Dining-Room Chair for the Apartment of Wolko Gartenberg, 1921

Among other objects that the architect, designer and graphic artist Dagobert Peche (1887–1923) designed for the apartment of architect, designer and art collector Wolko Gartenberg (1884–1950) in 1921 was this dining-room chair. The piece of furniture is characterized by the free interplay of Classicist furniture motifs on the one hand and geometric elements on the other: The front legs, for example. are inverted obelisks in the style of Louis-Seize, while the back legs are curved. The backrest again consists of two double arcades, and the middle board of an elongated rectangle and a circle. Peche chose walnut for the veneers, which was very popular in Vienna at the time. The question of whether the hexagrams on the front legs may be read as Stars of David and hence as a direct allusion to the client’s confession must remain open.

MR, 2021