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ONLINECOLLECTION

Bentwood Chair, Model No. 255, Design for the Café Museum, c. 1898

Leopold Museum,
Vienna
Bentwood, red-brown stained beech, caned saddle seat, surface refurbished
88.5×43×53.5 cm

Artists

  • Adolf Loos

    (Brno 1870–1933 Kalksburg/Vienna)

  • Jacob & Josef Kohn
Unfortunately not on display at the moment
The refurbishment of Café Museum at Operngasse 7 was to be carried out by the Wagner pupil Max Fabiani (1865–1962), but he ceded the project to Adolf Loos (1870–1933). This provided the young Loos with the first proper opportunity to publicly implement his puristic principles. The Viennese coffeehouse – a historico-cultural topos par excellence – received its new prototype. Rather than providing the often-cited atmosphere of an “extended living room” for the Viennese bourgeoisie, Loos created a highly sober ambiance which elicited praise and resentment in equal measure after the café’s opening in April 1899. The establishment soon became a popular meeting place among artists and writers, while the bentwood chairs, marble table tops and especially the light bulbs without lampshades earned it the sobriquet “Café Nihilism”.

Audio

Audio for adults

Object data

Artist/author
  • Design: Adolf Loos
  • Execution: Jacob & Josef Kohn
Title
Bentwood Chair, Model No. 255, Design for the Café Museum
Date
c. 1898
Category
Furniture
Material​/technique
Bentwood, red-brown stained beech, caned saddle seat, surface refurbished
Dimensions
88.5×43×53.5 cm
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 4620
Inventory access
Contributed to the Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung in 1994
Selection of Reference works
  • Wien 1900. Aufbruch in die Moderne, hrsg. von Hans-Peter Wipplinger, Wien 2019 (Ausst.-Kat. Leopold Museum, Wien, ab 15.03.2019).
Keywords

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Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i
Dr. Rudolf Leopold, Wien (o.D.);
Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Wien (1994)

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