VIENNA.- The exhibition Poetry of the Ornament at the Leopold Museum shows a representative selection of exhibits from the Backhausen Archive to a broad public for the first time. The presentation affords insights into the tradition-steeped company’s unique archive, made up of several thousands objects, which was given to the museum in 2023 as a permanent loan.
The exhibition Poetry of the Ornament. The Backhausen Archive sheds light on individual production stages, from the designs via patterns to the use of the fabrics. The exhibition timeline starts with the earliest object in the exhibition, a design from 1878. At the end of the timeline, we encounter a pattern designed by Josef Hoffmann in 1907, which was re-issued in 1961 for the architect Hermann Czech, and marks the beginning of a new appreciation and rediscovery of Viennese Jugendstil. The juxtaposition of historical black-and-white photographs of extraordinary interiors with original fabric samples gives us an impression of the richness of motifs and splendid colors of the textiles, and allows us to relive the synergy of space, decor and furnishings.
The company was founded by Jakob Backhausen, who emigrated in 1811 from Germany to Vienna, in 1849 – 175 years ago. The producers of decorative fabrics and upholstery Backhausen – whose changing company names ranged from Karl und Johann Backhausen & Co. via Johann Backhausen, Imperial-Royal Exclusively Privileged Fashion and Chenille Factory, to Johann Backhausen & Söhne – were among the most tradition-steeped manufacturers in Austria. Towards the end of the 19th century, the company provided high-quality fabrics for the interior decorations of many splendid buildings from the Gründerzeit era, including edifices along the Ringstraße, such as the parliament, the Vienna State Opera and the Burgtheater. The Backhausen salesrooms were located opposite the opera at the Heinrichshof, a building commissioned by the brick industrialist Baron Heinrich von Drasche-Wartinberg and built by Theophil von Hansen. The company’s main lines of production were premium fashion fabrics, textiles for upholstery and curtains, as well as damasks, brocades and carpets made from silk and wool. In 1888, the company was awarded the title of Imperial-Royal Purveyor to the Court for its high-quality products. As the leading Viennese textile manufacturers of the time, Backhausen worked closely with the protagonists of Viennese Modernism, first and foremost with Otto Wagner, Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann. In the early 20th century, the decoration of private palaces, villas and apartments in cooperation with the Wiener Werkstätte and the Secessionists provided the company’s most lucrative commissions.
“Without the many ties and connections between artists from various fields in Vienna around 1900, which yielded a fruitful art production, today’s federal capital would not have advanced to the rank of Europe’s cultural capital. Thanks to their technologically and artistically innovative products, ranging from upholstery and curtains to carpets, which made it the prime address for experimental textile design, Backhausen became a vital part of the cultural phenomenon of ‘Vienna around 1900’. The importance of Backhausen’s textile art in the context of the design vocabularies of Historicism, followed by Jugendstil and finally Art Deco during the interwar period cannot be overestimated.” Hans-Peter Wipplinger, Director of the Leopold Museum
CONTRIBUTION TO THE GESAMTKUNSTWERK
Throughout the first decades of the 20th century, Backhausen made essential contributions to the Gesamtkunstwerk, or universal work of art, propagated by the Vienna Secessionists, collaborating with eminent protagonists of Viennese Modernism, including Joseph Maria Olbrich, Jutta Sika, Dagobert Peche, My Ullmann and Otto Prutscher. Moreover, Backhausen became the main supplier to the Wiener Werkstätte, initiated by Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser and Fritz Waerndorfer. This fruitful symbiosis culminated in the decoration of architectural icons, such as the Sanatorium Purkersdorf (1904/05), Palais Stoclet in Brussels (1905–1911) and Villa Skywa-Primavesi (1913–1915).
