FOREWORD
The exhibition “Loetz Austria 1900” at the
Austrian Museum of Applied Art and the cat
alogue which accompanied it attracted such
great interest that it seemed only natural to
carry out further research into this world fa-
mous glassworks and its products.
Although Loetz was still producing glass in
the turn-of-the-century style even after 1905,
the Creative phase of art nouveau had al-
ready come to an end. What followed defies
Classification as a uniform style, but in my
view it is precisely this variety of shapes,
decorations and techniques which gives
Loetz glass from 1905 tili 1918 its particular
charm (together with the Loetz glass already
displayed in Vienna, this glassware will be on
exhibition at the Provincial Museum of Upper
Austria in Linz from 20th November 1986 tili
31st January 1987),
The material to be researched necessitated
the division of the present publication into
several sections: introduction, catalogue,
Photographie documentation and a summary
of Loetz’s collaboration with J. & L. Lobmeyr
and the Wiener Werkstätte. The introduction
is devoted primarily to the Spaun family: the
people whose fate was so closely linked to
that of the glassworks come alive betöre our
eyes through Contemporary photographs
which represent exceptionally valuable docu
mentation, and the objects from the collec-
tions of their descendants at least give us an
idea of the work done at the factory in the
late 19th Century, a period about which we
still know very little.
The catalogue section proper contains Loetz
glassware from the Austrian museums al
ready mentioned in the volume “Loetz Aus
tria 1900”: The Austrian Museum of Applied
Art in Vienna, the Provincial Museum of Up
per Austria in Linz and the Joanneum Provin
cial Museum of Styria, department of arts
and crafts, in Graz. Most of these items are
Contemporary acquisitions (donations or
purchases), though the Austrian Museum of
Applied Art has been able to considerably
enlarge its collections in recent years under
the guidance of Professor Ludwig Neustifter.
Items from private collections were included
if they could be reliably dated, or if it was
possible to incorporate them into a group of
glassware. The Photographie documentation
is followed by a section which underlines the
importance of the Viennese firm of J. &
L. Lobmeyr as contractors for glassware and
provides vital Information from the complete
surviving order documentation from more
than twenty years. The Wiener Werkstätte
also commissioned glass from Loetz, and al
most all the designs realised for the latter by
Loetz from the period around 1915 have
been included.
An overwhelming assortment of materials
came to light over a relatively short space of
time and with the involvement of many differ
ent people. I therefore particularly want to
express my thanks to all those who have
contributed to the publication of this book:
Professor Ludwig Neustifter (Austrian Mu
seum of Applied Art, Vienna), Dr. Inge Woi-
setschläger (Joanneum Provincial Museum
of Styria, department of arts and crafts,
Graz), Dr. Wilfried Seipel and Dr. Brigitte
Wied (Provincial Museum of Upper Austria,
Linz), Harald and Peter Rath (Messrs. J. &
L. Lobmeyr, Vienna), the collectors who so
readily allowed me to study and photograph
their glass, the descendants of the Spaun
family wfio so generously gave me access to
important documents, and my translators Dr.
Hanne Lore Agius (Italian), Andree Päz-
mändy (French) and Andrew Smith (English).
Vienna, August 1986 Waltraud Neuwirth
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