The exhibition "Ways to Modernism - Josef Hoffmann, Adolf Loos and Their Impact" enthusiastically explores the many different facets of a unique movement. On the occasion of its 150th anniversary the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna presents the exhibition "Ways to Modernism - Josef Hoffmann, Adolf Loos and Their Impact". Curators Matthias Boeckl and Christian Witt-Doerring have chosen more than 600 exhibits to tell about the development and impact of Viennese Modernism in five chapters. Michael Embacher's exhibition design provides the variety with a structure: you walk past documents and quotations from the period arranged on a surrounding band of MDF panels, at the centre stand glistening objects and pieces of furniture. It starts in the Rococo, which is where Witt-Doerring locates the roots of today's culture of consumption. The sample panels from the k. k. Fabriksprodukten-Kabi-nett (a collection of model products by different industries) are most impressive. The daring combinations of colours in the deep pile silk plush from Ludwig Ruedel-mann's fashion, silk goods and ribbon factory stand out. In Schloss Hernstein Theophil von Hansen created historicist designs for building and furniture. The excessive opulence of the tapestries, desktop, standard and pendant lamps soon showed that the time was ripe for something new. "The practical element that permeates humankind cannot be eliminated. Every artist will have to come to terms with the postulate: something that is unpractical can never be beautiful", said Otto Wagner. He distanced himself from historicism. The reconstructed facade of the dispatch office of "Die Zeit" and his furniture are plain and beautiful. He was followed by Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956) and Adolf Loos (1870-1933). Hoffmann also stands for Gustav Klimt, Kolo Moser, die Secession, Kunstgewerbeschule and the Wiener Werkstaette. They all believed in the reforming power of art and looked to the form for salvation. Loos was convinced of the need for a modern culture and modern people. These intellectual worlds are presented with verve by means of quotations, furniture, projects models, and pictures by Klimt and Kokoschka. Two interiors dating from 1903 offer contrasting examples. Hubmann and Vass reconstructed the "bedroom of my wife", which Loos designed for Lina and published in the magazine "Kunst". The wardrobes are concealed behind white curtains, light shimmers abstractly through curtained windows. Hoffman's bedroom in the Salzer apartment contrasts with this dream in white: both the bedhead and end of the bed made of brown-stained maple have a quadratic ornament, Hoffmann also designed the bedside tables, wardrobes, washstands. Oskar Strnad, Josef Frank, Bernhard Ru-dofsky, Ernst Plischke and others passed on the baton of modernism. For the "Boudoir d'une grande vedette" at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1937 Hoffman designed a room with a chaise-longue, stool, dressing table, and silver-coated wallpaper and ceiling reflected by the shiny floor. It contrasts with the "apartment for a working single woman" by Margarethe Schuette-Lihotzky. A bridge to the present day is built by Hermann Czech, Anna Heringer, Lacaton & Vassal and Werner Neuwirth.
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