Ex-libris (bookplate)

Archive / Ex Libris Collection

Accession Nr.: MLT 1690.22
Artist/Maker:
Moser, Koloman (1868 - 1918)
Date of production:
1903
Materials: paper
The business man Fritz Waerndorfer was one of the founders of the Wiener Werkstätte, together with Kolo Moser and Josef Hoffmann. On his ex libris, there are three female figures standing on the left - possibly the goddesses of fate -, the Viennese followers of Beardsley's Salome. The goddess of the Earth, having power over Life and Death, appears in the background. Her serious, unmoving face recalls Klimt's Pallas Athena picture, while the decoration of the clothes on one of the women - concentric circles - reminds us of the Stoclet-frieze.