Postcard

The main ambition of the Wiener Wekstätte was, in the «Gesamtkunswerk-principle», to design the aesthetic appearance of all objects. The pieces of a picture postcard series issued from 1908 onwards are numbered, bearing the signo of the Wiener Werkstätte. Almost thousand pieces were issued in the most varied topics: landscapes, cityscapes, works of art connected to the Fledermaus Kabarett and other contemporary events (such as the anniversary of Emperor Francis Joseph), fashion pictures, humorous cards, ornamental cards, children’s cards, greeting and fantasy cards. Among the designers we find teachers and ex-students of the Applied Arts College in Vienna, e.g. Kokoschka, Schiele, the graphic designer and illustrator Divéky. Among the postcards in the collection of the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts, the most significant ones were designed by women: the teacher of the Kunstgewerbeschule, Hilda Jesser, with her postcard resembling a real card, the refined, feminine, decorative compositions of Mela Kohler, the fashion posters of Maria Likarz, the tiny spots and lines of Fritzi Low, and the viciously humorous pictures of Elena Luksch-Makowska, illustrating common sayings and proverbs. If we want a comprehensive view of the style of these works of art, the early pieces are characterised by the linear, flat decoration of Art Nouveau. We can also encounter the special composition, geometric motifs of Viennese Art Nouveau, as well as with some stylistic features of expressionism. Art Deco also appears and some of the pieces can, without doubt, be taken as predecessors to surrealism.