War Glass, 1914

With the outbreak of World War I, the Wiener Werkstätte and its associated production facilities faced personnel shortages and sales problems. Among their compensation efforts was the production of war glasses, which proved especially successful as the ministry of public works requested in 1915 that artists “express the patriotic purpose” in their works; in February of that year, an exhibition of “war memorabilia” had been held at the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry. In the case of plain, cylindrical drinking glasses, the decoration consisted of linear enamel colors, often representing the colors of the flags of the allied Central Powers. In the present example, the motif is made up of the blowing flags of Germany, Hungary, Austria and the Ottoman Empire, one behind the other, on a flower meadow. The placement of the Ottoman Empire’s flag in front may be a reference to this state’s entry into the War on the side of the Central Powers in late October 1914.

IR, 2021