Otto Wagner (1841 – 1918), Austrian architect and designer

Advertisements
Otto Wagner, Postal Savings Bank, Vienna, 1904-06 and 1910-12
Otto Wagner, Postal Savings Bank, Vienna, 1904-06 and 1910-12

Architect Otto Wagner was one of the leading figures in the Vienna Secession.

Education

After studying architecture at the Vienna Technical High School (1857–1860) and the Vienna Academy (1861–183), he worked in various historical styles for many years until he joined the Secession. The latter was founded in 1898 as a focal point for opposing the prevalent academicism of the establishment of fine arts, which also believed in painting and sculpture’s superiority over the applied arts.

Embed from Getty Images

Biography

Wagner’s work took on a more functional appearance by supporting the idea of the unity of the arts familiar to many avant-garde designers, architects and artists at the turn of the century. This mainly showed in the Post Office Savings Bank (Thonet-designed). In his book Modern Architektur (1896), which emphasised the need for functionality, practical construction, and new material, he strengthened his role as an influential figure in modern architecture and design development.

Armchair, from the Post Office Savings Bank, Vienna designed by Otto Wagner
Armchair, from the Post Office Savings Bank, Vienna, designed by Otto Wagner

His position as Head of Architecture at the Vienna Academy in 1894 was also crucial, having taught Josef Hoffmann and other young avant-garde figures. Hoffmann and Joseph Olbrich also worked at Wagner’s architectural office in the mid-1890s.

Sources

Woodham, J. M. (2006). A dictionary of modern design. Oxford University Press.

More Austrian Designers

  • Otto Wagner: An Architectural Colouring Book

    Otto Wagner: An Architectural Colouring Book

    By the time the Viennese architect Otto Wagner (1841-1918) began publishing the drawings included in this colouring book, he had already spent much of his career designing historicist-style buildings. But his attitude was changing, and he completely ignored those early designs in time.Read More →

  • Rudolf Hammel (1862 -1937), Austrian Architect and Designer

    Rudolf Hammel (1862 -1937), Austrian Architect and Designer

    Rudolf Hammel, an Austrian architect, designer, and teacher, was a professor at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna. He designed silverware for Josef Bannert and A. Pollak, showcasing his contemporary aesthetic. Hammel’s contributions to Vienna’s design scene are evident.Read More →

  • Jean Perzel (1892 – 1986) Austrian Lighting Designer

    Jean Perzel (1892 – 1986) Austrian Lighting Designer

    He began painting on glass at a young age and worked as a stained glass artist in Munich. He worked in many workshops in Paris starting in 1919, including Jacques Gruber’s. He saw that electric illumination was nothing more than a transformation of oil lamps and candlesticks. He made his first lamps in the style…

  • Frederick Kiesler Austrian, American Designer

    Frederick Kiesler Austrian, American Designer

    Frederick John Kiesler, an Austrian-American architect, theoretician, theatre designer, artist, and sculptor, was born Friedrich Jacob Kiesler in Czernowitz, Austria-Hungary Empire (now Chernivtsi, Ukraine), in 1890. 1965 saw his passing.Read More →

  • Hans Harald Rath (1894 – 1966), Austrian Glassware Designer

    Hans Harald Rath (1894 – 1966), Austrian Glassware Designer

    Hans Harald Rath was an Austrian glassware designer who played a crucial role in reviving the glass industry in Austria. He designed chandeliers for public buildings, theatres, opera houses, and table crystal services. His sons took over the firm after his death in 1968.Read More →

  • Julius Jirasek (1896 – 1966), Austrian Architect and Designer

    Julius Jirasek (1896 – 1966), Austrian Architect and Designer

    Julius Jirasek (1896–1966) was an architect and designer.  He was active in  Vienna. He designed flats, business premises, and furniture.Read More →

  • Lucie Rie (1902 – 1995) the Genius British Ceramicist

    Lucie Rie (1902 – 1995) the Genius British Ceramicist

    Lucie Rie (1902 – 1995) was an Austrian-born British ceramicist. Between 1922-26, she studied fine art, at Kunstgewerbeschule, Vienna, under Michael Powolny. Read More →

  • Friedl Dicker –  Austrian Jewish Designer: A Creative Journey

    Friedl Dicker – Austrian Jewish Designer: A Creative Journey

    Friedl Dicker (1899 – 1944) was an Austrian architect and furniture, interior, and textile designer. She was active with Franz Singer in their Werkstätten bildender Kunst, Berlin, and amalgamated her studio with Singer’s, Vienna, designing houses, apartments, kindergartens, offices, textiles, interiors, and furniture. She was arrested during the Starhemberg Putsch in Vienna, practised interior architecture…

