Young woman with hat 1913

Koloman Moser painted this panel, Young Woman with Hat, using oil on canvas. You can see Moser’s rapid, gestural brushwork, building up the image in layers. The surface has a tactile quality, almost like plaster or clay. The materiality of the paint is as much the subject here as the sitter herself. Consider the color: Moser isn’t interested in a naturalistic depiction. Instead, he’s building a composition of tones, moving freely between light and shadow. This brings a modern sensibility to the composition. Moser was deeply involved in the Wiener Werkstätte, an association of artists and designers seeking to bring fine art values to craft production. Paintings like this are vital to understanding that project. It’s easy to see the connection between Moser’s painterly touch, and the handmade ethos of the Werkstätte. The work asks us to reconsider how we assign value to different kinds of making.