Home > Catalogue > Project Index > Waerndofer music salon, Vienna << >>

M208 Music salon for Fritz Waerndorfer, Vienna

Address: 45, Carl-Ludwig strasse, Vienna, Austria
Date: 1902–3
Client: Fritz Waerndorfer
Authorship:

(Mackintosh)

1882: Permission granted for Professor Franz Ržiha to build a house at Karl-Ludwig-Strasse 45, Vienna. 1

1896: June: House bought by Fritz Waerndorfer, a cotton-spinning mill owner . 2

1900: June: Waerndorfer in Glasgow apparently at the request of Josef Hoffmann. 3
12 July: Mackintosh writes to Hermann Muthesius that he and Margaret Macdonald have been invited to send work to the Vienna Secession and to make an expenses-paid visit to Vienna for the exhibition. 4
October – December: Mackintosh and Macdonald visit Vienna to participate in the Eighth Exhibition of the Vienna Secession. 5

1902: April: Mackintosh, Macdonald and Francis H. ('Fra') Newbery (director of the Glasgow School of Art and member of the selection committee for the Scottish exhibits) travel to the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art in Turin, Italy. Mackintosh and Waerndorfer meet there. 6
29 April: Waerndorfer writes to Hoffmann that 'Mackintosh has sent full-size drawings for all fitted woodwork' and asks for Hoffmann's help in interpreting the exterior addition for the inglenook fireplace. 7
May: Photographs of Waerndorfer's study and children's room designed by Hoffmann are published in the German journal Innendekoration. The work was carried out by a W. Hollmann. 8
21 June: A sheet of drawings for the structural addition for Mackintosh's music room is approved by the Viennese planning authorities. 9
6 August: Mackintosh writes to Muthesius that he and Macdonald 'are busy just now doing two large panels for Vienna of Maeterlinck's "Seven Princesses", a most delightful and fascinating subject'. 10
c. September: Mackintosh writes to Muthesius about progress on the room. Following delays and problems while Waerndorfer was away from Vienna, work is expected to be completed four weeks later. 11
December: Hoffmann spends two days in Glasgow during his visit to the UK with Baron Felician von Myrbach, director of the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts), on behalf of the Austrian Ministry of Education, to explore craft school education and workshops. 12
23 December: In a letter to Hoffmann, Waerndorfer reports that the music room is almost complete, but the piano has yet to arrive. 13

1903: 17 March 1903: In a letter to Hoffmann, Waerndorfer relates Mackintosh's enthusiasm and support for their efforts to establish a metal workshop. 14
9 June: Wiener Werkstätte founded. 15
24 June: In a letter to Hoffmann, Waerndorfer illustrates Mackintosh's suggestion for a Wiener Werkstätte monogram. 16

1906: Date inscribed on Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh's Seven Princesses gesso panels.
Henry Bedford Lemere photographs 'three decorative panels' in Glasgow associated with Mackintosh; these are the Seven Princesses. 17

1907: Approximate date of the installation of Macdonald's gesso panels. In 1909, Ludwig Hevesi wrote, 'the deep frieze did not follow until two years ago'. 18

1913: Waerndorfer transfers ownership of the house to his wife, Lili. 19

1914: May: Fritz Waerndorfer emigrates to the United States. 20

1915: Lili Waerndorfer leaves Karl-Ludwig-Strasse to live with her mother in Stadiongasse, Vienna. 21

1915 or 1916: A newspaper advertisement announces the sale of the 'Mackintosh Salon', which is 'of particular interest', as well as works by Hoffmann, Kolo Moser and Josef Maria Olbrich. Enquiries are to be addressed to an architect named Friedrich Schön. 22

1916: August: Eduard Leisching, director of the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry – the precursor of the Museum of Applied Arts, MAK (Museum für Angewandte Kunst) – corresponds with Schön concerning the possible acquisition of the Mackintosh room for the museum. 23
House bought by Wilhelm and Martha Freund. 24

1989: Watercolour designs for two of the four appliqué panels by Frances Macdonald for the curtain separating the Mackintosh music room from Hoffman's dining room appear on the market. 25

1990: The Seven Princesses gesso panels are rediscovered at the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), Vienna during building renovations. 26

1991: Two small, square gesso panels from the piano appear at auction in New York. 27

1994–5: Following extensive conservation the Seven Princesses gesso panels are displayed at the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), Vienna. 28

2009: March: Side table sold at auction in Maastricht. 29

Notes:

1: IMG 1055, Municipal Department 37 – Building Inspection, Vienna. It seems likely the original client was 'Franz Ržiha', Deutsche Biographie online [accessed 13 October 2011].

