The Works on Paper Room is dedicated entirely to works on paper. Due to the special conservational requirements of paper as
a material, the rich holdings of the MAK Library and Works on Paper Collection are displayed in rotating exhibitions. The
subjects treated here cover the broad discipline of commercial graphic design: posters, drawings, Japanese woodcuts, artists’
statements, artists’ books, and architectural projects testify to the diversity of the program that emerges from the complexity
of this collection.
From Dürer to Sagmeister
Several exhibitions are curated every year using the holdings of the MAK Library and Works on Paper Collection. Particular
attention is paid to ensuring a balance between historical and contemporary works as well as the main focal points of the
Library Collection.
In the Worts on Paper Room, the history of Cuban posters was told for the first time in Austria in 2005, and in 2002 Stefan
Sagmeister’s first solo show took place here. In this room tribute has been paid to Otto Neurath as well as to the pioneers
of commercial graphic design Joseph Binder, Julius Klinger, Ernst Deutsch-Dryden, Hermann Kosel, and Hans Neumann. Focusing
on book art is also part of our programmatic approach: from Russian and Viennese children’s books to the contemporary artist’s
book, the MAK has set itself the task of sharing these diverse media with the public.
The MAK Library and Works on Paper Collection is one of the largest and oldest museum libraries with a focus on applied art.
Alongside classic library functions, the collection is also devoted to artistic aspects of the pictorial in all possible variants
as well as to the initiation of a reappraisal of art production manifested in paper form.
