Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann founded the Wiener Werkstätte in 1903 to produce well-designed, often handmade products for everyday use. This early chair reads as a manifesto for the Viennese workshop. The reduction of form to the pure geometries of the cube, square, and triangle gestures toward simplifying production while allowing for visual interest in the workmanship of the caning and the patterning between black and white, solid and void. This approach impacted Sottsass, who engaged similar strategies.
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Marking: Mark on each side wall of interior under seat. Resembles letter H or I (orientation unclear).
Knips family, Seeboden, Austria (from 1903; sold to Asenbaum); Mme Asenbaum; [Galerie Julius Hummel, Vienna]; [Barry Friedman Ltd., New York, 1985–86; sold to MMA]
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Modern Design: 1890–1990," April 21–November 22, 1992, no catalogue.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Modern Furniture in the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 3–October 9, 1994, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "From the Turn of the Century," October 1–February 16, 1997, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A Century of Design, Part I: 1900–1925," December 14, 1999–March 26, 2000, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Modern Design: Selections from the Collection," May 30–October 5, 2008, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Highlights from the Modern Design Collection: 1900 to the Present," June 23, 2009–May 1, 2011, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. "Ettore Sottsass: Design Radical," July 21–October 8, 2017, no catalogue.
Werner Fenz. Koloman Moser: Graphik, Kunstgewerbe, Malerei. Salzburg, 1984, pp. 21, 164, 167, figs. 4, 12 (installation photos, Vienna Secession, 1903; variation with square side panels), 71 (variation with vertical side panels), 72 (private collection, Vienna).
Elisabeth Schmuttermeier inTraum und Wirklichkeit: Wien 1870–1930. Exh. cat., Künstlerhaus. Vienna, 1985, p. 407, no. 13/15/19, ill. (private collection).
Joyce Tognini. "Contemporary Craft at the Met." American Craft 47 (April/May 1987), ill. p. 52 (color).
R. Craig Miller. Modern Design in The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1890–1990. New York, 1990, ill. pp. 116–17.
Rita Reif. "Making Connections Via Squares and Curves." New York Times (May 31, 1992), p. H31.
Rita Reif. "Squaring Off with Aesthetic Connections." International Herald Tribune (June 6–7, 1992), p. 6.
Gabriele Fahr-Becker. Wiener Werkstaette 1903–1932. Cologne, 1995, pp. 24, 32, ill. (color and installation photo, Purkersdorf Sanatorium hallway; variation with vertical side panels).
Grace Glueck. "When They Said No to Frills." New York Times (December 17, 1999), p. E46.
Marian Bisanz-Prakken inKoloman Moser 1868–1918. Ed. Rudolf Leopold and Gerd Pichler. Exh. cat., Leopold Museum, Vienna. Munich, 2007, p. 98, figs. 59 (installation photo, 18th Secession Exhibition, 1903–4; variation with square side panels), 62 (color; variation with vertical side panels; Leopold Museum, Vienna collection).
Norbert Wolf. Art Nouveau. Munich, 2011, p. 190, ill. p. 105 (color; variation with vertical side panels; Leopold Museum, Vienna collection).
Richard Meyer. "Changing Partners: Richard Meyer on 'Reimagining Modernism' at the Met." Artforum 54 (November 2015), ill. p. 143 (color, installation photo).
Roberta Smith. "A Trans-Atlantic View of Modernism." New York Times (January 9, 2015), p. C30, ill. (installation photo).
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