Am Steinhof Church, Design for the left side altar Our Lady of Mercy 1904

Editor: Here we have Koloman Moser’s “Am Steinhof Church, Design for the left side altar Our Lady of Mercy,” created in 1904. It's a watercolor and paint design. The halos around the figures and use of gold give the piece a very regal, almost Byzantine feel. What stands out to you about the way this was crafted? Curator: For me, it is impossible to disassociate the design from the environment in which it was made, that is, turn-of-the-century Vienna, an imperial city full of tension where decorative arts challenged the old establishment of academic fine arts. I see here a pointedly conscious effort in how the material realities intersect with ideas of spiritual devotion. Editor: How so? Can you give me an example? Curator: The gold leaf isn’t just ornamental. Its application, the way it reflects light within the church, becomes part of the devotional experience. The materials become as crucial as the image itself. Similarly, we see this incredible attention to detail, these near-miniature flowers in the background and geometric tessellations, pointing towards a shift where so-called craft idioms gain recognition. This would become a key feature of the Wiener Werkstätte that Moser would later help found. The actual labor involved in creating these details elevates the everyday to the sublime. Does that make sense? Editor: Absolutely, it helps to see the physical and material production, the way it's produced, as part of the artwork's purpose and power, which then transcends that production. Curator: Precisely. It redefines what "art" even means by considering its means. Editor: I learned something new here! Thanks for shedding light on that shift, not just the pretty colors but thinking about how this was physically realized.