Chair
ca. 1905 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This chair was designed for the first floor dining room at the Pukersdorf Sanatorium in Austria. Like many other of Hoffmann's designs at this time, the decorative elements of the chair have a functional dimension. For instance, the corner balls or blocks reinforcing the seat and the shaped bentwood backrail. The punched and geometrically arranged decoration are also typical and can be found on many other Hoffmann pieces.
The chair's design was praised by contemporary art critics but does not appear to have been produced for long; perhaps the rather severe lines were suited better for use in a public building than in the home.
The chair's design was praised by contemporary art critics but does not appear to have been produced for long; perhaps the rather severe lines were suited better for use in a public building than in the home.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Bentwood, beech, with replacement upholstery in red leather |
| Brief description | Of beech, in bentwood technique, with upholstery in red leather. Austrian 1904-5 designed by Josef Hoffmann manufactured by J&J Kohn, Vienna |
| Physical description | Chair in beech, of bentwood construction, the straight front legs turned, the straight back legs of sqaure section, but continuing up in tapering, turned section to create a continuous back frame of rectangular shape with rounded top corners. Solid wooden ball ornament which strengthens the junction of front legs and seat rail. The seat rounded, the front square with rounded corners. This is upholstered in red letaher (replacement), fixed with large nails. The size of the nails is matched by the two rows of pierced holes drilled in the narrow plywood splat of the back, set in a narrow bentwood frame with rounded corners. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Gallery label |
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| Object history | This chair was designed for the first floor dining room at the Purkersdorf Sanatorium in the Austrian town of that name. Original photographs of the chair in the Sanatorium are in the Wiener Werkstätte records in the Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst (XIV 87,88,97). |
| Historical context | In Die Kunst (1902), Bertha Zuckerkandl (1863-1945), journalist and supporter of advanced design, praised Hoffmann's designs for the 14th Secession Exhibition; again in Die Kunst (1904) she praised his work. About this date she recommended him to her brother-in-law Dr Viktor Zuckerkandl and as a result Hoffmann was commissioned to design the Sanatorium in Pukersdorf, Austria. This chair design, although praised by the critic Ludwig Hevesi (1842-1910) and widely illustrated, does not seem to have survived long as a standard Kohn product. |
| Associations | |
| Summary | This chair was designed for the first floor dining room at the Pukersdorf Sanatorium in Austria. Like many other of Hoffmann's designs at this time, the decorative elements of the chair have a functional dimension. For instance, the corner balls or blocks reinforcing the seat and the shaped bentwood backrail. The punched and geometrically arranged decoration are also typical and can be found on many other Hoffmann pieces. The chair's design was praised by contemporary art critics but does not appear to have been produced for long; perhaps the rather severe lines were suited better for use in a public building than in the home. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | CIRC.289-1967 |
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| Record created | September 29, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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