Link only available on sub pages

Around 1900, ornamentation was omnipresent: in the arts and crafts, on textiles, and in architecture. The abundance of elaborate, industrially produced decorative elements provoked counter-movements. In Viennese Art Nouveau in particular, there was intense debate about ornamentation. The architect Adolf Loos expressed his criticism of his contemporaries’ preference for decoration in particularly provocative terms in his famous lecture ‘Ornament and Crime’. In response, representatives of the arts and crafts reform movement preferred modern, individually designed ornamentation.
One such production collective was the Wiener Werkstätte, founded in 1903 by the architect Josef Hoffmann and the graphic designer Koloman Moser. The designs exhibited here were produced for the Viennese textile firm Backhausen, which specialised in interior design. In Wuppertal too, in both Barmen and Elberfeld, schools of arts and crafts were established towards the end of the 19th century. Julius Mermagen, for example, a teacher at the Elberfeld School of Arts and Crafts, designed ornamental decorations. He also worked as an independent artist.