Papaguiniwald or Parrot 's Forest designed by Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel (1881-1965) who was fascinated with jungles and parrots which are depicted in many of his drawings. He designed four prints for WW. This fabric only comes in one colourway.
The Wiener Werstatte was established in 1903 by Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser, who were members of the Vienna Sessionist art movement, which placed emphasis on the applied arts. They brought together architects, artists and designers working in ceramics, fashion, silver, furniture and the graphic arts with the aim of reforming the applied arts. It is regarded as a pioneer of modern design, and its influence can be seen in later styles such as the Bauhaus and Art Deco. Better to work 10 days on one product than to manufacture 10 products in one day was WWs motto. By 1905 the Workshop employed 100 with 37 being masters of their art. Their wares mostly appealed to other artists and Jewish upper middle class supporters of the Austro Hungarian empire. Other branches were opened in Switzerland, Germany and America. After WW1 there were material shortages and financial problems and the WW closed in 1932.
Architectural commissions with coordinated interiors were undertaken. The WW wanted to create total artworks, the building and contents down to the last door handle.
From 1905, the Wiener Werkstatte produced designs for handblock printed linens and silks. Johann Backhausen and Sohne of Vienna printed and woven the fabrics for the WW but by 1910/11 a fashion and textile division was established, where the WW printed & wove their own textiles. This piece has the WW monogram in the selvedge, the WW registering it official monogram/trademark in 1913. These did not appear in the Backhausen produced fabrics. This length has had the black paper removed from the top. I am rather assuming that as I bought all four lengths at the same time, they came from the same pattern book, and are therefore of same date and were printed by the WW themselves.
This piece was taken from a pattern book and has the original paper label on the reverse. It is interesting that the label tells us the designer, the name of the fabric, the width and price.
Apart from textiles Jungnickel also developed a range glass and graphics for the Wiener Werkstätte.
For bibliography see below.
The linen ground printed with a jungle scene with large exotic parrots eating fruit, amongst leaves and flowers, all in thrtee shades of blue from mid to sea green, touches of magenta, taupe, off white, and mid brown on a black ground. one selvedge with the log WW printed in black, a printed card label with Wiener Werkstatte, loosely tacked to the back of the fabric, written in ink:
Entwurf: ..........Fr .... us ....
Marke: Papaguiniwald.
Breite: 80
Preis 25.70
3ft 5 in x 31 in; 1.04 x 79 cm
Very very good apart from the left hand selvedge being slightly discoloured. There are also four small mid brown marks to the linen, the largest 1 cm dia. This length has had the heading cut off.
This is a heavy weight linen, which could be used for upholstery or curtaining.
Textiles of the Wiener Werkstätte 1910-1932 by Angela Völker
www.dorotheum.com/en/k/ludwig-heinrich-jungnickel/ for biography
www.masterart.com/artworks/4348/ludwig-heinrich-jungnickel-frieze-paradies-der-tiere
www.europeana.eu/portal/en/record/2026106/Partage_Plus_ProvidedCHO_MAK____sterreichisches_Museum_f_r_angewandte_Kunst__
Gegenwartskunst_1535.html
www.europeana.eu/portal/en/record/2026106/Partage_Plus_ProvidedCHO_MAK____sterreichisches_Museum_f_r_angewandte_Kunst___Gegenwartskunst_1535.html
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