All special exhibitions of the Augarten Porzellan Museum

Obere Augartenstraße 1, A-1020 Wien museum@augarten.at www.augarten.at

SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS OF THE AUGARTEN PORCELAIN MUSEUM

ENA ROTTENBERG 20 March – 9 June 2012 Emma Helena (Ena) Rottenberg (Oravicza 1893 – 1952 Vienna) was one of the most important and successful designers working for Augarten in her time and had great success with her graceful figural décors and sculptural models designed in the spirit of Art Déco. The exhibition with design drawings and porcelain by Ena Rottenberg from the manufactory archive was presented in the massive historic kiln that is a central and integral part of the porcelain museum.

VIENNA ROSES 20 June – 6 October 2012 In this exhibition the Augarten Porcelain Museum traced the development of what has arguably been the best-loved motif in the whole history of Vienna porcelain: the rose.

The various forms it has taken were illustrated with historical examples, which ranged from the naturalistic roses of the Baroque, through roses as an element in floral ornamentation on Neoclassical porcelain, to the rose as a reflection of the cult of friendship on nineteenth-century gifts. Finally, following the foundation of the Augarten Manufactory in 1923, an Art Déco reduction of the stylized rose of the Biedermeier period yielded a celebrated pattern still in great demand today: “Vienna Rose”.

Obere Augartenstraße 1, A-1020 Wien museum@augarten.at www.augarten.at

NEW ACQUISITIONS OF THE AUGARTEN PORCELAIN MUSEUM 22 October 2012 – 9 February 2013 Since its foundation in June 2011 the Augarten Porcelain Museum has constantly sought to enrich its own holdings through the purchase of important porcelain pieces. This exhibition was devoted specially to such new acquisitions, which illustrated a number of important aspects of Vienna porcelain since its beginnings in 1718 and vividly reflected the museum’s determination to maintain the levels of liveliness and fascination that characterize its permanent exhibition.

NEW AND GOOD Innovations in Biedermeier porcelain from the Emperor’s collections 26 February – 14 September 2013 In this special exhibition the Augarten Porcelain Museum collaborated with Vienna’s Technical Museum to display porcelain from the imperial collection of factory products known as the “Fabriksproduktenkabinett”. Mainly dating from the first third of the nineteenth century, the objects were sent in by manufacturers from all over the Habsburg crown lands as outstanding examples of their latest methods of production. While the Vienna exhibits included an astounding palette of radiant glazes, perfectly applied, the Bohemian factories were represented both with exact copies of Vienna models and also with splendid late Biedermeier pieces displaying a distinctive aesthetic all of their own.

Obere Augartenstraße 1, A-1020 Wien museum@augarten.at www.augarten.at

CITY STROLLS AND COUNTRY OUTINGS Vienna views on porcelain 30 September 2013 – 22 February 2014 By juxtaposing topographical porcelain with present-day city plans bearing indications of the exact locations of the historical views, this exhibition took its visitors on imaginary strolls through eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Vienna and out to its rural surroundings. Porcelain pieces decorated with vedutas not only document the changes brought about by urban, suburban and rural development but also eloquently convey the ‘feel’ of a vanished world, with their staffage figures providing insights into fashion, social stratification, street life, and also such things as children’s games. Furthermore, the presentation transcended the historical context through the incorporation of modern city hot-spots and souvenirs as examples of the modern culture of tourism.

HEREND VISITS AUGARTEN 24 March – 17 May 2014 In 2013 the Augarten Porcelain Manufactory was invited to exhibit a selection of its most outstanding porcelain at the Hungarian manufactory of Herend; and in 2014 Augarten returned the compliment by hosting an exhibition of historical Herend porcelain, with an emphasis on items from the nineteenth century.

In order to highlight the cultural and historical links between Austria and Hungary, the exhibition included select pieces from the tea service with the famous ‘Gödöllö’ pattern that Empress Elisabeth received as a gift from Franz Joseph for her Hungarian country seat of that name, and also from the white-and-gold Herend service commissioned by the Emperor for the castle of Buda. The survey of fine Herend porcelain was rounded out with magnificent vases bearing chinoiserie painting, examples of the double basketweave and openwork porcelain for which Herend was renowned, and items from services commissioned by some of the manufactory’s most famous patrons, amongst them Queen Victoria and members of the Rothschild family.

Obere Augartenstraße 1, A-1020 Wien museum@augarten.at www.augarten.at

SWINGING TEATIME PORCELAIN FROM THE FIFTIES 5 June – 25 October 2014 The Augarten Archive contains a wealth of veritable treasures from the 1950s, including new creations marked by a strikingly simple dynamism and services with abstract decoration in a genuinely contemporary spirit. Most of the astonishingly varied designs came from the hand of the outstanding and highly creative porcelain painter Edwin Breideneichen (decorator’s number 1), who was on the manufactory staff from its foundation right through until 1961. Today, 1950s Augarten porcelain is making a brilliant comeback on account of its timeless beauty and high-quality manufacture. The goal of 1950s design was to promote a culture and lifestyle marked by a new and dynamic joie de vivre, to which porcelain made its own special contribution. The exhibition of porcelain was complemented by a fifties living room and a Puch scooter that stands – but seems to be speeding along – under the admiring eyes of a lady in a vintage 1950s outfit.

‘Swinging Teatime’, as the exhibition is known, also featured such hallmarks of the decade as transistor radios, cameras, travel souvenirs and items of interior décor.