Jewish Museum Spotlights Women Of Wiener Werkstätte

(MENAFN- USA Art News) An upcoming exhibition,“Modernity and Opulence: Women of the Wiener Werkstätte,” will open at the Jewish Museum in New York City, running from July 17 through November 15, 2026. Presented in cooperation with the MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, the exhibition focuses on the often-overlooked central roles women played within the workshop, including numerous Jewish women who served as designers and artists, alongside their patrons.

Featuring more than 200 objects by some 30 Jewish women artists, the exhibition spans various media, such as fashion, ceramics, graphic design, decorative arts, and painting. It highlights the significant contributions of these women, demonstrating how they shaped modernist design through the platform of the Wiener Werkstätte, which was active from 1903 to 1932. The workshop was established by architect Josef Hoffmann, artist Koloman Moser, and industrialist art collector Fritz Waerndorfer as a multidisciplinary collective and commercial venture.

Thematically organized, the show emphasizes the extraordinary range and technical skill of these artists. Special attention is given to Vally Wieselthier and Felice Rix-Ueno, whose extensive work in ceramics and textile design, respectively, had a lasting impact on their fields. The exhibition also connects the collective with progressive reform movements and emerging feminist ideals of the era, as women advocated for greater access to education, economic opportunities, and universal suffrage.

The global reach of these artists is also explored, including their presence at the 1925 Paris International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, where works by Wieselthier, Rix-Ueno, Lotte Calm, and Mizi Friedmann-Otten were showcased. The Werkstätte's influence on Hollywood is demonstrated through films such as“The Kiss” ( 1929 ), starring Greta Garbo;“Five and Ten” ( 1931 ), starring Marion Davies; and“Enemies of Women” ( 1923 ), all of which featured Werkstätte ceramics. Additionally, the exhibition highlights the role of women clients, including socialite and arts patron Adele Bloch-Bauer and art critic and writer Berta Zuckerkandl, who commissioned furniture and interiors, wore Werkstätte fashions, and used its stationery, embodying the collective's vision of integrating art and life.

Source: Hyperallergic

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