POETRY OF THE ORNAMENT

The Backhausen Archive

13.11.2024–09.03.2025

Tabs

  • KOLOMAN MOSER (Design), Design 3907, 1900 © The Backhausen Archive, bequest from Dr. Louise Kiesling, on permanent loan at the Leopold Museum | Photo: The Backhausen Archive, bequest from Dr. Louise Kiesling, on permanent loan at the Leopold Museum
  • KOLOMAN MOSER, BACKHAUSEN (Execution), Design 3907, 1900 © The Backhausen Archive, bequest from Dr. Louise Kiesling,  on permanent loan at the Leopold Museum | Photo: The Backhausen Archive, bequest from Dr. Louise Kiesling, on permanent loan at the Leopold Museum
  • 03 |  Ver Sacrum. Magazine of The Union Of Austrian Artists,  collected edition of the year 1898 © Leopold Museum, Vienna | Photo: Leopold Museum, Vienna
  • JOSEF HOFFMANN (Design), Design 7741 for the staircase of Stoclet House, 1910 © The Backhausen Archive, bequest from Dr. Louise Kiesling,  on permanent loan at the Leopold Museum | Photo: The Backhausen Archive, bequest from Dr. Louise Kiesling, on permanent loan at the Leopold Museum
  • PHOTOGRAPH, Staircase of Stoclet House,  in: Moderne Bauformen, vol. 13, no. 1, p. 22, 1914 © Heidelberg University Library | Photo: Heidelberg University Library
  • JOSEF HOFFMANN, Designs 5113 & 5116, 1904 © The Backhausen Archive, bequest from Dr. Louise Kiesling, on permanent loan at the Leopold Museum | Photo: The Backhausen Archive, bequest from Dr. Louise Kiesling, on permanent loan at the Leopold Museum
  • JOSEF HOFFMANN, BACKHAUSEN (Execution), WIENER WERKSTÄTTE (Execution), Chair from the writing room of the Purkersdorf  Sanatorium, 1904/05 © Ernst Ploil, Vienna | Photo: Leopold Museum, Vienna
  • JULIUS ZIMPEL, BACKHAUSEN (Execution), Design 10026-1 for the dining room of the Knips villa, 1925 © The Backhausen Archive, bequest from Dr. Louise Kiesling,  on permanent loan at the Leopold Museum | Photo: Leopold Museum, Vienna
  • PHOTOGRAPH, View into the dining room of the Knips villa, 1920s © Photo: Austrian Archives/brandstaetter images/picturedesk.com
  • ELSE UNGER (Design), Design 3910, 1900 © The Backhausen Archive, bequest from Dr. Louise Kiesling,  on permanent loan at the Leopold Museum | Photo: The Backhausen Archive, bequest from Dr. Louise Kiesling, on permanent loan at the Leopold Museum
  • LOTTE FRÖMEL-FOCHLER (Design), Design 7118, 1909 © The Backhausen Archive, bequest from Dr. Louise Kiesling, on permanent loan at the Leopold Museum | Photo: The Backhausen Archive, bequest from Dr. Louise Kiesling, on permanent loan at the Leopold Museum
  • ROBERT OERLEY, BACKHAUSEN (Execution), Design 4009, 1900 © The Backhausen Archive, bequest from Dr. Louise Kiesling, on permanent loan at the Leopold Museum | Photo: The Backhausen Archive, bequest from Dr. Louise Kiesling, on permanent loan at the Leopold Museum
  • OTTO PRUTSCHER (Design), Design 5539, 1905 © The Backhausen Archive, bequest from Dr. Louise Kiesling,  on permanent loan at the Leopold Museum | Photo: The Backhausen Archive, bequest from Dr. Louise Kiesling, on permanent loan at the Leopold Museum
  • POESIE DES ORNAMENTS. Das Backhausen-Archiv | Teaser

The catalogue is available in the Leopold Museum shop!

JULIUS ZIMPEL, Backhausen (Execution), Design 10026-1 for the dining room of the Knips villa, 1925 © The Backhausen Archive, bequest from Dr. Louise Kiesling, on permanent loan at the Leopold Museum | Photo: Leopold Museum, Vienna

The company Joh. Backhausen & Söhne, founded in 1849, is among the most tradition-steeped producers of upholstery and decorative fabrics in Viennese history. The company’s main lines of production were premium fashionable fabrics, fabrics for upholstery and curtains, as well as damasks, brocades and carpets made from silk and wool. From 1903, Backhausen focused on collaborations with artists of Viennese Modernism, including Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Jutta Sika, Dagobert Peche, My Ullmann and Otto Prutscher. The company specialized in turning their designs into commercial products, and established itself as the main supplier of the Wiener Werkstätte. The exhibition affords insights into the holdings of the Backhausen Archives, introduces numerous artists and sheds light on individual production stages – from the design via fabric samples all the way to the execution. It pays tribute to Dr. Louise Kiesling (1957–2022) who, with passionate enthusiasm and great ideational and monetary commitment, preserved the Backhausen Archives for posterity.

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