Best of the Jugendstil

Until July 20th, Zagreb’s Marton Museum, the first private museum in Croatia, which features a collection of items of applied arts originating mostly from 18th and 19th century Europe, will also be presenting masterpieces of European applied arts from the Jugendstil period.

Until July 20th, Zagreb’s Marton Museum, the first private museum in Croatia, which features a collection of items of applied arts originating mostly from 18th and 19th century Europe, will also be presenting masterpieces of European applied arts from the Jugendstil period.

Although it has been presenting valuable artefacts of European applied arts for several years now, most significantly its glass collection, cutlery, furniture, clocks and paintings by many eminent painters, until July 20th Zagreb’s Marton Museum will feature yet another valuable collection from the Jugendstil period.

It includes pieces from one of the most significant styles in all of art history – secession or art nouveau, recognizable for its exceptional decorativeness, great ornamental value, obvious linearity and botanical motifs. Many masterpieces were created in Europe during that period, especially in the domain of applied arts, ranging from items for everyday use made from porcelain, glass and silver, to furniture, interior design and architecture.

The exhibition featured at the Upper Town’s Marton Museum, the first private museum in Croatia, consists of a very valuable collection of masterpieces borrowed from various museums, such as The Museum of Applied Arts of Vienna and Budapest, Zagreb’s Museum of Arts and Crafts, as well as yet unseen works from private collections around Zagreb.

Apart from items for everyday use that were used at one time by the aristocracy as well as ordinary folk, the exhibition reveals an especially intriguing surprise; the rarely displayed erotic drawings by Robert Auer (1873-1952), a Croatian secessionist and modernist painter. Bearing in mind the secession style, the erotic content of the 23 featured drawings is exaggerated and subtle at the same time.

Among other masterpieces are items from the workshop of one of the most significant members of the Austrian secessionist movement, architect and designer Josef Hoffman, as well as a very valuable Tiffany cutlery set.

It will also be an ideal opportunity to view what many regard as the most significant pieces of the private Marton collection; a truly valuable collection of European porcelain featuring items from all major German, Russian and Viennese factories that were in operation in the second half of the 18th and the first half of the 19th centuries.