Exhibition

BOOK COVERS OF THE WIENER WERKSTÄTTE

Mar 7 2017
Stubenring 5
Vienna 1010
Phone: +43 1 711360
19:00
free
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
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Shortly after the founding of the Wiener Werkstätte in 1903, the painter and graphic designer Koloman Moser (1868–1918) and the architect Josef Hoffmann (1870–1956) also designed book covers for their customers. The artists’ endeavors were supported by Carl (Karl) Beitel (1866–1917), who was known in Vienna to be a superb bookbinder and who, as a master, oversaw the Wiener Werkstätte’s bookbinding atelier from May 1904.

The preferred materials of the Wiener Werkstätte were self-produced marbled paper or kid leather, although occasionally crocodile, snake, frog, lizard, and undulate ray skins or fabric were used instead. Among the richly decorated or simply designed bindings, the prevailing design principle was geometrization. The leather stamps available at the workshops provided the means to combine a wide range of highly diverse decorative motifs.

With the aid of the objects from private collections—particularly the Ernst Ploil and Richard Grubman Collections—as well as the MAK Collection that are on display in the exhibition Book Covers of the Wiener Werkstätte, it is possible to introduce visitors to the tremendous abundance of ideas and the diverse craft techniques that make these book covers so unique. The exhibition is supplemented by 40 design drawings from the Wiener Werkstätte Archive and a cabinet from the leather workshops of the Wiener Werkstätte with approximately 500 leather stamps.

Exhibition until 28.05.2017

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