MAK Vienna Reassesses Women Artists of the Wiener Werkstätte

The MAK – Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna presents "Women Artists of the Wiener Werkstätte," a major exhibition reevaluating the contributions of female artists to the renowned Viennese design collective. Drawing from the archive of scholar Werner J. Schweiger and 1990s research, the show features around 180 women, including Maria Likarz, Gudrun Baudisch, Vally Wieselthier, and Mathilde Flögl. Museum director Christoph Thun-Hohenstein asserts that the Wiener Werkstätte owed fundamental artistic stimuli to female creativity. The exhibition traces their training at the Kunstgewerbeschule under Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser, early collaborative efforts like the 1901 Wiener Kunst im Hause, and their growing prominence during World War I. It highlights their work in textiles (Likarz, Felice Rix, Martha Alber, Flögl), ceramics (Wieselthier's expressionist figures), and toy design, as well as their role in total environment decoration, such as the 1918 design of the WW shop on Kärntner Straße. The show also addresses gender biases, including Adolf Loos's hostile characterization of the WW's baroque turn as "womanish." The exhibition runs until October 3, 2021, accompanied by a catalog with biographies.