Indian Fairytale, 1910–1912

Rudolf Kalvach’s (1883–1932) works are clearly influenced by his studies at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts, and were often created in connection with his professors’ commissions or the motifs and themes set by them. Kalvach chose a deliberately simplified, childlike manner of depiction to create his fantastical, almost naive-looking garden scenes, as illustrated by the 1910–1912 work Indian Fairytale. The bizarre figures and symbols populating this composition can also be found in Kalvach’s Postcard Designs for the Wiener Werkstätte and are strongly reminiscent of the book of fairytales The Dreaming Boys created for the Wiener Werkstätte by Kalvach’s fellow student Oskar Kokoschka (1886–1980); though it was Kalvach who influenced the young Kokoschka.

AS, 2021