Josef Hoffmann - Design Vienna and the Wiener Werkstätte New York Thursday, March 3, 2011 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Eduard Josef Wimmer-Wisgrill, Vienna, thence by descent

  • Catalogue Essay

    Josef Hoffmann’s preparatory drawing for a similar example is registered at the MAK, Vienna as K.I. 12111/10, model no. 228/1.
     
    The present pair of lamps, like Austrian bellflowers on curled stems, belonged to Eduard Josef Wimmer-Wisgrill, a former student of Josef Hoffmann at Vienna’s Kunstgewerbeschule. Wimmer, as he was known, joined the Wiener Werkstätte in 1907 following the departure of its co-founder Koloman Moser.
    Until his own emigration to America in 1922, Wimmer championed the Werkstätte’s cardinal idea: art must pervade daily life. Although a trained architect, Wimmer designed textiles, jewelry, furniture, and utensils, in addition to sets and costumes for the Cabaret Fledermaus, an important Werkstätte commission. In later years he painted. The Werkstätte’s vision was a total one; no corner of the house lay outside its reach. A conundrum soon presented itself: the owners of the house weren’t cut from the same cloth— how to account for their calamitous costumes? In 1910 Wimmer opened the Werkstätte fashion department, a fitting expansion.

 

10

Important pair of wall lights, from the Wimmer-Wisgrill residence, Vienna

ca. 1908
Silver-plated brass, fabric, stained wood.
Each: 18 1/2 x 16 x 9 in. (47 x 40.6 x 22.9 cm.)
Executed by the Wiener Werkstätte, Austria (2).

Estimate
$25,000 - 35,000 

Sold for $27,500

Design Vienna and the Wiener Werkstätte

3 March 2011
New York