  • Otto Wagner (1841 – 1918), Austrian architect and designer

    Otto Wagner (1841 – 1918), Austrian architect and designer

    Architect Otto Wagner was one of the leading figures in the Vienna Secession. After studying architecture at the Vienna Technical High School (1857–1860) and the Vienna Academy (1861–183), he worked in various historical styles for many years until he joined the Secession.Read More →

  • Herbert Bayer (1900 – 1985) – Universal Typeface – Bauhaus Master

    Herbert Bayer (1900 – 1985) – Universal Typeface – Bauhaus Master

    The universal typeface, 1925, was a geometric alphabet based on bar and circle and was designed by Herbert Bayer. READ MORERead More →

  • Ettore Sottsass (1917-2007) Father of Anti-Design

    Ettore Sottsass (1917-2007) Father of Anti-Design

    Although trained and active as an architect, Sottsass secured a permanent place in pop culture with his designs of everyday items. From 1957, he was a consultant designer at Olivetti, where he designed computers, adding machines, typewriters, and systems furniture. Read More →

  • Hattie Carnegie (1886 – 1956) Austrian Clothing Designer, Jeweller

    Hattie Carnegie (1886 – 1956) Austrian Clothing Designer, Jeweller

    Her family settled in the USA when she was in her teens and took the Carnegie name. In 1909, with a friend, she opened a tiny dress and hat shop, New York, known as Carnegie—Ladies’ Hatter.Read More →

  • Frederick Kiesler (1890 – 1965) Austrian architect designer

    Frederick Kiesler (1890 – 1965) Austrian architect designer

    From 1920, he collaborated briefly with Adolf Loos. in the 1920s. He designed theatre sets and interiors; in 1923, he joined the group De Sujl and, in the same year, developed the design of his ‘Endless’ house and theatre. Read More →

  • Caricaturist Illustrates – What’s Wrong With Today’s Society

    Caricaturist Illustrates – What’s Wrong With Today’s Society

    Haderer had even gone to court over one of his works, “The Life of Jesus,” which sparked heated reactions across the country, particularly among Catholics. He was able to change the verdict a few months later, after being sentenced to a six-month ban.Read More →

  • Franz Schuster (1892 – 1976) Austrian Furniture Manufacturer

    Franz Schuster (1892 – 1976) Austrian Furniture Manufacturer

    He was active in Vienna from the 1910s. As part of a municipal program to construct workers’ homes after World War I, he designed a small row in the Viennese suburb Laaer Berg. At this time, he also produced his modular stacking furniture.Read More →

  • Erwin Komenda (1904 – 1966)  Austrian Automobile Designer

    Erwin Komenda (1904 – 1966) Austrian Automobile Designer

    In 1934, he joined Ferdinand Porsche’s design bureau in Stuttgart and began work on the styling of the Volkswagen, the people’s car.Read More →

  • Richard Josef Neutra (1892 – 1970) Austrian American Architect & Designer

    Richard Josef Neutra (1892 – 1970) Austrian American Architect & Designer

    Richard Josef Neutra (1892 – 1970) was an Austrian American artist and designer. He was born in Vienna and lived in Los Angeles and southern California for much of his life.Read More →

  • Shoe Chair by Birgit Jürgenssen

    Shoe Chair by Birgit Jürgenssen

    Birgit Jürgenssen works with constellations and interactions influenced by gender-specific projections, physicality, and identification. Her affiliation in the feminist-oriented group DIE DAMEN (with Evelyne Egerer, Birgit Jürgenssen, ONA B., Ingeborg Strobl, and Lawrence Weiner) aided her in placing her objects between everyday life and role play. Read More →

  • Hans Hollein (1934 – 2014) Austrian architect and designer

    Hans Hollein (1934 – 2014) Austrian architect and designer

    Hollein was born in Vienna and graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in 1956. He studied in Clemens Holzmeister’s master class. He studied at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1959 and subsequently at the University of California, Berkeley. Read More →

  • Emanuel Margold – Austrian Architect, Interior Designer, Ceramicist

    Emanuel Margold – Austrian Architect, Interior Designer, Ceramicist

    He was a prolific designer of furniture, glass, and porcelain in Darmstadt.Read More →

You may also be interested in

Josef Maria Olbrich Austrian Artist, Architect and Designer – Encyclopedia of Design

Josef Maria Olbrich, born in Troppau, was an Austrian artist, architect and designer who worked in Vienna and Darmstadt. From 1882, under Camillo Sitte, he studied at the Staatsgewrbeschule, Vienna. In 1890, he studied at the Akademie der bildenden under Carl von Hasenauer.

Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.