Mathilde Flögl

Mathilde Flögl (9 September 1893 - 1958) was an Austrian artist and designer. She worked in several different mediums including textiles, glass, and paint. Flögl was also a member of the Wiener Werkstätte, literally translated to the Vienna Workshops. This group was part of the Arts and Crafts movement dedicated to elegance, utility, and appropriateness. They aimed to refine art and expand it to all fields of life. Among these are many independent works and collaborations with other individuals in the group. Notable members of the Wiener Werkstätte include two of its founders Josef Hoffman and Koloman Moser as well as Gustav Klimt, among others. For the group's 25th anniversary, Flögl amassed, arranged, wrote, and published, The Wiener Werkstatte, 1903-1928: The Evolution of the Modern Applied Arts.

The group's finances were always precarious because of their use of these costly materials but in 1929 the Wiener Werkstätte disbanded due to bankruptcy with the stock market crash that same year. Flögl was also a member of the Wiener Frauenkunst (Viennese Women's Art), a group of female artists working in Vienna.

Flögl's work is currently in museums around the world including the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, The Kyoto Costume Institute in Kyoto, and the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna, among others.

Life and schooling Mathilde Flögl was born on 9 September 1893 in Brno, Czech Republic. Between 1909 and 1916, she studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of the Applied Arts) in Vienna. During her education, Flögl focused on applied graphics and enamelling taught by Josef Hoffman and Oskar Strnad among others.

Flögl and the Wiener Werkstätte Flögl joined the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshop) in 1916, an artist collective focusing on refinement of material and integrating art into all aspects of life. Their pieces were made both independently and on commission. The collective was formally registered as “Wiener Werkstätte, Productivgenossenschaft von Kunsthandwerkern in Wien, Genossenschaft mit unbeschränkter Haftung” (Vienna Workshops manufacturing co-operative of artist craftsmen in Vienna, co-operative with unlimited liability) in 1903 by Josef Hoffman, Koloman Moser, and Fritz Waerndorfer. The collective worked in furniture, glass, ceramics, silver and metalwork, jewellery, fashion, graphic design, among other mediums. They opened shops in Switzerland and the USA. Similarly, with a glass box, Flögl added the floral designs while Hoffman manufactured the box. Flögl also painted murals for residences and establishments in Vienna including the Graben-Café. She also did many ceramic pieces including a ceramic candelabra (c. 1925) and a ceramic hunting scene featuring dogs attacking a deer (1917). Designs for textiles, glassware, and metalwork seems to be where most of her work lies.

Flögl used floral designs in her work in addition to more geometric patterns making pieces that were both abstract and linear. Copper Hewitt has an online collection featuring 59 pieces of her painted design work, most painted in gouache. It was published in English, French, and German. The book includes essays on the group's notable figures, members’ monograms, and illustrations of the members’ work over the 25-year period.

Exhibitions While Flögl was a part of the collective, the Wiener Werkstätte was involved with many exhibitions. One of the earlier exhibitions featuring Flögl included the 1917 “Stockholm Austrian Art Exhibition,” where 240 pieces were contributed by the Wiener Werkstätte. The exhibition was designed to display's Austria's creativity during WWI, a creativity that would continue into times of peace too. In 1925, the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et industriels Modernes was held In Paris. This exhibition was designed to display modern forms of aesthetics, anything that reproduced previous styles was rejected from the exhibition. 1930 was the year of the Werkbund exhibition in Paris. The exhibition featured the French decorative style and the more standardized German style.

A Workshop of Her Own Between 1931 and 1935 Flögl operated her own workshop, centred around fashion and interior design

The Wiener Frauenkunst Flögl was reported to have been a part of the Wiener Frauenkunst (literally translated to Viennese Women's Art) which emerged from the “Vereinigung bildender Künstlerinnen Österreichs” (Association of Fine Artists of Austria) (VBKÖ) in 1926. The group proved to be much more radical than the VBKÖ. It aimed to encourage women's artwork, taking attention away from and destabilizing male art organizations, announcing liberation from the patriarchal art world. They investigated gender through a feminist lens. The Wiener Frauenkunst held many exhibitions in Vienna. The group closed in 1956 shortly after the founder, Fanny Harlfinger, died as no new members joined and the old ones seemed inactive.