[LIKARZ, Maria]

(Vienna, Wiener Werkstätte, 1930-1932).

Landscape 8vo sheet (146 x 210 mm), design: 54 x 163 mm.

Original lithograph in brown, gold, and red.

Gift voucher for purchases at the Wiener Werkstätte, with a design by the artist Maria Likarz (born Przemysl, now Poland, 1893-1971). The coupon was in use until 1932.

The Wiener Werkstätte (Viennese Workshops, 1903-1932) was one of the longest-lived design movements of the 20^th century and a key organisation for the development of Modernism. Centred in the Austrian capital, it stood at the doorway between traditional methods of manufacture and a distinctly avant-garde aesthetic. The Wiener Werkstätte’s emphasis on complete artistic freedom resulted in a prodigious output of designs, and this, along with an army of skilled artisans and a complex network of production and distribution, made it the standard for Austrian design between the dawn of the 20^th century and the depths of the Great Depression. Led by the unassuming architect Josef Hoffmann and his associates, such as Dagobert Peche and Koloman Moser, the Wiener Werkstätte drew from movements such as the Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau as well as from traditional folk art and forecasted the flowering of Art Deco and the International Style in the interwar period. Its demise amid repeated financial crises demonstrates the ultimate inability of artistic enterprises to completely free themselves from the economic concerns of the age (The Art Story).

A very good copy.