VARIOUS ARTISTS DIE FLÄCHE. Complete volume of 12, 16-page fascicules. 1903-4. 12 1/4x8 1/4 inches, 31x21 cm. Schroll u. Co., Vienna. Condition varies, generally A-: portfolio, loose as issued, in original cloth-backed, illustrated boards, covers worn and scuffed; slight foxing on some pages; a few leaves detached. Die Fläche [The Surface] was a most extraordinary design magazine, straight from the creative heart of the Wiener Werkstätte, which was established in 1903. Leopold Forstner's illustrated cover explains the contents: "Designs for decorative painting, posters, book and printing equipment, preprinted, envelope, menu and business cards, illustrations, wallpapers, black and white art, textile, weaving and printing, stencils, lead glazings, intarsia, embroidery, monograms, dress jewelry etc etc etc etc," and that it was published by "Felician Baron Myrbach, Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser and Alfred Roller." The twelve, 16-page fascicules contain a total of 192 illustrated pages, each with one or more color illustrations. The works reproduced are by such masters as Auchentaller, Exler, Klimt, Moser, Krenek, Roller, Schufinsky as well as many other prominent Viennese artists. The work is a sumptuous visual feast of design and color. After this first run, a second (and final) volume wasn't printed until 1910.
