Koloman Moser Biography

Koloman Moser (1868-1918) was an Austrian artist who exerted considerable influence on twentieth-century graphic art. He was one of the foremost artists of the Vienna Secession movement and a co-founder of Wiener Werkstätte.

Moser designed a wide array of artworks, including books and graphic works from postage stamps to magazine vignettes, fashion, stained glass windows, porcelains and ceramics, blown glass, tableware, silver, jewellery and furniture.

Moser was born in Vienna in 1868 to parents Josef and Thresia Moser (née Hirsch). He was the oldest of three siblings and studied at the Wiener Akademie and the Kunstgewerbeschule, where he also taught from 1899.

Moser's designs in architecture, furniture, jewellery, graphics, and tapestries helped characterise the work of this era. He drew upon the clean lines and repetitive motifs of classical Greek and Roman art and architecture in reaction to the Baroque decadence of his turn-of-the-century Viennese surroundings. Between 1900 and 1902, he published with Martin Gerlach and Carl Otto Czeschka a three-volume portfolio titled Die Quelle ("The Source") of elegant graphic designs for such things as tapestries, fabrics, and wallpaper.

In 1903, Moser and his colleague Josef Hoffmann founded Wiener Werkstätte, whose studios and artisans produced a number of aesthetically and functionally designed household goods, including glassware, flatware, silverware, rugs, textiles and graphic designs. His sketches and preparatory drawings for fabrication have been archived. He became recognised in Vienna as an influential applied artist capable of two-dimensional and three-dimensional design.

In 1904, he created the Apse mosaic and glass windows for the Kirche am Steinhof in Vienna, and designed the decoration of the Medallion House of the Linke Wienzeile Buildings for architect Otto Wagner. In 1905, together with the Klimt group, he separated from the Vienna Secession. The same year, he married Editha (Ditha) Mautner von Markhof, an artist in her own right as well as the daughter of one of Austria's great industry fortunes. Due to internal conflicts and as his plans for reorganising the Werkstätte (to cope with financial problems) weren't realised, Moser withdrew from the Wiener Werkstätte in 1907.

Moser became ill with throat cancer in 1916. Correspondence with Alfred Roller detailed Moser's despair over who would succeed to his position at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Moser died on 18 October 1918; he was buried three days later in the Hietzing Cemetery.

Moser was the lead designer for Austria's leading art journal Ver Sacrum (‘Sacred Spring’ in Latin), the official magazine of the Vienna Secession from 1898 to 1903. This art journal paid great attention to art and design and was managed mainly by Moser, Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffmann.

One of Moser's most prominent designs used in a building (The Steinhof Church) was selected as a main motif of one of the most famous euro collectors' coins: the Austrian 100 euro Steinhof Church commemorative coin, minted on 9 November 2005. On the reverse of the coin, the Koloman Moser stained glass window over the main entrance can be seen. In the centre of the window is God the Father seated on a throne. The window is flanked with a pair of bronze angels in Jugendstil style, originally designed by Othmar Schimkowitz.

On 3 May 2010, Swann Galleries auctioned the third volume in Moser's three-volume series "Die Quelle," containing 30 sumptuous decorations for flat surfaces, such as tapestries, wallpaper and fabrics, in the original portfolio. Each plate was double-sided, with a colour design on one side and a black-and-white design on the other. It sold for an auction record price of $12,600.