Thanks for reading these Viennese blog posts - yesterday I had my first piece of Sacher torte and it was delicious. These initially used the ideas of the Secessionists but later moved with the times and stayed cutting edge. Hoffmann founded the Wiener Werkstatte or Vienna Workshops which united fine arts and design with applied arts to create high quality objects of modern design. Josef Hoffmann, the Austrian architect and furniture, metal and glass designer, was also a student of Otto Wagner. The two buildings are not plain by any means and have floral rose designs in ceramic tiles on one side (designed by Olbrich) and gilded applied medallions, palm branches and other ornaments (designed by Kolo Moser who also designed the owls and ornamentation of the Secessionist building) on the other side.īelow is a photo of No 40 Linke Wienzeile with its Jugendstil patterns of red majolica tile roses - notice the leafy green tiles on the balconies.Īnd below is No 38 Linke Wienzeile with its gilded stucco medallions and floral decorations. The buildings are notable for their flattened and simple fronts devoid of the excess typically seen in Viennese architecture of the time which often was neo Renaissance/Baroque in its detail. Wagner designed the classic modernist apartment buildings at 38 & 40 Linke Wienzeile (just down the road from the Secessionist Building). Joseph Olbrich was a student of the great Viennese architect Otto Wagner. You will also see this style called Jugendstil (youth movement) and it is closely related to both the Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts styles. There was great intermingling between architects and designers with fine and decorative artists. The Secession Movement began in 1897 when a group of progressive artists, led by Gustav Klimt, broke away from the conservative Kunstlerhaus Association to be able to exhibit freely. Vienna at the end of the 19th century was a hotbed of radical design and artistic controversy. Likely its greatest claim to fame now is the Gustav Klimt mural frieze in the basement - an homage to Beethoven's 9th symphony. The Secessionists (the artists who split off from the Knstlerhaus) aspired to unification and equal status of all art forms, transforming architecture. The building still serves as an avant garde art gallery as seen by the large photograph of a naked woman hanging at its front entrance this summer. Its golden dome of laurel leaves (also called the big cabbage) stands out as one of its more noticeable features.Ībove the door is the motto of the Secessionist Movement which translated into English is "To every age its Art. The Secessionist building was designed to act as an exhibition hall for the newly formed Secessionist movement. Olbrich is the subject of a special exhibit at the Leopold Museum this summer (see my previous blog posting on that museum). It was designed and built by Joseph Maria Olbrich in 1898. The Secession building is a key architectural icon and visual image of Vienna. The iguanas framing the entrance door to the Secession Building in Vienna remind me of backpacking through Europe 20 years ago.
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