Collection
/
Decorative Arts and Design

Vase

Josef Hoffmann

1 of 3

Object Label

Founded in 1903, the Wiener Werkstätte, or Vienna Workshop, produced finely handcrafted objects for daily use. Established as a cooperative of artisans, the group was led by the architect Josef Hoffmann and other pioneering modernists who sought to unify the fine and applied arts as a Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art). Due to its emphasis on handcraftsmanship and luxury materials and processes, however, the Wiener Werkstätte’s designs were only accessible to an upperclass clientele. Although the Wiener Werkstätte had no prescribed style, simple squares, rigorous geometries, and abstracted floral designs were common motifs. Applied across a range of functional and decorative objects, they can be seen here in the Hoffmann-designed vase and container, alongside wineglasses by his former student Otto Prutscher and a cabinet of the same period.

Caption

Josef Hoffmann Austrian, 1870–1956. Vase, 1912. Glass, 8 1/8 x 3 1/4 in. (20.6 x 8.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Frederick A. McConkey, 2007.67.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2007.67.1_view1_PS2.jpg)

Gallery

Not on view

Title

Vase

Date

1912

Geography

Place manufactured: Klostermuhle, Bohemia, Czech Republic

Medium

Glass

Classification

Vessel

Dimensions

8 1/8 x 3 1/4 in. (20.6 x 8.3 cm)

Markings

not marked

Credit Line

Gift of Frederick A. McConkey

Accession Number

2007.67.1

Rights

Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

Frequent Art Questions

  • Can you tell me about this vase?

    This vase was designed by Josef Hoffmann, who worked in Vienna at the turn of the century. He helped found a collective of craftsmen and designers called the Weiner Werkstätte, which focused on unifying art and manufacturing. This style of glass decoration, with matte black geometric deigns on a frosted ground, was known as "Bronzit". Hoffmann's design was produced by Loetz Witwe, one of the best glass manufacturers in Europe.

  • Can you tell me more about this?

    This vase was produced for and sold by the Wiener Werkstätte, an artists cooperative in Vienna that sold hand-made objects and furniture. It was designed by the Austrian Josef Hoffmann in 1912 and manufactured in the Czech Republic, a center of glassmaking for centuries. The curving, nature-inspired forms express the Art Nouveau style then so popular in Europe.
    Is the Czech Republic still a center for glass design and manufacture?
    It looks like there has been a resurgence of glass art in the Czech Republic since the fall of Communism there.

Have information?

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Artists and makers

Josef Hoffmann

8 works in the collection

Johann Loetz-Witwe Glassworks

4 works in the collection