OTTO WAGNER
| About the artist | 1841 – Wien – 1918 |
| Designed by | Otto Wagner, Vienna, before 1912 |
| Executed by | Bothe und Ehrmann |
| Dimensions | H 227 cm, W 89 cm, D 69 cm |
| Material | Bird's-eye maple veneer on pine, brass fittings, excellent original condition, surface professionally cleaned and refreshed, Viennese cabinet making of outstanding quality, Cut and facetted glass, marble top, some interior fittings missing in the lower section, there may have been built-in cutlery drawers, surface slightly cleaned and polished |
| Provenance | private property, Germany |
| Shown | Pylon cabinet: Hofmobiliendepot Wien, Wagner, Hoffmann, Loos und das Möbeldesign der Wr. Moderne, 2018, Vienna; pylon cupboard and linen cabinet: special exhibition Otto Wagner, Cité de L'Architecture et du Patrimoine, Paris, 2019 – 2020 |
| Literature | Das Interieur, XIV, 1913, plate 46, residence of Mr. & Mrs. W., detail from wife's room; Asenbaum, Haiko, Lachmayer, Zettl: O. Wagner, Möbel und Innenräume, 1984, p. 252 ff, ill. 267 (three piece suite, occasional table); fittings comp. ill. 350 and 372, 379, 381 (furniture for Postsparkasse); E. B. Ottillinger (ed.) Wagner, Hoffmann, Loos und das Möbeldesign der Wiener Moderne, Vienna, 2018, ill. cat. no. 26 (pylon cupboard), p. 43 |
Austria's most important architect, Otto Wagner, had the habit of planning and equipping an apartment for himself in many of the apartment houses he designed. This also held true for the house at Döblergasse 4 in Vienna's 7th district, located in the immediate vicinity of the Wiener Werkstätte showrooms and workshops. Naturally, Wagner also designed the interior of this stately city residence, whose furnishings most impressively reflects the outstanding skills and expertise of this great artist. After having competed this apartment, Wagner designed only very few interiors, i. a. the extension to the Postsparkasse building in 1912 including furniture and fittings as well as the interior of the second Villa Wagner in Vienna’s Hüttelbergstrasse.
For his wife's room, he designed a three piece suite and an occasional table in bird's-eye maple. The pattern of the silk fabric designed by Wagner to upholster this suite was also used for the room’s carpet, both manufactured by the Backhausen company. Since the furniture was re-upholstered later on without removing the – already worn – material, we found some pieces of the original silk designed by Wagner and had the fabric woven true to the original – however, not in silk. Thanks to the presence of the original material, we have thus irrefutably identified this suite and occasional table as part of the pieces Wagner used to furnish his city residence. As the ensemble had been acquired as a whole, it can be thus be assumed with a probability bordering on certainty that both pieces of furniture offered are indeed from Wagner's apartment in Döblergasse.
M34/24
