Through uniting arts and crafts (high and low) and carefully combining one artistic style with the other, Koloman Moser (1868‑1918) and his colleagues in the Vienna Secession strived towards the ideal of Gesamtkunstwerk — the amalgamation of all the arts. What they wanted was a work of art which tried to incorporate many different types of art genres, where every object or element has some sort of harmony with the other and in sum creates a comprehensive, total experience. Out of this sentiment grew, for example, the idea that an architect ought to have full control not only of the design of the structure, but of all the other elements impacting the experience of the building — door fittings, cutlery, floor carpets, wall art, paint colors, garden layout, etc. What is more, the building ought also be designed in harmony with the surrounding, bigger landscape.
For the Secessionist artists the ideal was thus to not limit themselves to one form, but rather work in many different techniques and art forms, to find diverse paths to creativity. Koloman Moser, for example — while maybe having the greatest impact on subsequent graphic design history — also worked with fashion, stained glass windows, porcelains and ceramics, blown glass, tableware, silver, jewelry, and furniture.
Moser was also one of the main designers of the Vienna Secession art journal Ver Sacrum.
Cover of Ver Sacrum no, 4, 1899.
1899. Letterpress. 29.4 × 28.9 cm. Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 5991
Design for a Fabric
Undated. India ink, opaque white on paper. 21.2×20 cm. Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 2697
Posters
Both designs by Koloman Moser. Reproduced in Die Flache: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902-1911
Posters
On the left a design by Koloman Moser. On the right a design by Max Kurzweil. Reproduced in Die Flache: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902-1911
Original design
Austrian jubilee postal stamp with Emperor Franz Josef I. 1908. Pencil, gouache on paper. 19.3×18.8 cm Österreichische Post AG / Leopold Museum
5 heller version of finished stamp
This one is from my own stamp collection. Here’s something I wrote featuring another of Moser’s stamps. Photo: Martin Hoyem.
Vase
1900. Overlaid glass, decor: "Phänomen Gré" 23.5×23.5×23.5 cm. Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. Inv. 4244
Initial “H”
1898. Pencil, India ink on paper7.4×7.5 cm. Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 1659Bibliography
- Fiell, Charlotte, and Peter Fiell. Design of the 20th Century. Köln: Taschen, 2008.
- Kwek, Marisa, et al. Die Flache: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902-1911, Facsimilie edition. San Fransisco: Letterform Archive, 2023.
- Terraroli, Valerio. Ver Sacrum: The Vienna Secession Art Magazine, 1898-1903. Milano, Italy: Skira, 2018.