Skip to content
ONLINECOLLECTION

Armchair, c. 1901

Leopold Museum,
Vienna
Oak
71.5×65.2×51 cm

Artists

  • Joseph Urban

    (Vienna 1872–1933 New York City)

Unfortunately not on display at the moment
Born in Vienna in 1872, Josef Urban (1872–1933) received a well-founded education under Carl von Hasenauer (1833–1894) at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. An architect and illustrator, he was an early member of the Vienna Künstlerhaus and of the pre-Secessionist artists’ association Siebenerclub. Already in 1890, he and like-minded artists had founded the Hagenbund, which came to the fore on 3rd February 1900 as an independent artists’ association. Until 1908, Josef Urban designed some 30 successful exhibitions for the Hagenbund, making him one of the most prominent exhibition architects in Vienna. This wingback chair, designed around 1901, epitomizes Urban’s more organic approach to Jugendstil, which stood in contrast to the geometricizing designs by Josef Hoffmann (1870–1956). The curved backrest continues as armrests and organically flows into the front legs. The proportions and shape of the seat followed human anatomy, which meant that the item of furniture corresponded to the requirements of the life reform movement.

Object data

Artist/author
  • Joseph Urban
Title
Armchair
Date
c. 1901
Art movement
Art Nouveau
Category
Furniture
Material​/technique
Oak
Dimensions
71.5×65.2×51 cm
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 4528
Inventory access
Contributed to the Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung in 1994
Selection of Reference works
  • Verborgene Schätze. Kunstwerke suchen Paten!, hrsg. von Hans-Peter Wipplinger, Wien 2016 (Ausst.-Broschüre Leopold Museum, Wien, 29.01.2016–22.02.2016).
Keywords

If you have further information on this object, please contact us.

Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i

For provenance related information, please contact us.