“The lucrative ties to the Wiener Werkstätte were reflected in the growing number of designers working for the company. Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann used their teaching activities – both had been appointed to the School of Arts and Crafts in 1899 – to solicit new talents to help with their commissions. Various creations, which have survived in the archive, can be ascribed to their students, among them Else Unger, Carl Witzmann and Fritz Dietl. Moreover, Backhausen participated in these artists’ animated exhibition activities: The company realized designs by Unger and Moser for the Paris World Fair in 1900, Hoffmann’s design ‘Autumn Leaf’ for the style-forming Vienna Kunstschau exhibition in 1908, as well as two carpets designed by Otto Prutscher for the 1914 Deutsche Werkbundausstellung in Cologne.” --- Aline Marion Steinwender, curator of the exhibition
COOPERATION WITH THE UNIVERSAL ARTIST KOLOMAN MOSER
In 1900, the monthly magazine Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration commented on Koloman Moser’s oeuvre as follows: “Yet more famous are his drawings for the upholstery fabrics and carpets produced by the company Backhausen in Vienna. The main characteristic of these compositions is that they are clearly part of a greater whole. Rather than striving to be artworks in their own right by exhausting all conceivable effects, they only truly come into their own within the interior, in their use as carpets, draperies or upholstery. But then, they are surprisingly effective and artistically convincing.” Based on this positive critique, Aline Marion Steinwender refers to the fruitful cooperation between the universal artist Koloman Moser and the textile manufacturer Backhausen: “Early on, the company recognized the opportunities offered by collaborations with contemporary artists, and by 1900, such dialogues had become a firm tradition.”
THE BACKHAUSEN ARCHIVE – PLACED UNDER MONUMENT PROTECTION IN 2022
The centerpiece of the archive are six chronological and detailed design books kept by the manufacturers from 1890 to 1965. These entries on the individual fabric productions include the design’s number, date, technical specifications, pattern and quality description, and often also the name of the client or commissioner and the designer. The designs created in connection with the Wiener Werkstätte and the Secession are well documented in historical magazines and international exhibition catalogues. The archive comprises almost 5,000 design drawings and sketches created using various techniques by more than 300 designers, in excess of 1,100 fabric and carpet patterns in varying sizes and materials, pattern books, collection books, design books and sketchbooks, as well as a considerable collection of mixed lots of historical fabric samples.
“The Backhausen Archive survived two World Wars nearly unscathed. It traces not only the changeable history of the company but also the textile decorations of countless interiors from the 1870s to the 1960s. Featuring thousands of objects, the archive has been placed under monument protection in 2022. We owe it to Dr. Louise Kiesling (1957–2022) and her family that these holdings from over 100 years of Austrian textile production, which are of eminent historical, art historical and textile historical signifi- cance, could be digitalized and appraised, and are now accessible to further research at their new home, the Leopold Museum.” --- Ursula Oswald-Graf, curator of the exhibition
EMPHASES AND HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EXHIBITION
The exhibition focuses on individual production stages, from the designs via patterns to the use of the fabrics. In the following, we will look at several highlights of the comprehensive exhibition.
GESAMTKUNSTWERK SANATORIUM PURKERSDORF
The Sanatorium Purkersdorf is regarded as a prime example of the Gesamtkunstwerk. It was commissioned by the industrialist Victor Zuckerkandl and built by Josef Hoffmann in 1904/05 as a health resort for Viennese society west of the city. The illustrious guests, such as Gustav and Alma Mahler, Arthur Schnitzler and Hugo von Hofmannsthal, were surrounded by fabrics produced by Backhausen after Hoffmann’s designs, including the upholstery of the seating furniture in the writing room, waiting rooms and reading rooms, as well as in the table tennis and billiard rooms and the music room. Hoffmann’s fellow artist and co-founder of the Wiener Werkstätte, Koloman Moser, furnished the floral pattern for the boudoir’s set of seating furniture.
CABARET FLEDERMAUS – MEETING PLACE OF THE VIENNA ART SCENE
The Cabaret Fledermaus, initiated in 1907 by the Wiener Werkstätte’s co-founder Fritz Waerndorfer, was a meeting place for the protagonists of Vienna’s art scene. Charged with designing the cabaret’s interior was Josef Hoffmann, who collaborated on this project with artists including Oskar Kokoschka, Carl Otto Czeschka and Eduard Wimmer-Wisgrill. The floor of the main room, which included the stage, was covered with a blue velour carpet featuring a square pattern designed by Hoffmann. For the stage, he created curtains produced by Backhausen, such as the design “Ivy” or the fabric design “Lattice Basket with Roses” (Design 5054).
