Flächenschmuck. Die Quelle, no. 3 by Moser, Koloman

Wien und Leipzig: Gerlach & Co., [1900-1902]. Quarto (25.5 × 30 cm). Oblong portfolio housing thirty chromolithographed plates, including title, with monochrome design to versos. The portfolio (often damaged or lacking entirely) only with the most minor wear and scratches; the plates very good or better. One of the most desirable collection of patterns of the Wiener Moderne, Flächenschmuck was also one of very few publications designed by Kolo Moser independently. It was published as the third, and last, installment of the three-part series of graphic portfolios "Die Quelle" (The Spring), published by Martin Gerlach, and is considered to be the most accomplished of the three. All three were devoted to surface decorations (the other two portfolios were Carl Otto Czeschka, Vignetten and Max Benirschke, Buchschmuck). Moser's portfolio contains designs for wallpapers, flooring patterns, endpapers, wall decorations and tapestries, as well as other textiles and printed fabrics. "Moser plays with fore-and background space through the juxtaposition of form, color and pattern. The result is spatial tension that verges on optical illusion. Inspired by Japanese prints, Moser also superimposed square or rectangular insets on the patterns that identify the name of the design and its suggested use" (Joann Skrypzak, Design. Vienna 1890s-1930s, p. 97). Rennhofer, Koloman Moser, pp. 13 -137. Baroni, Kolo Moser, p. 40. Varnedoe, Vienna 1900: Art, Architecture, and Design, p. 115. Witt-Dörring, Koloman Moser, pp. 55-57 and pp. 222-227.