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Lot Essay
Cf: Die Form, July 1 1930, (cover)
Ostergard, op. cit., Exh. Cat. No. 96, p. 306 model for armchair
The Cabinet Maker and Complete House Furnisher, 29 March 1930, p. 398, (the café terrasse with credit to Hoffmann illustrated).
Josef Hoffmann, 1870-1956, Ornament Zwischen Hoffnung und Verbrechen, MAK, Vienna, 1987, p. 50
With the exception of its laminated seat and back, and the absence of armrests, the present side chair is identical to Thonet's model No. A811/1F which has been identified as the design of Josef Frank (Die Form, 1932, p. 88). However this variation of the Thonet design has been attributed to Josef Hoffmann and his associate Oswald Haertdl and was exhibited as part of a 'café terrasse' at the Österreichische Werkbund exhibition at the Museum fr Kunst und Industrie in Vienna in 1930. Hoffmann and Haertdl were credited with the design both in the exhibition catalogue and in Die Form, (July I, 1930). Dr. Christian Witt-Dörring, of the MAK in Vienna, supports this attribution by linking the distinctive perforations on the panelled back to those in the Purkersdorf Sanitorium chair (see following Lots 30 and 31), which was designed by Hoffmann a quarter of a century earlier.
The brilliant colour of the chair is original. Thonet's 1930 centenary catalogue, in which the firm introduced painted bent wood, included several colourplates indicating the available colours of their painted models. The use of such inexpensive decorative treatments expanded customer selection and proved extremely popular during the Depression of the 1930s.
Ostergard, op. cit., Exh. Cat. No. 96, p. 306 model for armchair
The Cabinet Maker and Complete House Furnisher, 29 March 1930, p. 398, (the café terrasse with credit to Hoffmann illustrated).
Josef Hoffmann, 1870-1956, Ornament Zwischen Hoffnung und Verbrechen, MAK, Vienna, 1987, p. 50
With the exception of its laminated seat and back, and the absence of armrests, the present side chair is identical to Thonet's model No. A811/1F which has been identified as the design of Josef Frank (Die Form, 1932, p. 88). However this variation of the Thonet design has been attributed to Josef Hoffmann and his associate Oswald Haertdl and was exhibited as part of a 'café terrasse' at the Österreichische Werkbund exhibition at the Museum fr Kunst und Industrie in Vienna in 1930. Hoffmann and Haertdl were credited with the design both in the exhibition catalogue and in Die Form, (July I, 1930). Dr. Christian Witt-Dörring, of the MAK in Vienna, supports this attribution by linking the distinctive perforations on the panelled back to those in the Purkersdorf Sanitorium chair (see following Lots 30 and 31), which was designed by Hoffmann a quarter of a century earlier.
The brilliant colour of the chair is original. Thonet's 1930 centenary catalogue, in which the firm introduced painted bent wood, included several colourplates indicating the available colours of their painted models. The use of such inexpensive decorative treatments expanded customer selection and proved extremely popular during the Depression of the 1930s.