Apollo Textile Sample

Josef Hoffmann’s Apollo is a dense pattern of pink bell-like flowers in a sea of heart-shaped blue leaves. Printed on linen, like this example, and silk, the small-scale design was used for both interiors and clothing. Wiener Werkstätte artist Mela Köhler-Broman depicted a chic woman decked in Hoffmann’s textile walking her dachshunds in a postcard advertising the firm’s 1911 fashion collection. It speaks to fashion’s role within a Gesamtkunstwerk, or “total work of art,” where every aspect of a design is coordinated to create a cohesive whole.