surface or structure

- geometrical structure: rectangular cube, mounted circular arch -- central axis, symmetrical

Majolica House (Wagner)

- Vienna, 1899

- majolica: clay tiles that are painted with a tin-based glaze that emerges as white when fired

- applied ornament: symmetrical, rationalized, just on surface (flowers, vines)

Secessionstil

- 1897, Wagner and other designers formed the "Vienna Secession" artistic group

- many had been practicing the characteristics of the Jugendstil in their design work (geometricized organic patterns applied as ornament to surfaces)

- group broke away from past styles

- Secession style

- published a journal, Ver Sacrum ("Sacred Spring") to discuss their ideas

- geometrical structure

- applied ornament

- "nature idealized"

- combining of all arts

Secession Building (Olbrich)

- designed by Josef-Maria Olbrich

- Vienna, 1898

- group commissioned the Secession Building as a manifesto of the new style (different styles all contributing)

- it would exist as a display space for the presentation of art and design works

- also as a site for performances of music, and poetry reading

- the Secessionstil artists were striving toward combining all of the arts together: music, poetry, sculpture, painting, architecture

- geometrical structure: blocks, circular shape, on axis

- applied ornament: open dome (not structural, just placed on top)

- geometrical structure: open dome (3000+ gold plated leaves and 700 berries) -- ornamental patterns of nature

- open dome -- metal working shop -- "nature idealized", geometrical abstraction of shapes, symmetry, repetition

Secession Building (Olbrich) continued

- poetry group: "to every age its art and to art, its freedom" written on front of building

- three masks represent the architectural, sculptural, and pictorial arts written on building

- owls: the symbols of Pallas Athena, the goddess of wisdom, victory and the Industrial Arts

- metalwork to tile, three-dimensional to one-dimensional

- combining all of the arts: color to black/white on another part of building

- public presentations: Music/Performance (April-June 1902), Gustav Mahler (Beethoven's 9th Symphony, "Ode to Joy"), Max Klinger (Beethoven sculpture), Gustav Klimt (Beethoven painting)

Beethoven Frieze (Klimt)

- 1902

- frieze: continuous painting, mural

- 112 feet long

- painted directly onto wall

- frieze was based on interpreting Beethoven's Ninth Symphony into painting

- music into painting: chorus (women with mouths open, singing) -- "floating images": musical sounds, white color: silence

Wiener Werkstatte

- In 1903, same group of artists and designers (Secession Building, Secessionstil) joined together to give new name and focus

- Viennese Workshops

- from three small rooms, their "workshop" expanded to fill a three-story building with separate, specially designed facilities for metalwork, leatherwork, bookbinding, woodworking, and a painting shop

- geometrical structure

- geometrical ornament

- no organic (natural) patterns

Joseff Hoffman

- one of the major theorist in Wiener Werkstatte:

- avoid natural/organic patterns derived

from nature

- called for "geometrical ornament"

- focus on "rhythms"

- identified two types of rhythms for

geometrical patterns: repetitions and part-

to-whole comparisons

Postal Savings Bank (Wagner)

- Vienna, 1906

- geometrical structure (flat walls)

- geometrical ornament: marble blocks with iron bolts capped with aluminum (squares, circles)

- repetitions (squares, windows, space in between windows)

- part-to-whole comparisons (all adds up through repetition, squares)

- absence of natural/organic patterns derived from nature

- applied ornament: geometrical patterns

- "minimalistic": focus on geometry, simple shapes, and reduction of materials

- interior: geometrical, symmetrical, squares, repetitive, dynamism

- aluminum grid structure, aluminum posts

- glass used in skylight, glass floor tiles

- Hoffman: two types of rhythms for geometrical patterns: repetition and part-to-whole comparison

- chair: Gesamtkunstwerk - "total work of art", aluminum strip, rivets (all same pattern) -- manufactured by Thonet Brothers

Palais Stoclet (Hoffmann)

- Brussels, 1905-11

- focus on ornamental language on geometrical shapes

- geometrical structures (flat walls, entrance -- repetitive, orderly)

- "stitching ornament": geometrical structure only on edges -- geometrical patterns as edging and framing

- Gesamtkuntwerk - "total work of art" -- everything match and balance (dining room: rug, back of chair, referencing geometrical shapes)

- murals (Gustav Klimt):

- "Tree of Life" mural, 1909 -- geometrical, got figures with tree connecting(rhythms for "geometrical ornament", repetition, part/whole comparison)

- tree geometricized

- women made up of triangles

(geometrical shape)

- man made up of circular shapes

Purkersdorf Sanatorium (Hoffmann)

- Vienna, 1906

- sanatorium: for the treatment of tuberculosis

- geometrical structure with applied ornament in geometrical patterns

- "stitching ornament": checkerboard/grid like pattern

- no reference to natural world

- Gesamtkuntwerk - "total work of art" -- dining room (specific with silverware)

Purkersdorf chair (Purkersdorf Sanatorium)

- 1906

- geometrical ornament, circles, spheres -- rhythms for "geometrical ornament": repetition, part/whole comparison

Sitting machine (Purkersdorf Sanatorium)

- designed by Hoffmann, 1908

- back of chair could be lowered

- ornamental language (geometrical ornament: rhythms: repetition, part/whole comparison -- large square to small square cutout)

Purkersdorf chair (Moser)

- designed by Koloman Moser, 1901

- rhythms for "geometrical ornament":

- repetition (cube)

- part/whole comparison

Desk (Moser)

- designed for Palais Stoclet, 1911

- geometrical ornament

- rhythms: repetition and part/whole comparison (rectangular squares)

- "stitching ornament" (edges, square shapes)

ladies writing desk (Moser)

- 1903

- geometrical ornament

- rhythms: repetition, part/whole comparisons (square inside of square repeating)

tabletop designs (Hoffmann)

- perforated aluminum tabletop designs, 1905

- Wagner's Modern Architecture inspired Hoffmann

- geometrical ornament

- rhythms: repetitions, part/whole comparisons (cutouts, multiply to form another geometrical shape)

textile designs (Hoffmann)

- ca. 1901-2

- geometrical ornament

- repetition: squares in squares

clock (Urban)

- designed by Joseph Urban, 1906

- geometrical ornament

- rhythms: repetition, part/whole comparison

- circular face with smaller circles inside of it

- triangular shapes with smaller triangles inside of it

Artist's monograms

- Josef Hoffmann

- Koloman Moser

- Gustav Klimt

- graphic design -- turned alphabet into geometrical ornament, making conform

Early Modernism

- Steiner House: designed by Adolf Loos, 1910

- geometrical structure: conforms (square

becomes larger square) -- solid space/void

space

- absence of ornament (geometrical or

natural patterns) -- no applied ornament (to

windows, or stitching ornament

- focus on "new, modern lifestyle"

- no ornament

- Adolf Loos: Ornament as Crime, 1910: "The evolution of culture marches with the elimination of ornament from useful objects", "the immorality of ornament,...it is degenerate, and its suppression is necessary for regulating modern society"

- two examples: graffiti and tattooing (applying ornament, that needed to stay not ornamented)

- "window with no eyebrows" -- no ornament