PALAIS STOCLET IN BRUSSELS
The Palais Stoclet, built in 1905–1911 by Josef Hoffmann for Adolphe Stoclet, director of the Société Générale de Belgique, in Brussels, is the architect’s chief work. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the building has been placed under monument protection. Gustav Klimt created his famous Stoclet Frieze for the palace. Backhausen produced the carpets after designs by Hoffmann, including a velour rug for the hall with octagon and bellflower ornaments, which provides a lively contrast to the splendid veined marble. In the elongated dining hall, a handwoven carpet complements the vibrant checkered floor pattern. The noble black foundation and the ribbon-type vertical stripes in blue and white serve to heighten the room’s overall impression.
THE GALLIA APARTMENT: AT THE FOREFRONT OF FASHION
An exquisite example of interior design in the style of Viennese Modernism was the apartment of the Gallia family at Wohllebengasse 4 in Vienna’s Wieden district. Moritz Gallia, director of the gas mantle producers Gasglühlicht AG, and his wife Hermine Gallia, who in 1904 was portrayed by Gustav Klimt, tasked Josef Hoffmann in 1912 with the decoration of their 700m² apartment, in an effort to appear “at the forefront of fashion”. The Jewish art patrons were benefactors of the Wiener Werkstätte and sought contact with the avant-garde. For five rooms, Hoffmann designed carpets executed by the company Backhausen. For the boudoir, he created a wall covering with rose ornaments, while each room had a different carpet. The Gallias were trendsetters, and insights into their apartment were featured in leading interior design magazines, such as Das Interieur, Innendekoration and Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration. When they had to flee from the National Socialists, the couple’s daughters Margarete (“Gretl”) and Käthe Gallia managed to ship the majority of their Wiener Werkstätte furniture to Australia, including the Hoffmann furnishings, the carpets and the Klimt painting, which is now housed by the National Gallery in London.
THE PRIMAVESI COUNTRY HOUSE
The Primavesis had close ties to the Wiener Werkstätte. The country house, built in 1913/14 for the banker, sugar and textile industrialist Otto Primavesi and his wife Eugenie – who, like her daughter Mäda, was painted by Gustav Klimt – was a meeting place for artists of Viennese Modernism, among them Klimt, Anton Hanak and Koloman Moser. Josef Hoffmann oriented the interior design of the country house on folk art, which is reflected in the carvings on the walls and doors, in the carpets, curtains, and even in the bed linen, all produced by the Wiener Werkstätte in close cooperation with companies including Backhausen.
THE VILLA SKYWA-PRIMAVESI AS A PRIME EXAMPLE
Also connected with the Primavesi family is the Villa Skywa-Primavesi, which Otto’s cousin Robert Primavesi commissioned Josef Hoffmann to build in 1913–15 for his partner Josefine Skywa. The house on Gloriettegasse in Vienna’s Hietzing district is a prime example of Hoffmann’s creativity. The classical design vocabulary of his architecture was broken by the floral decor reflected in all the media of the interior design – in the pieces of furniture, glasses, porcelain and fabrics. The company Backhausen was tasked with producing the textiles. For the living room, the architect designed a rectangular knotted carpet, featuring 30 individual rosebuds scattered across the grid and framed by a border made up of flower buds. The motif of the rose surrounded by a network of diamonds reappears in the carpet of the lady’s bedroom.
