Koloman Moser
Gerlach's Allegorien Plate #44: "Music" Lithograph
1897

Name: Gerlach's Allegorien Plate #44: "Music" Lithograph
Brand: Koloman Moser
Price: 2750 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Koloman Moser (1868 –1918), AUSTRIAN Instead of applying his flair and art education solely to painting, Koloman Moser embodied the idea of Gesamt Kunstwerk (all-embracing art work) by designing architecture, furniture, jewelry, graphics, and tapestries meant to coordinate every detail of an environment. His work transcended the imitative decorative arts of earlier eras and helped to define Modernism for generations to come. Moser achieved a remarkable balance between intellectual structure (often geometric) and hedonistic luxury. Collaborating with Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffmann, the artist was an editor and active contributor to Ver Sacrum, (Sacred Spring), the journal of the Viennese Secession that was so prized for its aesthetics and high quality production that it was considered a work of art. The magazine featured drawings and designs in the Jugendstil style (Youth) along with literary contributions from distinguished writers from across Europe. It quickly disseminated both the spirit and the style of the Secession. In 1903 Moser and Hoffmann founded and led the Wiener Werkstatte (Viennese Workshop) a collective of artisans that produced elegant decorative arts items, not as industrial prototypes but for the purpose of sale to the public. The plan, as idealistic then as now, was to elevate the lives of consumers by means of beautiful and useful interior surroundings. Moser’s influence has endured throughout the century. His design sensibility is evident from the mid-century modern furniture of the 1950s and ‘60s to the psychedelic rock posters of the 1970s and remains a source of inspiration to many currently working within the field of applied arts. ALLEGORIEN-NEUE FOLGE, 1896, published by Gerlach & Schenk Verlag fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Vienna, was a serial publication which began as, Allegorien und Embleme, in 1882. What began as a sourcebook of inspiration made for and by young Viennese artists became something of a galvanizer of the modernist movement in Vienna with its new series issued in 1896. Its publisher, Martin Gerlach, plucked young artists and even art students who were exploring the newest techniques in drafting and graphic design to contribute to his publication. This was the beginning of a long-standing relationship. In the forward to the 1896 edition, Gerlach, expounds upon the new approach which consciously shifted away from historicism rooted in the conservative Academy. Instead, the artists were encouraged to explore new subjects and new ways to present them. More unconventional subjects such as: Wine, Love, Song, Music and Dance; Arts and Sciences; the Seasons and their corresponding activities, sports and amusements breathed fresh, modern life into the allegorical genre. Specific topics which were explored ranged from Electricity and new concepts of Work and Time to Bicycle Sport and the Graphic Arts. Essentially, the publication served as a portable forum for sharing and disseminating new ideas. Two contributors, a young Gustav Klimt and an even younger Koloman Moser, likely met through their involvement with Allegorien and found themselves to be like-minded artists. As a result, the two allied with other artists and architects in a dramatic and formal break with the established, conservative state-run arts (Kunstlerhausgenessenschaft) to found the Vienna Secession the very next year in 1897. Klimt became the Secession’s first President; while Moser, in 1903, expanded the group from a solely exhibition-based focus to include a workshop by co-founding the Wiener Werkstatte. Gerlach went on to publish some issues of the Secession’s journal called Ver Sacrum as well as postcards designed by its members. The Viennese art critic, Joseph August, called Gerlach the “Fuhrer der Moderne” (Leader of Modernism). The new 1896 series, featuring its innovative and modern art plates, is an important art historical document as it played a significant role in helping shape the avant-garde art movement in Vienna which exploded onto the scene with the formation of the Vienna Secession in 1897. Individually, the plates are important works; they are noteworthy for their stylistically and thematically modern approach. These plates offer some of the earliest examples of Viennese avant-garde and Secession artists’ published work.

Creator:

Koloman Moser (1868 - 1918, Austrian)

Creation Year:

1897

Dimensions:

Height: 17.25 in (43.82 cm)Width: 13.75 in (34.93 cm)

Medium:

Lithograph

Movement & Style:

Vienna Secession

Period:

1890-1899

Condition:

Gallery Location:

Chicago, IL

Reference Number:

1stDibs: LU46731426833

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Koloman Moser

Born in Vienna in 1868, Koloman Moser briefly attended trade school, honoring his father’s wish to see him in commerce. But he soon surrendered to his artistic inclinations, enrolling in 1885 in Vienna’s Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied painting.

When his father died unexpectedly in 1888, leaving the family in financial straits, Moser (1868–1918) helped out by doing illustrations for books and magazines. Meanwhile, he continued his painting studies, at the academy and then at the School of Arts and Crafts, starting in 1892. That was also the year that Moser, along with other young artists revolting against the Viennese art world’s devotion to naturalism, formed the Siebner Club, the precursor to the Vienna Secession.

Moser’s introduction during his last term at school to Gustav Klimt’s Allegory of Sculpture proved a turning point for the young artist. Christian Witt-Dörring, guest curator of the 2018–19 exhibition “Koloman Moser: Universal Artist between Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffmann” at the MAK in Vienna, noted a change in the artist’s drawing style. “Primarily inspired by the art of Japan, [Klimt] introduces new paper sizes, fragmented image details, and an emphasis on the line as opposed to the surface,” wrote Witt-Dörring in the exhibition’s catalogue.

A year later, in 1897, Moser together with Klimt, Carl Moll, Joseph Olbrich and Josef Hoffmann founded the Vienna Secession, a union of artists and designers determined to upend Austria’s artistic conservatism. The members were committed to making total works of art: Gesamtkunstwerken. Looking to the English Arts and Crafts Movement, with its guiding principle of unity of the arts, the group attempted to bring art back into everyday life and introduce a local modernism to fin-de-siècle Vienna. Moser, whose membership in the club also afforded him entry into upper-class Viennese society, turned his back on oil painting and forged ahead with Gesamtkunstwerk.

Moser created everything from exhibition design to facade ornamentation for the Secession Building, to graphic materials. Moser also produced posters and advertisements in his “modern style” for various companies. In 1898, he presented his first decor pieces, including hand-knotted rugs and cushion covers. In 1899, Moser began what would become a lifelong professorship at the School of Arts and Crafts. His repertoire now expanded to include furniture, ceramics and patterns like his trademark checkerboard design. He also moved into scenography and fashion and established himself as an interior designer.

The artist decorated his own home in 1902, after which he received a series of important commissions, notably the villa of textile industrialist Fritz Waerndorfer. It was Waerndorfer who provided the financial support that enabled Moser and Hoffmann in 1903 to found the Wiener Werkstätte, a platform for fully realizing their ideal of Gesamtkunstwerk. Two years later, Moser married Edith Mautner von Markhof, the daughter to one of Austria’s great industrial barons, and his work thrived.

In 1907, the Wiener Werkstätte ran into financial trouble. Losing faith in the unity of the arts and disillusioned with the group’s dependency on wealthy patrons like Waerndorfer, Moser left the Werkstätte. He returned to his original discipline, painting, which he continued to practice until his untimely death from cancer, in 1918.

Today, Koloman Moser’s work, from his metal vases to his jewelry to his interiors, remains sought-after and revered. Browse Moser's radically modern creations at 1stDibs.