Illustration: Dagobert Peche. Lace design, c1921.
The multi-talented and multi-disciplined Austrian designer Dagobert Peche was involved in an extraordinary range of disciplines throughout his short career; he died in 1923 aged only 36. He produced furniture, metal and silver work, jewellery, ceramics, book binding, graphics, illustration, wallpaper, stage design and costume, as well as a number of textile disciplines including printed, woven, rug and carpet, embroidery and lace. It is the lace design work that he produced near the end of his life that this article is concerned with.
Peche produced these five lace designs in the very early years of the 1920s and, although not the last pieces of work he produced, they are near the end of his extraordinarily productive life. They are pieces of lace work that draw very little from any of the standard European traditions that perhaps we are used to seeing when raising the subject of lace design.
Illustration: Dagobert Peche. Lace design, c1921.
Post First World War Central and Eastern Europe was an entirely different one from that of the fist decade and a half of the twentieth century. While Western Europe in the 1920s, including France and Britain, was largely a continuation of previous political and social regimes, the rest of Europe including the three Empires of Germany, Austro-Hungary and Russia, either collapsed or were removed. In the case of Austro-Hungary, the Empire was actually replaced and a whole host of new republics grew up, while a redefinition of political and social parameters was set in place in the case of Germany and Russia. In some respects, this wholesale shearing of affinity with past traditions led to a creative culture that looked favourably on the innovative, the untried and an increasing penchant for the Modern. In this respect perhaps the work of Peche can be seen as being part of the cultural reformatting of the decorative and craft disciplines.
Illustration: Dagobert Peche. lace design, c1921.
By the end of the nineteenth and very beginning of the twentieth century lace design in Austria had been redesigned and redesignated as a discipline that was opening up to the possibilities of contemporary European decoration. It was considered by many to have shed its traditions and familiarities in order to embrace the new and the innovative. However, much of the work was still firmly, though not exclusively floral based with much dependence on the Art Nouveau movement. Peche's work took many more steps towards a uniqueness in design and temperament than the pre-war lace industry could ever have imagined.
Peche took the bold step of moving away from the constraining parameters of the floral, and even that of geometric pattern work and concentrated on representational imagery, particularly of the human variety. This is not to say that lace design work had never used human representation before. Lace craft used formal human figures dating back to the sixteenth century and beyond. However, much of the imagery was usually part of a larger and detailed pattern with the human figures often surrounded by formalised floral work. Peche's work is stark and minimal by contrast, with the figures dominating the composition with little or no detailed pattern work; the centralised figures are often sitting inside a very limited frame.
Illustration: Dagobert Peche. Lace design, c1922.
The extraordinary direction taken by Peche was in the larger and even bolder manifesto of the Wiener Werkstatte. Peche had been a member since 1915 and was to remain so until his death in 1923. He was considered by many to be one of the most talented members of the Werkstatte and a great loss to the organization. In some respects, the Werkstatte came into its own after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and was to be a significant factor in the cultural life of the new Republic of Austria. The cultural and creative vitality of this new Europe was not to last due to a number of factors including traditional Right wing fear of anything that bordered on the innovative and creatively new. However, the few short years up to the arrival of Hitler were to set the mood for the championing of the unusual, unfamiliar and often singular creative idea, that gave the European decorative and creative arts during this period their most powerful and lasting legacy.
Illustration: Dagobert Peche. Lace design, c1922.
It is hard to say what Peche would have achieved if his life had not been cut so disastrously short. What is perhaps even more interesting is the question as to where his lace work ideas would have taken both him and the craft. That he would have continued along the various creative paths in a range of disciplines is probable. However, we are merely left with a 'what if' scenario.
Reference links:
Dagobert Peche and the Wiener Werkstatte
blumen pattern by dagobert peche 1914.
A Wiener Werkstatte Hammered Silver Centrepiece Designed by Dagobert Peche Giclee Poster Print by Nelson And Edith Dawson, 18x24
Wiener Werkstatte: 1903-1932 (Special Edition)
Wiener Werkstatte: Design in Vienna 1903-1932
Textiles of the Wiener Werkstatte: 1910-1932
Postcards of the Wiener Werkstatte
Viennese Design and the Wiener Werkstatte
Wiener Werkstatte Jewelry
Wiener Werkstatte: Avantgarde, Art Deco, Industrial Design (German Edition)
Wiener Werkstatte: The registered trade marks (The Marks and monograms of the Wiener Werkstatte) (German Edition)
Wiener Werkstatte Keramik: Original Ceramics, 1920-1931 (English and German Edition)
Viennese Design and the Wiener Werkstätte
