1897–1910
Vienna Secession
Art Nouveau, drawn with a set square
The Vienna Secession was founded in 1897 by artists who resigned from the academic establishment, and its furniture has the confidence of people who thought the argument was already won. Where French Art Nouveau moved like a plant, the Viennese version sits on a grid: squares, repeated verticals, and ornament that is geometrically generated rather than grown.
The Wiener Werkstätte, founded in 1903 by Hoffmann and Moser, industrialised the idea — silver, glass, textiles and furniture made to one designed scheme, with the maker's mark as part of the design. It is the point where Art Nouveau turns into something that could be mass produced without losing its nerve.
History
The Secession years (1897–1903) are the exhibition pieces: geometric chairs, ebonised wood, and a deliberate break with the historicist city outside.
The Wiener Werkstätte (1903–1910) is the workshop phase, where furniture, silver and glass were designed as a single interior and stamped as such.
What to look for
A visible grid, ebonised or pale wood, silver with a workshop mark, and squares used as ornament rather than pattern.
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