1992, wool on linen warp, with expressive scene depicting a figure on dark ground. Dimensions height c. 196 cm, width c. 120 cm. (MHA)

A unique item.

Designed as a tapestry. “It was the credo of the artists, designers and architects of the Wiener Werkstätte that there should be no strict separation between fine art and applied art. The oeuvre of Gretl and Leo Wollner clearly demonstrates this attitude, for it includes both applied art in the form of woven and knotted objects as utility items, and applied art as unique pieces and works of art. After studying at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna with Prof. Josef Wimmer Wisgrill, Prof. Josef Hoffmann invited the Wollners to work with him. At the same time, they opened their own studio with a small hand-weaving mill. As early at the 1950s, the Wollners won numerous prizes in international design competitions within a short time.” (Dr. Michaela Hirsch-Wollner, daughter of Leo and Grettl Wollner, 2022). The Austrian textile designer Leo Wollner was born in Vienna on 29 July 1925, where he died on 20 February 1995. He studied at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna from 1942 onwards under Eduard Josef Wimmer-Wisgrill in the department of fashion and textiles. He first worked as a freelancer at the Künstlerwerkstättenverein in Vienna under the direction of Professor Josef Hoffmann from 1947 onwards. As early as the 1950s, he moved the centre of his production to Germany, together with his wife Gretl Wollner, who was also an independent designer and a student of Prof. Wimmer-Wisgrill. From 1957 he was active at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart as head of the textile department. He received numerous awards with his wife Gretl Wollner, such as a silver medal in 1951 and a gold medal in 1954 at the Milan Triennale.

Provenance:
Uninterrupted family ownership since its creation in 1992.