Armchair, 1903

The Austrian Museum of Art and Industry presented an exhibition of English furniture as early as 1900. There, Koloman Moser (1868–1918) saw items of furniture designed by the Scottish artists and representatives of the British Arts and Crafts Movement Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868–1928) and Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh (1864–1933). From their chairs with high backrests Moser derived inspiration for the high armchair he designed for the wickerwork factory Prag-Rudniker. In 1903 this chair was part of the furnishings of the 17th Secession Exhibition and served as an important design feature within the room conceived by Moser. The geometrical basic form and the checkerboard-like wickerwork reappear in Moser’s white-varnished Armchair. This chair in the shape of a cube was later used in the Sanatorium Purkersdorf built by Josef Hoffmann (1870–1956).

Text Leopold Museum