The Cushion

The flattened, simplified shapes, pastel coloring, and bold floral patterns in this artwork are all fundamentals of the Vienna Secessionists. In 1897, Czech-born artist Maximilien Kurzweil co-founded this group of artists and designers who rejected academic traditions and sought new forms of expression. Kurzweil’s woodcut of his wife strewn across a couch utilizes modern Japanese-style printing, which simplifies and delineates the composition through bold outlines and patterns. The lush surface decoration became an important element of the Wiener Werkstätte, which grew out of the Vienna Secession.