THE VILLA KNIPS AS AN ARCHITECTURAL PORTRAIT
Sonja Knips, the wife of an industrialist who was portrayed in 1897-98 by Gustav Klimt, fulfilled her long-cherished dream of owning a garden villa at Nusswaldgasse 22 in Vienna’s 19th district. The passionate patron of the Wiener Werkstätte commissioned Josef Hoffmann in 1924/25 with designing a house that resembled an architectural portrait of its resident: The centerpiece of the building was the dining room, visible from the hall, which featured Klimt’s likeness of the lady of the house. Dagobert Peche’s design for the upholstery of a chair, “Viola”, with its floral pattern in rose ombré, perfectly matched the delicate pink of the dress worn by Knips in the portrait. Complementing the chair, the oscillating ornaments of the velour carpet “Salerno”, designed by Julius Zimpel for Backhausen, lent a vibrancy to the room, thus heightening the art experience which culminated in the encounter with the portrait. Hoffmann embedded Klimt’s likeness of Sonja Knips into a fairytale-like, ornamental structure conveying a sense of other-worldliness.
DIFFICULT WAR YEARS AND POST-WAR PERIOD
World War I represented not just an economic caesura. The new Backhausen generation tirelessly tried to restore the company to profitability, always striving to reanimate the manufacturers’ dialogue with contemporary artists and to reactivate international contacts. However, the company failed to win profitable commissions until they switched their em- phasis to war products: they very machines that once wove fabrics with the most impressive designs by artists of Viennese Modernism now produced flysheets, blankets and flags. The Backhausen salesrooms were destroyed by fire when the Heinrichshof building sustained serious damage during combat operations in World War II. After regaining the factory in Hoheneich in 1946, the family began the company’s reconstruction. For their sales outlet in Vienna from 1951, the manufacturers chose Kärntnerstraße 33, the very site where the Cabaret Fledermaus had been located from 1907 to 1913.
JUGENDSTIL 2.0
In 1907, Josef Hoffmann created Design 6643, an excitingly simple and highly popular wor- sted fabric featuring dotted zigzag lines and raised elongated rectangles in a staggered arrangement. In the early 1960s, young Viennese architects, especially Hermann Czech, rediscovered Viennese Modernism. Czech commissioned the company Backhausen to reweave the fabric designed by Hoffmann in 1907, and thus initiated the very successful re-editions of Wiener Werkstätte textiles that would be produced over the following decades.
THE END OF THE FAMILY-RUN COMPANY
Throughout the following decades, the company management focused on exports to widen its circle of international customers. The company provided decorations for various prestigious buildings around the world, for instance Suntory Hall in Tokyo in 1986. At the same time, numerous prints and fabric samples from earlier production years were rediscovered at the company’s premises at Kaiserstraße 12, which make up today’s archive. A private museum was established in the salesrooms in Vienna’s city center, affording insights into the hundreds of precious designs. However, the company’s diverse economic and artistic efforts were not crowned with success, causing Backhausen – which at the time was run by the sixth and seventh generation – to file for bankruptcy in 2012. This spelled the end of the family-run company.
SECURING THE COMPANY’S SURVIVAL: THE LEGACY OF DR. LOUISE KIESLING
The survival of the tradition-steeped company was initially secured owing to the passion and perseverance of one individual:
“Dr. Louise Kiesling acquired the financially weak company in 2014. Kiesling was deter- mined to preserve Backhausen’s cultural heritage for subsequent generations and to restore the profitability of the manufacturers, now operating under the company name Back- hausen GmbH. Following Louise Kiesling’s unexpected passing, the company Backhausen finally shut down in June 2023. That the archive survived is owed primarily to her recognition of its inestimable artistic and historical value. This might also explain how Backhaus- en managed to write Austrian textile history: The company’s efforts to interweave tradition and avant-garde were likely the reason why it was tasked with providing the textile deco- rations for the most prestigious buildings in Vienna, and why it was able to significantly shape Viennese Modernism in Austria and abroad.” ---Aline Marion Steinwender
The exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue in German and English, featuring essays by Ursula Oswald-Graf, Aline Marion Steinwender and Christian Witt- Döring, as well as a foreword by Hans-Peter Wipplinger, published with Walther and Franz König publishers, Cologne.
CURATORS: Ursula Oswald-Graf, Aline Marion Steinwender
