Viennese Silver: Modern Design 1780-1918

The history of modern design is not only older but much more multifaceted than commonly assumed. This thesis is elegantly borne out through an exploration of the work and influence of the Vienna avant-garde of the Biedermeier period, an era that brought forth shapes and forms which have lost none of their appeal, even today. If the towering objects that appear together on the cover of this book give the effect of a futuristic city, they thereby prove that their design stands the test of time, resoundingly relevant to our current design view thanks to its creative innovation. In fin-de-siAcle Vienna, the designs of Josef Hoffman and Koloman Moser for the Wiener Werkstatte were informed by the intellectual content of that time. Since then, many of their ideas and the ideas of the Vienna avant-garde found their way into mass production; in this way have they trickled down into today's design vocabulary, primarily via the Bauhaus and de Stijl movements. Viennese Silver: An Adventure in Time 1800-1900 compares 180 carefully selected Viennese silver objects from the classicist to the Wiener Werkstatte periods with 20th-century architectural and design objects, exploring the question of Vienna's contribution to the development of modern design.