Klimt Patchwork Scarf

Description

In 1905, the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshops) began producing printed and woven textiles, many designed by artists such as the painter Gustav Klimt (Austrian, 1862–1918). For nearly thirty years, the workshops produced refined and graphically elegant designs, distinctive in their use of flat shapes and bold colors and often incorporating folk art, geometric and architectural motifs, and floral repeats. It is on several of these printed textiles that the Museum’s lively Klimt Patchwork Scarf is based.

Silk chiffon. Imported. 64'' x 18''.

Art History

Gustav Klimt (Austrian, 1862–1918) led the Sezession (Secession), an association of artists founded in 1897 to challenge the academic conservatism at the time. Klimt worked with Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser, founders of the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshops), a designers' cooperative under the principles of the Arts and Crafts movement, and together they strove to blur the line between fine and applied arts. The textile division in the workshops began in 1905, and for nearly thirty years the workshops produced refined and graphically elegant designs featuring bold colors, flat shapes, folk art and floral repeats.