Jiri Uhlir
Thonet 1900-
1939: Innovation
and Crisis
Bentwood Furniture from Architects:
Vienna ca. 1900
Although the last quarter of the 19th Century could be described eco-
nomically as a golden age for the Thonet Company, even betöre the turn
of the Century there was a need to renew the design vocabulary of the
furniture and to adapt it to the taste of the times. It seemed hardly possible
to continue to exist on the market by only varying the backrests. This
could also not be changed by the new types of chairs from the Classical
Series II which had been produced since 1883 and had been first pu-
blished in the catalog from 1885, not even with their successful model
No. 56: In contrast to the Classical Series I, with the continuous curved
backrests, the new series now had a crossbar connecting the rear Stiles;
therefore only two-dimensional parts were needed which could all be
bent by machines.
It was Adolf Loos-at that time “a not too well-known Viennese archi-
tect" 1 -who, in 1898, was able to demonstrate with his furnishings for
the Cafe Museum that bentwood furniture was still capable of deve
lopment in terms of form, and who thus initiated the prelude to a series
of curved “architectural furniture”. He was followed, among others, by
Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser, Gustav Siegel, Marcel Kämmerer, Otto
Prutscher as well as Otto Wagner as the most famous Austrian architect
of his time. While Gebrüder Thonet and J. & J. Kohn worked together
with some architects only once, other architects created a variety of
models, such as Hoffmann did with Kohn and Prutscher with Thonet. 2
The greatest problem with the attribution is the fact that the two Compa
nies did not publish the names of the designers-which prompted the
author Karl Kraus to ask the smug question whether the furniture designs
would be decided upon at “the Company board meetings?" 3 Since the
search for the corresponding documents in the archives and estates usu-
ally remains unsuccessful, Contemporary art magazines and exhibition
catalogs, which are not always reliable, are the only sources which can
be used in most cases. Negligent authors and the art market have play-
ed a dubious part in attribution without concrete evidence: A piece of
furniture by Hoffmann-quite naturally everything that has squares-
sells better than an anonymous design and, in case of doubt, also en-
hances a publication.
In view of Adolf Loos' furnishings for the Cafe Museum, Felix Kohn was
the first to understand that the crisis in the design of bentwood furniture
could be solved only by Professional designers. He soon came in contact
1 (No author), Kunstgewerbeblatt XIII, Vienna 1902, 211.
2 Cf. Jiri Uhlir, Vom Wiener Stuhl zum Architektenmöbel. Jacob & Josef Kohn, Thonet und Mundus
Bugholzmöbel vom Secessionismus bis zur Zwischenkriegsmoderne, Vienna a.o. 2009, 160ff.
3 Cf. Karl Kraus, Die Fackel, Issue 89, 3rd year. December 1901,23.
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