Postcards as a commodity were an Austrian invention with the first postcards appearing around 1869 though it wasn’t until chromolithography techniques began to be used in the late 1890’s that postcard collecting became fashionable. Only about 100 of these cards were printed and they remain extremely rare. Although the WW officially began producing postcards in 1907, it did issue a Christmas card and New Years card based on designs by Carl Otto Czeschka in 1905. Encompassing primitivism, expressionism and art deco, these cards reflect the vibrant art scene of pre-war Vienna. In total 925 postcards were printed between 1907-1920, some in very limited runs and other in runs of up to 1000. Here it produced stationary, ex-libris, book design and what some consider it’s crowning achievement: postcards. The Wiener Werkstätte devoted and entire floor of it’s factory at 32-34 Neustiftgasse to graphic art. Wiener Werkstätte letterhead with flower motif by Koloman Moser. We need only to look at Moser’s logo design and the flower motif based on the golden section to see how much these architectural principles dictated the company’s early designs. Where appropriate we shall try to be decorative without compulsion and not at any price” From the onset, the Wiener Werkstätte encouraged its patrons to look beyond the material value of objects and to embrace geometric symmetry over surface ornament. Neverthless we have founded out workshop.
A small pamphlet from 1905 outlined their program: “The limitless harm done in the arts and crafts field by low quality mass production on the one hand and by the unthinking imitation of old styles on the other is affecting the whole world like some gigantic flood…It would be madness to swim against this tide. Just as the Vienna Secession had reacted against the old neo-classical style of the ‘Association of Austrian Artists’, the Wiener Werksätte had initially been promoted as a declaration of modernity over the old order. It was in keeping with the Vienna Secession’s idea of the Gesamkustwerk– a total work of art. The primary goal of the company was to bring good design and craft into all areas of life within the fields of ceramics, fashion, silver, furniture, and the graphic arts. The Wiener Werkstätte was founded in 1903 by Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann, both of whom had been key members of the Vienna secession.
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