the Wiener Werkstätte: Eduard Klablena

Eduard Klablena

Parrot

circa 1911-12

     The bird’s yellow coat immediately catches the eye. It is so seamless (almost as if the paint is still wet) that it renders the bird quite naked, featherless. By dousing much of it in a thick, heavy layer of one colour, perhaps Klablena intended to draw out the parrot’s pure form and contours rather than its plumaged surface, so as to depict it as anything but a creature of flight; to keep it grounded and simple. The same idea can be applied to its beak and pedestal: both are completely black, with shape being the only characteristic that marks them as being one thing versus another. They are closer to the ground than the rest of the parrot’s body; they are similarly doused in one colour (though black is not a true ‘colour’), but this colour is heavier than yellow and so it appears to visually ‘pool’ at the bird’s base, simultaneously balancing the communication between two opposite hues as well as stabilising the bird’s heavy head by magnetically pulling it towards its sister bay of black - towards a central base. It is only after one registers this clever interaction of the bird’s elements that one can then appreciate the delicate touches of dots and lines found on the bird’s feet and under its eyes. These give the parrot its final definition. They instil in its yellow-and-black parole a note of rhythm, a beat which runs through its stoneware core like a revolving pulse. And it is only now that each of us can imagine the parrot as beginning to nod up and down like a bobble toy, swinging to its own soundless groove.

20th Century Photography

the Poiret de Wilde Collection (provenance)

Paul Poiret en Russie

circa 1911

     It may be difficult for those who are unfamiliar with Poiret’s work to see any value in this photograph. To the unsuspecting eye, it is a rather unremarkable black and white photo of a man whose rigid figure is drowned in a large collared overcoat, and whose casual attempt to lean nearer to the rear of the motorcar appears to be so crippled by the cold Russian air that it only results in an even more awkward and uncomfortable pose. 

    However, this photograph marks the point in time when this man, famous couturier and ‘Pasha of Paris’, came face to face with what would spark and mould so much of his wonderful and iconic work of the coming years: Serge de Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. From the colours and costumes and interpreted Oriental design schemes to the mere theatrical details of anything from the underside of a yellow satin slipper to the shockingly-patterned and -plumaged pantaloons worn by a mysterious princely character, Poiret became captivated by the visual charm exuding from every corner of the small ballet company. In his mind, it served as a new patch of soil from which he could cultivate similar base ideas, but then expand on them in the direction of not only his unique perception of avant-garde aesthetics, but also in that of redefining the current fashion world’s restricted idea of beauty and form. Paul Poiret’s travels around Russia placed his artistic eye in direct contact with a culture that he had not fully realised was so rich in character, and which drew his natural affinity with boisterous styles and colourful, joie de vivre elements of design into an even tighter, more outspoken and confident bow of expression. It is for these reasons that this photograph speaks millions to those aware and appreciative of Poiret’s œuvre, for it shows an artist who, even if a bit stiff in stance, had an innovative and flexible, forward-thinking mind. And as this photo was being taken, it is likely that that very mind was already developing the early stills which would later materialise into the timeless works of art that admirers, collectors and museums alike guard closely to this day.

Konstantin Korovin

Konstantin Korovin

On a Seashore

circa 1910

     The cherries - or are they grapes? - look plump and crisp, their translucent skins slowly baking in the coastal light. They sit together in the dish as if it were a boat, its belly gliding lazily through a body of calm white water. Ahead of them is a pair of glass islands, one of which is seen boasting of its sole inhabitant: a great lolling tree with spectacular blossoms, heavy and sweet, which throws out behind itself a blue bay of shade. From its facing side, the tree extends a single leafy branch in a gesture of welcome to the boating fruit. Tired and rather parched, the travelling foursome take comfort in the idea of escaping the relentless beat of the sun, to soon find themselves cooling underneath the scented canopy of late summer roses. They look ahead with more vigour; they can nearly taste the swollen blue air of the bay, bobbing up and down ahead of them like a skilled siren. But they are disillusioned: their hope is but a mirage, the heat having stifled and deluded their minds into forgetting the recent fates of their fellow brethren - brethren who were in the same boat, just as bloated and as blind, and who also did not suspect the second, more sinister bay of shade looming in from the right behind them, foreshadowing their imminent, sticky ends.

the Wiener (Keramik) Werkstätte: Bertold Löffler

Bertold Löffler

Dose mit Schmetterling (no. 315)

circa 1912-20

     This bowl’s clean ceramic body is beautifully balanced by its leaf- and butterfly-topped finial. This bit is intended to be easily pinched and lifted up by two delicate fingers, uncovering whatever is sheltered inside. Its hat-like décor is meant to be cluttered and highly graphic, with all types of patterns, shapes and suggested textures crawling and tumbling over one another as if racing to see who might reach the summit first. Echoing the familiar bellflower shape seen in many of the Wiener Werkstätte designs, the bowl’s body brings to mind the natural effect of gravity: its weight pools at its base, forming something like a small mayonnaise dish, while its other half seems to be drawn upwards, slowly, as if by an unseen pull, then topped with the charming still-life. As far as what the Workshop(s) tried to achieve, this Dose can be seen as a fine example of a successful Gesamtkunstwerk, or ‘total work of art’. Its married elements of art, form and common, everyday usage are stripped to the bare, made simple. The ‘glue’ which artists as Löffler then used to meld these elements into place (or, in other words, into an approved ‘WW’ work of art) was their individual take of Viennese aesthetics; their core style and expression; their final and most personal touch to the piece. It is arguable that Löffler’s most distinct touch throughout his œuvre is his style of structure, much like Michael Powolny's. Both use the momentum of confident contours to guide and focus one’s attention on the ‘pinnacle’ aspect of the artwork, whether it is a patch of geometric colours crowning the head of a bird, or the tensed feet of a snail-riding putto. The idea was to give the work of art an internal source of spotlight so that no matter how or where it might be seen (implying its day-to-day usage), the work - or in this case, the Dose - would be able to shine on its own. Proud, single and independent.

Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel

Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel

Three Blue Macaws (print)

circa 1909

     These three are loud and fidgety. Their curiosity is etched into their ruffled feathers and cocked expressions as they attempt to make out what has caught their attentions, whether it is an insect, a noise or the studious, predator-like observer, Mr. Jungnickel, himself. Notice how the artist was able to transfer the lively trio onto a two-dimensional space without leaving behind any of their true spontaneity. Rather like a painting, he textured their plumaged bodies one by one, puzzling together three wonderfully asymmetrical mischief-makers all perched along two singularly black and white receding branches, therefore imbuing them with individual senses of perspective, character and realism. He concentrated their agitated forms within a thick bordered frame, almost as if to magnify their body language and to guide the viewer’s attention directly to the birds’ own, creating a fluid two-way bridge of communication between a set of on-lookers (though who began looking at whom first remains a puzzle itself). This print is not meant to be serious, however; despite its brilliant execution and careful study of anatomy, it is a scene that is meant to make one grin. The artist’s evident skill in being able to filter his subjects through an animated, almost humorous point-of-view brings out the silliness of any creature forced to remain posed in a random position for, in this case, eternity. Perhaps the roles are now switched: perhaps it is now we who may mock and mime good-naturedly back at those who, forever frozen but never entirely gone, peer out at us from this print. Almost as if we, the audience, are the fourth Macaw.