That last post was supposed to be published a couple days ago.
Yesterday (Friday) our luggage arrived. Hooray! It was very complicated, but it came just in time for us to get ready and go to my meeting with Dr. Elisabeth Schmuttermeier, the curator of the Wiener Werkstätte archives and a leading scholar on the topic. She was very nice and helpful, and got us set up to work in the reading room of the MAK while we are here. There is also a really great exhibition at the MAK right now called "Vienna 1900". The first gallery shows some of the British influence, and the second gallery is mostly Wiener Werkstätte. Here are some picture from the exhibition.
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| We thought Erik would love seeing this seating area covered in Morris-inspired fabric, like in his house! |
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A dresser by my favorite of the Viennese artists, Koloman Moser.
This is an early piece that he made for his parents' house. |
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| Also Moser |
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Josef Hoffmann, one of the chairs he designed for his Purkersdorf Sanatorium,
which was part of my undergraduate thesis. |
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| Moser |
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| Klimt's designs for the Stoclet Frieze |
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| Margaret Macdonald of Scotland. This is part of a huge frieze of built of gesso with glass and stones adhered to the surface. She created many amazing pieces like this to accompany the work of her husband, Charles Rennie Mackintosh. |
After the museum I talked Grandma and Grandpa into going out for dinner to rest our weary museum legs, instead of having to cook our own.
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| At one of Grandma and Grandpa's favorite restaurants, Goulash Museum. Named, I think, because the menu is like a whole museum of goulash. |
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| My mushroom goulash with Knödel. Do the Viennese actually eat huge balls of Knödel and like it? |
After dinner we wanted to ride the streetcar all around the Ringstrasse, but they don't run around and around the city like they did when Grandma and Grandpa were here five years ago, so we ended up having to make a bunch of connections to get back to our apartment. It was still fun. If you are interested in seeing where we are living, our apartment is at 25 Beatrixgasse. Just south of the Stadtpark and north of the Belvedere. Great location.
Today (Saturday) we are going to go on one of Alan Keele's walking tours of Vienna. Alan is a good friend of Grandma and Grandpa's, and was here five years ago when Mom and I visited. He's the one who took us out to Otto Wagner's Steinhof hospital, which sparked my interest and love of the Viennese artists at this time. He is also on my graduate committee. Should be fun! Hope everyone is happy and safe at home. I can't wait to see everyone in Alaska. That will be an especially fun trip for me because by that time I will be completely done with my Master's degree!
Caitlin did not eat all of her Knödel! These are great pictures. I am going to get me an I-Phone. Caitlin tells me it's spelled "iPhone" Whatever!
ReplyDeleteGGarold
Thanks for sharing your adventures. Keep the pictures and narrative coming. It sounds like you are going to be able to dig up some good research while you're there. I'm going to find your apartment on Google Earth and check out the neighborhood. There is so much snow here in Utah that any walking tour would have to be on snowshoes or cross-country skis. Two feet of snow is SLC and everything is shut down. Good thing you got out of town when you did.
ReplyDeleteI think there are iPhone apps that will tell you the temperature outside and INside major cathedrals in Europe, so you can plan ahead. In my experience, it is generally colder inside.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious about a commission to design chairs for a sanitorium... what that a really lousy job or was it prestigious? Was the sanitorium like the one in Amadeus with filthy people chained to walls (but now with lovely chairs) or was it a place where they stuck educated middle class women who were crazy enough to express unhappiness caring for a dozen children?