The Viennese Modern movement

Otto Wagner, Joseph Hoffmann and Adolf Loos are the best-known representative of the Viennese modern movement; the collection of Viennese Modernism in the Vienna Furniture Museum boasts some of their most outstanding works.

The ‘Sitz-Maschine’ (‘machine for sitting’) by Josef Hoffmann, the furniture from Otto Wagner’s Post Office Savings Banks and the ‘Knieschwimmer’ easy chair by Adolf Loos – all these iconic items of furniture herald the dawning of a new era. They stand for revolution and provocation, for a radical break with tradition. And by the end of the nineteenth century this was sorely needed. For all the beauty of the era’s art and architecture, the Monarchy was on the inexorable path to collapse.

The bombastic Historicism of the Ringstrasse era was gathering dust, and the emperor was now an old man who regarded anything that was new with suspicion. In art, architecture and design, fossilized structures needed to be replaced by bold new ideas and concepts. In 1897 a group of progressive artists and architects associated with Gustav Klimt founded the Secession, effectively giving birth to the Viennese Modern movement. Wagner, Hoffmann and Loos became its trailblazers. They were the originators – not least in the way they took bentwood furniture a step further in its development – of the new, creative design whose influence is still felt today. It goes without saying that the ageing emperor would certainly not have been amused...

Chairs by Otto Wagner

BMobV / Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H. / Lois Lammerhuber

'Knieschwimmer' armchair by Adolf Loos

BMobV / Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H. / Lois Lammerhuber

'Sitzmaschine’, Josef Hoffmann. Vienna, c. 1905

Constructed of bentwood and plywood, this armchair with adjustable backrest has gone down in design history as the ‘machine for sitting’. It was developed by the architect Josef Hoffmann, a major representative of the Vienna Modern movement around 1900, in collaboration with J. & J. Kohn & Co., Thonet’s most important competitors, who developed innovative bentwood furniture designs.

BMobV / Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H. / Lois Lammerhuber

Thonet Chair No. 14. Vienna, c. 1855

With the development of his bentwood furniture in the middle of the 19th century, Michael Thonet opened a new chapter in the industrial production of furniture. His cheapest and most frequently sold model, Chair No. 14, first appeared on a catalogue sheet in 1859. Our rare example was partly made using an earlier lamination technique.

BMobV, Foto Edgar Knaack

Chair for Café Museum. Vienna, 1899

The commission to design the interior of Café Museum on Karlsplatz gave Adolf Loos the opportunity to make his ideas accessible to the general public. For the seating he used mass-produced models made by the company of J. & J. Kohn. The chairs’ reddish colour made a pleasing contrast with the pale green wall coverings.

BMobV / Fritz Simak

Furniture for the Vienna Post Office Savings Bank, Otto Wagner. Vienna, c. 1904/06

With his Post Office Savings Bank on Stubenring Otto Wagner created a pioneering icon of 20th-century architecture, the interior of which was designed on purely functional lines. He made also use of the ultra-modern material of aluminium. Wagner designed all of the furniture, of which large quantities were required, in bentwood technique. It was made by the companies of Thonet and Kohn.

BMobV / Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H. / Lois Lammerhuber

'Elephant's trunk' table. Vienna c. 1900

This tea or occasional table gets its name from the shape of its legs. Various sorts of ceramic tiles or stone were inlaid into the top. Loos had used the table in his early residential interiors.

BMobV / Lois Lammerhuber

Chairs from the Thonet collection

BMobV / Lois Lammerhuber

Furniture from the Viennese Modern movement

Highlights

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