Dagobert Peche - decorative craft designer and maker

Magazine Antiques, Jan, 1999 by Janis Staggs-Flinchum

In recent years the legacy of the Wiener Werkstatte (Vienna Workshops) has been undergoing a critical reassessment. Scholarly interest in the careers and contributions of minor figures has begun to percolate into a broader public awareness of the range of stylistic innovations and personalities that fall under the umbrella of the "WW" designation. Perhaps the most vital of these figures was Dagobert Peche, whose dominant role in the formation of the post-World War I aesthetic of the organization was muted by his premature death. His divergence from the mainstream of early modernism, embracing the decorative and craft aspects of design rather than the emulation of machine production, has also impeded a clearer vision of his singular contributions to twentieth-century art.

From its establishment in 1903, critics praised the avant-garde designs of the Werkstatte's founders, Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956) and Koloman Moser (1868-1918). Inspired by the writings of William Morris (1834-1896) and modeled after the Guild of Handicraft founded in London in 1888 by C. R. Ashbee (1863-1942), and with the financial support of the industrialist Fritz Waerndorfer (1869-1939), Hoffmann and Moser aimed to "produce good, simple domestic requisites."(1) The first articles created in the workshops relied heavily on the grid and other simple geometric forms, and most were handcrafted from high-quality materials with minimal ornamentation. By the outbreak of World War I, the talents of a new generation of designers began to have an impact on the items produced in the workshops. The most important figure to join the firm at this time was Peche, whose idiosyncratic and highly decorative designs stood in sharp contrast to the work of Hoffmann and Moser. Although his name garners little recognition today, in 1923 he was described by the influential art critic Berta Zuckerkandl as "the greatest decorative genius that Austria has harboured since the Baroque period."(2)

Concerned about supporting his family, Peche, who had supplied designs to the firm in a wide variety of mediums since 1911, officially joined as director of the artists' workshops in 1915,(3) and under his leadership a more decorative and free-spirited period of design emerged. Peche's animated, asymmetrical, and organic style encouraged a greater sense of freedom of design among the artists in the workshops, particularly the women who filled the places of men who had gone off to fight in the war. Conscripted himself in the early part of 1916, Peche served briefly in the war, although not at the front. In April 1917 he was released from duty and subsequently moved to Zurich with his family in order to establish a branch of the Wiener Werkstatte. Neutral Switzerland would prove to be the ideal environment for his talents. Despite his recent service in the war, Peche's work in Zurich does not reflect its horrors, but instead proclaims an optimistic expressionism that celebrates the bounty of life. Reflecting this aesthetic, the showroom was decorated with stylized plant forms, and garlands of fruit hung in swags from the ceiling [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 2 OMITTED]. His decorative objects share these stylized natural attributes.

During the war there were restrictions in Austria on the use of certain metals, fabrics, and other materials that were preempted for military purposes. As a result, the workshops began experimenting with materials that were not in demand, including ivory, wood, tin, and paperboard. Additionally, a number of objects were produced that directly reflected current events, such as drinking vessels decorated in patriotic colors or adorned with images of soldiers and warships, which were promoted as "a new style of wartime glasses, brightly painted."(4) Zurich did not suffer the same material restrictions as Vienna, so Peche was also able to establish a silver and metalwork shop to produce jewelry and other precious articles. The brooch shown in Plate I, designed during Peche's tenure in Switzerland, was purchased directly from the branch in Zurich by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Spiky leaves and grape clusters are arranged in what appears a random, untamed fashion, yet the piece retains an overall sense of balance. The plant, however, is a contrivance that does not exist in nature, mimicking instead Peche's treatment of the showroom walls. A contemporary writer and admirer of Peche provided the following insight into his work, which captures the fantastic quality of his designs: "He opens our capacity to be astounded, provides a delightful glimpse of a world in which we as children have lived."(5)

The gold brooch in Plate III, another piece of jewelry crafted in Zurich to Peche's design, features a delicate asymmetrical composition balanced atop a plinth suggestive of a window box. The spontaneous handling of gold to create a piece of jewelry that resembles the delicacy of lacework is not accidental. During his years in Zurich, Peche sketched a number of designs for both bobbin and tulle lace [ILLUSTRATION FOR PL. VI OMITTED], which depicted both stylized plant forms and mythological figures such as Daphne, Bacchus, and the Three Graces. His distinctive and unconventional jewelry designs also translated particularly well into the medium of ivory [ILLUSTRATION FOR PL. VII OMITTED]. Friedrich Nerold, a sculptor who was hired by the Wiener Werkstatte in 1916, carried out Peche's filigree designs in both ivory and tortoiseshell.