"Modernity and Opulence: Women of the Wiener Werkstätte" at the Jewish Museum
The exhibition illuminates the role that women played as artists, designers, and tastemakers shaping modernist aesthetics in early 20th-century Vienna.
From July 17 through November 15, 2026, the Jewish Museum will showcase the important role women played in the Wiener Werkstätte, a renowned multidisciplinary collective and commercial enterprise based in Vienna. This exhibition, co-presented with the MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, focuses on the often overlooked contributions of Jewish women designers and artists who worked at the Werkstätte, as well as those who supported their efforts as patrons.
The Wiener Werkstätte, established in 1903 by architect Josef Hoffmann, artist Koloman Moser, and industrialist art collector Fritz Waerndorfer, aimed to synthesize art and life (gesamtkunstwerk) as an essential aspect of modern living. The Werkstätte produced high-quality goods and collaborated with progressive notions of reform and emerging feminist ideals, as women sought increased access to education, economic opportunities, and universal suffrage.
Featuring over 200 objects by approximately 30 Jewish women artists, the exhibition is organized thematically to demonstrate the extraordinary range and technical skill of these women across various mediums, including fashion, ceramics, graphic design, decorative arts, and painting. Notable women artists highlighted include Vally Wieselthier, whose influential work in ceramics and textiles, and Felice Rix-Ueno, whose contributions to ceramics and textiles have left a lasting impact on these fields.
The Wiener Werkstätte maintained connections with global design movements, as evidenced by the Werkstätte's participation in the 1925 Paris International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts. This exhibition showcased works by Wieselthier, Rix-Ueno, Lotte Calm, and Mizi Friedmann-Otten, among others, bringing their innovative designs to a worldwide audience.
Additionally, the Werkstätte's relationship with Hollywood is explored through films such as The Kiss (1929), directed by Jacques Feyder, which featured Werkstätte ceramics and starred Greta Garbo.
The exhibition also emphasizes the significant influence of women clients, including Adele Bloch-Bauer and Berta Zuckerkandl, who commissioned furniture and interiors, wore Werkstätte fashions, and utilized stationery designed by the Werkstätte. Through these accounts, the exhibition reveals the profound impact women had on shaping modernist design languages and promoting the Werkstätte's vision, embodying the spirit of gesamtkunstwerk.
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