2: Bezirksamt Währing, Vienna: contract of sale dated 26 June 1896; land register for the district of Währing, certificate no. 9466, 16 July 1896. See Peter Vergo, 'The Vanished Frieze', in Hanna Egger, Pamela Robertson, Manfred Trummer and Peter Vergo, Ein moderner Nachmittag. A Thoroughly Modern Afternoon, Vienna: Böhlau, 2000, p. 32, note 26.

3: Vienna, Secession Archive: telegram from Fritz Waerndorfer to Josef Hoffmann, 27 June 1900, Inv. Nr. 10786. In December 1902, Waerndorfer wrote to Hoffmann 'you sent me to Glasgow' which perhaps refers to this apparently initial visit in June 1900. Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, Kunstsammlung und Archiv, Fritz Waerndorfer to Josef Hoffmann, 23 December 1902, Inv. Nr. 3996.

4: Berlin, Werkbundarchiv, Museum der Dinge: Hermann Muthesius Estate, letter from Charles Rennie Mackintosh to Hermann Muthesius, 12 July 1900.

5: On 5 October Mackintosh wrote to Franz Hancke, secretary of the Secession technical committee and member of its editorial and selection committee about their travel arrangements and transit of their work. Vienna, Secession Archive: Mackintosh to Franz Hancke, 5 October 1900, Inv. Nr. 6010; on 17 December, Mackintosh wrote to Hanke and Carl Moll, president of the Secession expressing gratitude for the reception and hospitality in Vienna. Vienna, Secession Archive: letter from Mackintosh to Carl Moll, 17 December 1900, Inv. Nr. 6011; letter from Mackintosh to Franz Hancke, 17 December 1900, Inv. Nr. 6012.

6: Roger Billcliffe, Charles Rennie Mackintosh: The Complete Furniture, Furniture Drawings and Interior Designs, Moffat, Dumfriesshire: Cameron & Hollis, 4th edn, 2009, p. 138; Eduard Sekler, 'Mackintosh and Vienna', in The Anti-Rationalists, ed. by Nikolaus Pevsner and J. M. Richards, London: Architectural Press, 1973, pp. 139–40.

7: Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, Kunstsammlung und Archiv, letter from Fritz Waerndorfer to Josef Hoffmann, 29 April 1902, Inv. Nr. 3997.

8: Innendekoration, May 1902, p. 136.

9: IMG 1039, Municipal Department 37 – Building Inspection, Vienna (M208-001).

10: Berlin, Werkbundarchiv, Museum der Dinge: Hermann Muthesius Estate, letter from Charles Rennie Mackintosh to Hermann Muthesius, 6 August 1902.

11: Berlin, Werkbundarchiv, Museum der Dinge: Hermann Muthesius Estate, letter from Charles Rennie Mackintosh to Hermann Muthesius, c. September 1902.

12: Eduard Sekler, 'Mackintosh and Vienna', in The Anti-Rationalists, ed. by Nikolaus Pevsner and J. M. Richards, London: Architectural Press, 1973, p. 140; Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, Kunstsammlung und Archiv, Inv. Nr. 3996, Fritz Waerndorfer to Josef Hoffmann, 23 December 1902.

13: Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, Kunstsammlung und Archiv, Inv. Nr. 3996, Fritz Waerndorfer to Josef Hoffmann, 23 December 1902.

14: Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, Kunstsammlung und Archiv, Inv. Nr. 3999, Fritz Waerndorfer to Josef Hoffmann, 17 March 1903; Werner Schweiger, Wiener Werkstätte: Design in Vienna 1903–1932, trans. by Alexander Lieven, London: Thames & Hudson, 1984, pp. 26–7; Eduard Sekler, 'Mackintosh and Vienna', in The Anti-Rationalists, ed. by Nikolaus Pevsner and J. M. Richards, London: Architectural Press, 1973, p. 140.

15: Peter Noever (ed.), Der Preis der Schönheit. 100 Jahre Wiener Werkstätte, Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany: MAK & Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2003, p. 53.

16: Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, Kunstsammlung und Archiv, Inv. Nr. 3998, Fritz Waerndorfer to Josef Hoffmann, 24 June 1903.

17: The Hunterian, University of Glasgow: GLAHA 52564. An exact date for these photographs is not given in Bedford Lemere's 'day books' – his daily record of work. However, jobs were recorded chronologically and those either side of this Glasgow job date to 1906. Swindon, National Monument Register: Henry Bedford Lemere, Day Book no. 5, HBL 01/05, p. 259, negative nos. 19433/1–3.

