Designed by Josef Hoffmann (Austrian, born Moravia [now Czech Republic], 1870-1956)
Made by W. Müller (Vienna, active early 20th century)
Chest for Photographs
INV-1174
Designed by Josef Hoffmann (Austrian, born Moravia [now Czech Republic], 1870-1956)
Made by W. Müller (Vienna, active early 20th century)c. 1902
Chest for Photographs
Designed by Josef Hoffmann (Austrian, born Moravia [now Czech Republic], 1870-1956) Made by W. Müller (Vienna, active early 20th century) →case furniturechest (case furniture)
Date
c. 1902
Medium
Wood with palisander and maple veneers, nickel silver
Dimensions
55.9 × 52.8 × 37.1 cm (22 × 20 13/16 × 14 5/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Purchased with funds provided by the Antiquarian Society of Mrs. James W. Alsdorf, Mrs. Walter Alexander, Mrs. P. Kelly Armour, Mr. and Mrs. T. Stanton Armour, Mr. John H. Bryan, Mrs. DeWitt W. Buchanan, Jr., Mrs. Henry M. Buchbinder, Mrs. George M. Covington, Dr. Edwin J. DeCosta, Quinn E. Delaney, Mr. David P. Earle III, Mr. and Mrs. Gordon R. Ewing, Marshall Field, Mrs. Robert Hixon Glore, Mrs. Fred A. Krehbiel, Dr. Kenneth J. Maier, Mrs. Harold T. Martin, Mrs. Brooks McCormick, Mr. and Mrs. Charles F. Nadler, Mrs. John K. Notz, Jr., Mrs. Eric Oldberg, Mrs. James C. Pritchard, Mrs Edgar J. Uihlein, Mrs. Morris S. Weeden, and Mrs. George B. Young; purchased with funds provided by John H. Bryan and David P. Earle lll, and the Antiquarian Society, in honor of Lynn Springer Roberts, the Eloise W. Martin curator of European Decorative Arts and Sculpture and Classical Art, 1981-1989
This chest for photographs was included in the Vienna Seccession’s installation at the 1902 Exhibition of Art and Industry installation in the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Düsseldorf, Germany. It embodies Josef Hoffmann’s ideas of furniture design prior to his involvement with the founding of the Wiener Werkstätte in 1903. Conceived as a piece of miniature architecture, the chest combines the sinuous curves of turn-of-the-century Art Nouveau with the sturdiness and simplicity of late 19th-century English Arts and Crafts furniture.