THEOPHIL HANSEN. Arts and Crafts is a small presentation by the MAK devoted to the decorative arts of the renowned architect of the Vienna Ringstrasse Theophil Hansen (1813 Copenhagen–1891 Vienna). To celebrate his 200th birthday, selected works in glass, ceramic, and metal executed after designs by the Danish-Austrian architect will be displayed in the MAK Glass Study Collection, also furniture from the extensive holdings in the MAK collection.

As one of the leading exponents of so-called strict historicism, Hansen regarded his buildings as completed only in an integration of architecture and the applied arts. Besides planning major buildings in Vienna and Lower Austria, including Herrnstein Castle (1856–1880), the Musikverein (1867–1870), the Börse (Exchange) (1874–1877), the former Reichsratsgebäude (Imperial Council building), today’s Parliament (1874–1883), and the Academy of Fine Arts (1871–1876), the architect also developed their overall interior design. His studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhagen, the model set for him by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, and a sojourn of several years in Athens equipped him with the necessary resources also for becoming an experienced designer of utility objects. For him this was part of architecture in its connection to the concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk in historicism—the synaesthetic, total work of art.

Hansen’s language of forms is marked by clear, very fine detailing, a consistently constructive overall structure, and the use of sculptural individual motifs such as acanthus scrolls, dolphins, sphinxes, and putti. The architect was particularly eager to apply models and stylistic citations also to his works in the decorative arts. The MAK presentation is based around a central rostrum bearing the gas chandelier—over three meters tall—designed by Hansen around 1890 and executed by the Hollenbach’s Neffen company and selected pieces of furniture after the architect’s designs. The glass display cases flanking this installation contain glass and ceramics made between 1864 and 1874, in part by J. & L. Lobmeyr and the Wiener Porzellanmanufaktur (Vienna Porcelain Manufactory) after Theophil Hansen’s designs. Besides these major firms from the Vienna Ringstrasse period, the architect worked intensively together with the jeweler A. E. Köchert and the silversmith company of Mayerhofer & Klinkosch. The old established Viennese enterprise of J. & L. Lobmeyr was the most regular commissioner of numerous works in glass; in fact, Hansen planned the overall interior design for the residence of Ludwig Lohmeyr, the company owner.

The presentation THEOPHIL HANSEN. Arts and Crafts is a tribute to the lone wolf Hansen as well as to his tectonically evolved design in the applied arts, and documents this special aspect of his work and influence in Vienna.

Curator Rainald Franz, Curator, MAK Glass and Ceramics Collection