Mitzi Otten-Friedmann / Wiener Werkstaette reverse painted glass and silver brooch, signed c. 1915
MITZI OTTEN-FRIEDMANN (1884-1955) Austria
WIENER WERKSTÄTTE (1903-1932)
Brooch c. 1915
Reverse-painted glass depicting a couple set in a silver frame / back
Marks: M. OTTEN-FRIEDMANN on the front (right), the reverse stamped: WW, Vienna assay mark for 900 silver
D: 2 3/8”
Rosalia Marie Friedmann-Otten (“Mitzi”) * November 28, 1884 Vienna, † May 5, 1955 New York, NY
Student at the School of Applied Arts in Vienna (with Oskar Strnad), Friedmann-Otten participated in numerous exhibitions (including art shows in 1908, 1920; Neukunstgruppe 1909; German Women’s Art in 1925; Werkbundausstellung 1930). Member of the Austrian Werkbund, the Wiener Werkstätte and the Neukunstgruppe. One of the most versatile artists (commercial art, metalwork, jewelry, fashion, starting from 1920 mainly enamel works, including large-scale email pictures), Friedmann-Otten had to flee in 1938 to the United States.
Paul Follot for La Maison Moderne, Art Nouveau waist clasp, silver and chrysoprase, signed c. 1900
PAUL FOLLOT Paris, France
LA MAISON MODERNE Paris, France
Art Nouveau waist clasp c.1900
Gilt silver with chased whiplash design set with 19 cabochons of chrysoprase.
Marks: P. FOLLOT, French swan mark (silver standard mark for small objects)
Illustrated: Documents sur l’Art Industriel au XXe Siecle (Paris: Edition de la Moderne) p. 20, plate 5, n. 53-11
PAUL FOLLOT (1877-1941) French
In the Late 1890’s, Follot studied under graphic designer Eugène Grasset at the Ecole Normale d’Enseignement du Dessin in Paris and later succeeded Grasset in that post. From 1901 to 1904, he designed metalwork, jewelry and textiles for La Maison Moderne, art critic Julius Meier-Graefe’s gallery in Paris. He became director of the interior design studio Pomone of the Paris department store Le Bon Marché in 1923, introducing the Art Deco style into many middle-class home.
Margaret de Patta “Abstract” brooch, silver, chrysoprase and carnelian, signed, c. 1945, Illustrated: Design 1935 – 1965, What Modern Was: Selections from the Liliane and David M. Stewart collection, 1991
MARGARET DE PATTA (1903-1964) USA
Abstract brooch c. 1945
Sterling with both a smooth finish and a textured surface in a biomorphic design set with rondels of chrysoprase and carnelian
Marks: De Patta chevron insignia, STERLING
Illustrated: Design 1935 – 1965, What Modern Was: selections from the Liliane and David M. Stewart collection ed. Martin Eidelberg, (Montreal/New York: Le Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Montréal/Harry N. Abrams, 1991), p. 100, illus. 130.
Related designs illustrated: The Jewelry of Margaret de Patta: A Retrospective Exhibition, Oakes Gallery and The Oakland Museum (Oakland, Calif.: 1979); Messengers of Modernism: American Studio Jewelry 1940-1960, ed. Martin Eidelberg, (Montreal: The Lake St. Louis Historical Society, 1996).
British “Tree Frog” brooch, silver set with green and clear paste jewels, red jewel eyes, marks c. 1895
Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book “On the Origin of Species” overcoming scientific rejection of earlier concepts of transmutation of specie. By the 1870s both the scientific community and much of the general public had accepted evolution as a fact and awakening the public to the diversity of life. The frog emerging from Darwin’s Pond was a symbol of the times and a favorite theme for jewelry of the era.
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