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Bag thumbnail 2
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Bag

ca. 1925 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The 1925 Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris defined innovative designs and modern motifs, a style in which art and industry merged. These bold new styles could be applied to goods on a mass scale and were typified by a decisive geometry and an element of romantic figuration. Art Deco had a great influence on jewellery design and companies such as Tiffany, Boucheron and Cartier made many small expensive accessories that were related to the handbag, such as tiny vanity and cigarette cases. This example is designed by Hilde Wagner-Ascher who, in the early 1920s, studied under the painter Josef Hoffman in Vienna.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Embroidered in silk
Brief description
Clutch bag, cotton, metal, designed by Hilde Wagner-Ascher, Austria, ca. 1925
Physical description
Bag embroidered in silks with multicoloured geometric and striped patterns, designed by Hilde Wagner-Ascher, Austria, c.1925.
Gallery label
(12/2020)
Hilde Wagner-Ascher was an Austrian artist and designer who studied with notable figures such as Josef Hoffman. She worked at the Wiener Werkstatte, a Vienna-based collective (operating 1903–32) devoted to high quality design and craftmanship. The surface of this compact clutch bag is transformed by Wagner-Ascher’s bold colours and geometric patterns, bringing a splash of modernity to the wearer’s finger tips.

V&A, Room 40, Bags: Inside Out.
Object history
Purchased. Registered File number 1987/1716.
Summary
The 1925 Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris defined innovative designs and modern motifs, a style in which art and industry merged. These bold new styles could be applied to goods on a mass scale and were typified by a decisive geometry and an element of romantic figuration. Art Deco had a great influence on jewellery design and companies such as Tiffany, Boucheron and Cartier made many small expensive accessories that were related to the handbag, such as tiny vanity and cigarette cases. This example is designed by Hilde Wagner-Ascher who, in the early 1920s, studied under the painter Josef Hoffman in Vienna.
Collection
Accession number
T.285-1987

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Record createdMarch 3, 2003
Record URL
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