Women of the Wiener Werkstätte

Born out of the progressive momentum of the Vienna Secession, the Wiener Werkstätte embraced the synthesis of art and life (gesamtkunstwerk) as an essential condition of modernity and sought to use artistic production to birth new attitudes about class, consumerism, and culture; the multidisciplinary collective brought together specialists trained in architecture, fashion, ceramics, graphic design and illustration, metalwork, and other decorative arts to create products of the highest quality craftsmanship. In this milieu, Viennese women were poised to take advantage of burgeoning opportunities in cultural spheres—many did so by becoming professional decorative artists (lending their prowess to the Wiener Werkstätte, despite continuing to face systemic resistance to their activities) or through their patronage of the Werkstätte. The exhibition will explore the visual languages women decorative artists developed which fueled new feminist sensibilities; the exceptional autonomy of these women in business and cultural endeavors; and their profound influence on modernist design languages in Europe and beyond.