About the Artwork
Wagner was the architect of the Österreichische Postsparkasse (Imperial Austrian Postal Savings Bank) constructed in Vienna from 1904 to 1906. Co-founder of the Wiener Werkstätte and one of the earliest proponents of functionalist design in the twentieth century, he designed this armchair for the bank’s board room from two materials that had never been used in this upper-class environment before: bentwood and aluminum. Wagner used aluminum for both decorative and protective purposes, just as eighteenth-century cabinetmakers had used gilt bronze.
Chair
between 1904 and 1906
Otto Wagner (Designer) Austrian, 1841-1918 Gebrüder Thonet (Manufacturer)
Beechwood, plywood, aluminum
Overall: 30 1/2 × 22 × 18 1/2 inches (77.5 × 55.9 × 47 cm)
Furniture
European Modern Art to 1970
Founders Society Purchase, Dr. and Mrs. George Kamperman Fund and Honorarium and Memorial Gifts Fund
1985.3
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Markings
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Provenance
Vienna Postal Savings Bank [Österreichische Postsparkasse] (Vienna, Austria)
(Gunther Stefan Asenbaum, Vienna, Austria)
(Donald Morris Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan, USA)
1985-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Mang, K. "Geschichte des modernen Mobels." Stuttgart, 1978, p. 46 and 83 (ill.).
Taragin, D. "From Vienna to the Studio Craft Movement." Apollo 124, no. 298 (December 1986): pp. 79-80 (ill.).
Bulletin of the DIA 62, no. 2 (1985): p. 9 (fig. 7).
"Moderne Vergangenheit, Vienna 1800-1900." Catalogue. 1981, p. 265 (ill.) p. 206.
Holz, Gebogenes. "Konstruktive Entwurfe, Vienna 1840-1910."
Exh. cat., Museum Villa Stuck. Munich, 1979, p. 59.
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Otto Wagner; Gebrüder Thonet, Chair, between 1904 and 1906, beechwood, plywood, aluminum. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Dr. and Mrs. George Kamperman Fund and Honorarium and Memorial Gifts Fund, 1985.3.
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