Fauteuil for Purkersdorf Sanatorium

In 1904, the industrialist Viktor Zuckerkandl commissioned Josef Hoffmann to build the Purkersdorf Sanatorium. The design for the building’s interior furnishings was entrusted to the Wiener Werkstätte. Hoffmann and Koloman’s close collaboration shaped the early years of the Wiener Werkstätte. This piece represented another instance in which the two could realize their wish for a unification of architecture and handicraft in the spirit of the Gesamtkunstwerk. Designed by Moser for the entrance hall of the sanatorium and an icon of Viennese Modernism, this chair reflects, like many other of the furnishings, the strict cubic shape of the overall architecture. The interplay of the linearly arranged pickets of the back and the black and-white chessboard pattern of the wicker woven seat is an unparalleled example for the early style of the Wiener Werkstätte. Where most European handcraft movements favored floral ornamentations, the Wiener Werkstätte style instead preferred cubist forms and black and white decoration.