When he designed this cabinet in 1927, Hoffmann was at the peak of his creative career and
international success despite simultaneously being exposed to Adolf Loos's intensified culturalcritical attacks. The years after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy were marked by
contradictory conditions that were detrimental to the realisation of Hoffmann's artistic ideas and
projects. As artistic director of the Wiener Werkstätte, which was founded by him and from the
outset was dependent on the patronage of the upper-middle classes for its luxury production, Hoffmann lost customers in the course of the economic decline of the young Austrian Republic, hyperinflation and mass unemployment. In 1925, however, as director of the Austrian participation in the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris, he was able to realise the Austrian pavilion and set up a brilliant presentation of works by the Wiener Werkstätte. He was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honour by the French President for this project. At the same
time, Loos was working on a residence for Tristan Zara in Paris and, in light of Hoffmann's pavilion
and its programmatic focus on modern arts and crafts, he vehemently warned against its aberrations in relation to the needs of modern culture.
Loos made his criticism widely known. On 20 April 1927, he gave a lecture in the large hall of the
Viennese Music Society entitled “The Viennese Woe... A Settlement of Accounts!” Only three weeks later, on 14 May, Hoffmann opened the 1927 Vienna Art Show at the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry, for which he designed the present cabinet. The exhibition consciously alluded to
the tradition of the Viennese renewal of the arts of 1897 (founding of the Secession) and the 1908
Vienna Art Show (following the withdrawal of the Klimt group from the Secession in 1907). It
was intended to serve as a motivation for a new generation of artists based on the experience of
what had been achieved, particularly in these difficult times. In his opening speech, Hoffmann specifically addressed the social and economic realities of the Austrian interwar period and remarked: "You will perhaps see the poverty of our time at every turn in the crude nature of this exhibition, but in other respects you will not fail to notice that in this provisional presentation there is nevertheless a meaningful progress in the fact that continuous conscientious work teaches us to avoid any useless effort."
Preparatory drawing for the present work by Josef Hoffmann, circa 1926.
Image: © MAKThe cabinet is no longer part of a set or a Gesamtkunstwerk, thus unbound and adapted to the new living requirements of society. This unboundedness is heightened by the absence of any individual ornamentation. Nevertheless, it radiates individuality, which it owes purely to Hoffmann's design genius. At first glance, it is not any particular effort made towards material choice or craftsmanship that makes the furniture stand out. It is the simple coloured varnish paint that defines the furniture as a clear volume. In typical Hoffmann manner, however, this volume allows for various interpretations. The question arises: is it the constructive three-dimensional reality of the furniture body that retains the visual upper hand or the way in which Hoffmann conceived the two dimensionality of the front. The latter is created by framing all structural design elements with triangular (in their cross-section) slats. In principle, this piece of furniture consists of a body and a stand. In the case of the stand, Hoffmann envisions a scenario—it involves laying the triangular slats, now in a double pack, only across its front—whereby the stand can no longer be read as an independent structural element. Ultimately, the furniture radiates symmetry. This symmetry, however, must first be worked out visually, as Hoffmann uses the disruptive element of the offset open and closed compartments. The result as a whole is that of an individualistic conception of harmony, consciously supported by a colour scheme that was new for the time. Hoffmann’s opening speech ends with exactly that: ‘You will now think and already suspect that it is not only we who are aware of the special power of colour. We have recognised that colour as such has a quicker and stronger effect than anything else and that it has replaced much of what we will never be able to afford again, especially in interior design. Therefore, I will conclude with the words a sublime spirit once said. What would the world and our lives be without the colour red?’
By Dr. Christian Witt-Dörring
Exhibited
'Josef Hoffmann 1870-1956 - Progress Through Beauty', MAK, Vienna, 14 December 2021-19 June 2022
Literature
C. Geoffrey Holme and Shirley B. Wainwright, The Studio Year Book of Decorative Art 1928, London, 1928, p. 140
Josef Hoffmann 1870-1956-Progress Through Beauty, exh. cat., MAK, Vienna, 2021, illustrated p. 280Catalogue Essay
The present sideboard is recorded in the Kunstblättersammlung der Bibliothek des MAK, Vienna, under drawing number KI 8819-7.
Phillips wishes to thank Dr. Christian Witt-Dörring for his assistance in cataloguing the present lot.
86
Unique sideboard
circa 1927
Painted wood.
99.5 x 120 x 42.2 cm (39 1/8 x 47 1/4 x 16 5/8 in.)
Executed by Anton Pospischil, Vienna, Austria.
Estimate
£50,000 - 70,000 Ω
Sold for £82,550
Antonia King
Head of Sale, Design
+44 20 7901 7944
Antonia.King@phillips.com
Design
London Auction 31 October 2023
14
This lot is no longer available.
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This lot is no longer available.