18: Ludwig Hevesi, 'Ein moderner Nachmittag' in Flagranti und andere Heiterkeiten, Stuttgart: Bonz, 1909, reproduced in Hanna Egger, Pamela Robertson, Manfred Trummer and Peter Vergo, Ein moderner Nachmittag. A Thoroughly Modern Afternoon, Vienna: Böhlau, 2000, p. 10.

19: Bezirksamt Währing, Vienna: change of ownership recorded in the land register for the district of Währing, certificate no. 2578/13. See Peter Vergo, 'The Vanished Frieze', in Hanna Egger, Pamela Robertson, Manfred Trummer and Peter Vergo, Ein moderner Nachmittag. A Thoroughly Modern Afternoon Vienna: Böhlau, 2000, p. 39, n. 42.

20: Peter Vergo, 'The Vanished Frieze', in Hanna Egger, Pamela Robertson, Manfred Trummer and Peter Vergo, Ein moderner Nachmittag. A Thoroughly Modern Afternoon, Vienna: Böhlau, 2000, p. 39, n. 42.

21: Peter Vergo, 'The Vanished Frieze', in Hanna Egger, Pamela Robertson, Manfred Trummer and Peter Vergo, Ein moderner Nachmittag. A Thoroughly Modern Afternoon, Vienna: Böhlau, 2000, p. 39, n. 42.

22: Peter Vergo, 'The Vanished Frieze', in Hanna Egger, Pamela Robertson, Manfred Trummer and Peter Vergo, Ein moderner Nachmittag. A Thoroughly Modern Afternoon, Vienna: Böhlau, 2000, p. 39; Vienna, Museum für Angewandte Kunst: Wiener Werkstätte Photographic Archive, WWF 137-4-4.

23: Peter Vergo, 'The Vanished Frieze', in Hanna Egger, Pamela Robertson, Manfred Trummer and Peter Vergo, Ein moderner Nachmittag. A Thoroughly Modern Afternoon, Vienna: Böhlau, 2000, p. 39.

24: Peter Vergo, 'The Vanished Frieze', in Hanna Egger, Pamela Robertson, Manfred Trummer and Peter Vergo, Ein moderner Nachmittag. A Thoroughly Modern Afternoon, Vienna: Böhlau, 2000, p. 39, note 44.

25: Pamela Robertson, 'Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh: The Seven Princesses', in Hanna Egger, Pamela Robertson, Manfred Trummer and Peter Vergo, Ein moderner Nachmittag. A Thoroughly Modern Afternoon, Vienna: Böhlau, 2000, p. 72. Private Collection.

26: 'Introduction', in Hanna Egger, Pamela Robertson, Manfred Trummer and Peter Vergo, Ein moderner Nachmittag. A Thoroughly Modern Afternoon, Vienna: Böhlau, 2000, p. 16.

27: Sale catalogue 20th Century Decorative Arts, Sotheby's New York, 14 June 1991, lot no. 328. Private Collection. See Peter Vergo, 'The Vanished Frieze', in Hanna Egger, Pamela Robertson, Manfred Trummer and Peter Vergo, Ein moderner Nachmittag. A Thoroughly Modern Afternoon, Vienna: Böhlau, 2000, p. 40; Roger Billcliffe, Charles Rennie Mackintosh: The Complete Furniture, Furniture Drawings and Interior Designs, Moffat, Dumfriesshire: Cameron & Hollis, 4th edn, 2009, pp. 145–6.

28: 'Introduction', in Hanna Egger, Pamela Robertson, Manfred Trummer and Peter Vergo, Ein moderner Nachmittag. A Thoroughly Modern Afternoon, Vienna: Böhlau, 2000, p. 16.

29: Roger Billcliffe, Charles Rennie Mackintosh: The Complete Furniture, Furniture Drawings and Interior Designs, Moffat, Dumfriesshire: Cameron & Hollis, 4th edn, 2009, p. 313; Wolfgang Bauer, The Bel Etage Gallery exhibiting in Maastricht for The European Art Foundation, 13–22 March 2009, exh. cat., pp. 26–9, described in this catalogue as a 'flower stand'. Private Collection.

'Mackintosh Architecture' led by The Hunterian, University of Glasgow, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council; with additional support from The Monument Trust, The Pilgrim Trust, and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art; and collaborative input from Historic Scotland and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.