David Roentgen, ART CABINET

Neuwied am Rhein, 1776 Clock: signed “Knitzing à Neuwied” Flame maple wood, stained brown, rose and myrtlewood, gilded bronze fittings. H 269

Koloman Moser, sideboard “DER REICHE FISCHZUG” [THE RICH HAUL]

Austria, 1900. Manufacture: Portois & Fix. Maple, boxwood and pyramid mahogany, glass, faceted glass, brass. H 1700

Luigi Frullini, TONDO FRAME

Italy, 1869. Fruitwood, carved. H 143

Tom Dixon, “MAK CHAIR”

2008. Provista copolyester H 3402 / donation Tom Dixon

Josef Hoffmann, WALL ÉTAGÈRE from the furnishings for the studio house of Ernst Stöhr

Vienna, ca. 1898. Softwood, fomerly greren-stained. H 2720-1

Jerszy Seymour, TABLE AND TWO BENCHES for the MAK Event First Supper

Vienna, 2008. Plastic, soft wood. H 3514 / 2011 to H 3516 / 2011

Donald Judd, BED NO. 11

USA, 1984. Manufacturer: Janssen C.V. Aluman sheet, stove-enameled. H 3112

Sigmund Jaray, WASHSTAND from the living room furnishings of a married worker

Vienna, 1899. Elmwood, marble top, polished iron ring handles. H 957-3

ANTLER CHAIR from the imperial hunting lodge in Neuberg/Mürz

Austria, late 1850s. Wood, deer and roebuck antlers, textile, brass tacks. H 3142

Uwe van Afferden, ANTLER VENITLATOR

Germany, 1984/85. Elk antlers, ventilator (Hunter company, USA). H 3456

Guillaume Leblon, MEUBLE

France, 2007. Oak. H 3512

CHEST BOARD

Italy, ca. mid-16th c.. Carved wood. H 102

Josef Storck, CABINET for the 1873 World's Fair in Vienna

Vienna, 1873. Manufacture: F. Michel (carpentry), F. Laufberger (painting), J. Schindler (carvings), J. Panigl (ivory carving), F. W. Bader u. J. Schwerdtner (engraving for the wood and ivory inlays). Ebony, solid and veneered, pearwood, ivory. H 709

Robert Maria Stieg, “BREITPOLSTER” [“BROAD-UPHOLSTERY”]

Vienna, 1977. Manufacture: Franz Wittmann K.G.. Solid ash and beech wood, belt-covered, tied steel springs. H 2790

Michael Thonet, “BOPPARD CHAIR”

Boppard/Rhine, Germany, ca. 1836/1840. Veneers, partly laminated, bent, veneered walnut, woven cane. H 2967 / 1987, formerly Alexander von Vegesack Collection

Ole Wanscher, armchair “COLONIAL CHAIR,” MODEL NO. PJ 149

Denmark, 1949. Solid rosewood, woven cane, leather upholstery. H 2115

Josef Frank, CHAIR

Vienna, ca. 1925. Solid mahogany, rungs of Spanish cane, black leather upholstery. H2118a

John Sollie Henry, CHIPPENDALE-STYLE ARMCHAIR

England, late 19th c.. Mahogany, carved and polished, leather upholstery. H 1340

Josef Hoffmann, CLUB CHAIR from the apartment furnishings for Hermann Wittgenstein

Vienna, 1905. Manufacture: Wiener Werkstätte. Oak wood, solid and veneered, stained, textile upholstery. H 2086

Furniture and Woodwork Collection

Curator: Sebastian Hackenschmidt

The MAK is home to an extensive collection of furniture and woodwork, in light of which the artistic and stylistic tendencies of furniture history—with a focus on Austria and Vienna—can be understood along with the cultural-historical and political developments of the past nearly 150 years. The collection encompasses over 4,600 objects ranging from small carvings and ornamental boxes to massive cabinets and whole room interiors.

The furniture art of the Baroque and Rococo eras, furniture from the Empire and Biedermeier periods, and Historicist and Art Nouveau furniture are the main focuses of this collection, with each period represented by outstanding examples.

Further highlights are Gothic and Renaissance furniture (on which collecting primarily focused back when the museum was founded), simple and practical utilitarian furniture from the period around 1900, an extraordinary collection of Viennese furniture from the interwar period which documents the years between 1918 and 1938 in an exceptional way, and contemporary furniture made since the 1960s. The MAK also owns an outstanding collection of courtly furniture from Austria and Vienna, as well as original and copied English furniture from around 1900.

The widely recognized collection of bentwood furniture and the unique collection of furniture and objects from the Wiener Werkstätte serve to document pivotal phases of design history.

The artistic highlights of the Furniture and Woodwork Collection—as well as the lion’s share of its most historically important objects—are presented in the MAK Permanent Collection according to criteria of stylistic history. The Historicism section of the Permanent Collection, for example, contains an overview of 100 years of Thonet furniture production, as well as that of competitors who shared the stage with Thonet between the 1830s and the 1930s. Particularly noteworthy items also include the elaborate and artfully worked cabinet made by David Roentgen (Neuwied am Rhein, 1776) for Prince Karl Alexander of Lorraine, general governor of the Austrian Netherlands, which is presented in the Baroque – Rococo – Classicism section of the Permanent Collection; this is regarded as a highlight of German artistic carpentry.

The varied typology of seating furniture from various eras were made visibly evident by the seating furniture displayed as part of the Study Collection (1993–2013): here, examples of differing or identical types, functions, degrees of development and materials were juxtaposed.

During the Second World War, the MAK lost a significant share of the Furniture and Woodwork Collection’s historic holdings, with nearly one third of the Furniture Collection destroyed due to the war. Additionally, the reorganization of Austria’s museums during the late 1930s and early 1940s saw nearly all the wooden sculptures transferred to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, and a large number of turn-of-the-century English and Austrian furniture pieces were also lost.

Following the war’s conclusion, the museum made an intensive effort to rebuild the furniture department. New purchases were made with a particular eye to improving coverage of the Wiener Werkstätte and the interwar period. The Biedermeier, Historicism and Art Nouveau collections were also made complete, and the period since the 1980s has seen the acquisition of examples of more current items made since the 1960s. In the process, the collection’s organization shifted from a materials-based system to one oriented on typology: for a long time now, the collection has no longer been limited to objects made of wood; other materials now featured include steel tubing, plastics, cardboard and felt.

A new collecting focus is developing in the gray area between art, architecture and furniture design, an area which also plays a central role in the MAK Collection of Contemporary Art. Purchases of contemporary works by figures such as Donald Judd, Ron Arad, Tom Dixon and Jerszy Seymour serve to highlight new stances in experimental furniture design.