Gustav Klimt at the "Schweindl-Fest“

An extravagant costume party by Otto Primavesi

By MAK – Museum of Applied Arts

MAK – Austrian Museum for Applied Arts / Contemporary Art

Costume Party with Gustav Klimt (1916) by AnonymousMAK – Museum of Applied Arts

Several times a year Otto Primavesi, industrialist, banker, and financier of the Wiener Werkstätte, invited illustrious guests to Winkelsdorf in Moravia (today Kouty nad Desnou, CZ) for a “Schweindlfest” celebration in his country house built by Josef Hoffmann in 1914. At one of these extravagant costume parties in 1915/16 some of the leading lights of the Wiener Werkstätte gathered in seemingly oriental clothing.

Costume Party with Gustav Klimt (1916) by AnonymousMAK – Museum of Applied Arts

Gustav Klimt (first from left) is sporting the fabric Waldidyll [Idyllic Woodland] by Carl Otto Czeschka.

Costume Party with Gustav Klimt (1916) by AnonymousMAK – Museum of Applied Arts

Josef Hoffmann (seated on the left) is wearing his own fabric creation Montezuma. Depicted persons from left to right (among others): host Otto Primavesi, Josef Hoffmann (seated), Gustav Klimt, Anton Hanak (seated), Egon Butschek (Eugenie [Mäda] Primavesi’s brother) as well as textile industrialist Kuno Grohmann.

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MAK – Austrian Museum for Applied Arts / Contemporary Art

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