The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 28, 2024

Bookend

Bookend

c. 1925–29
Body: 10.7 x 8.9 cm (4 3/16 x 3 1/2 in.)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The colorful enameled surface and stylized form of this feline bookend, one of a pair, express the child-like simplicity of its design.

Description

Artisans working in Austria, especially in Vienna, during the years before the First World War embraced the concept that within every child is an artist and in every artist there is a child. This idea conveyed a sense of liberation from the strictures of formality and tradition. In the 1920s the Vienna Workshop (Wiener Werkstätte) promoted the work of prominent toy designers as serious expressions of art to be studied alongside other artistic genres such as painting and sculpture admired by adults. The colorful compositions and sense of whimsy in these designs for children reflected Viennese decorative art in general between the wars.
  • 1930
    (Exhibition of Austrian Arts and Crafts, Vienna, Austria, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1930-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Stories From Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).
    Art Deco. The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH (organizer) (December 2, 1973-January 27, 1974).
  • {{cite web|title=Bookend|url=false|author=|year=c. 1925–29|access-date=28 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1930.71.2