Cupboard from the Stift Apartment, 1899

Joseph Maria Olbrich (1867–1908) created the interior decoration for the Villa Stift (Stifft) at Hohe Warte in Vienna’s 19th district, designing the living and dining room, the study, the ladies’ parlor, the bedroom as well as the kitchen, guest and servant’s room. In 1901, Ludwig Abels (1867–1937) published a comprehensive article on Olbrich in the Viennese arts-and-crafts magazine Das Interieur which he illustrated with numerous photographs. To him, the Stift (Stifft) interior was among the architect’s chief works in Vienna, along with the Gesamtkunstwerk, or universal work of art, of the Villa Friedmann (1898/99) and the furniture of the Bahr residence (1899). A characteristic trait of Olbrich’s furnishings is that he subordinated individual items to a room’s overall effect. In contrast to Josef Hoffmann’s (1870–1956) designs, Olbrich used curved shapes. The body of the cupboard is connected to the wall through a semicircle. Ornamental enamel knobs, reminiscent of flowers, and curved metal fittings are references to a floral-abstracting Jugendstil.

Text Leopold Museum