Felician Myrbach Freiherr von Rheinfeld (Zaleszczyki, now Ukraine 1853-1940 Klagenfurt, Austria)
"Orchideen" ["Orchids"]
1899
lithograph
23 x 16 cm (image); 34.5 x 25 cm (sheet)
signed in pencil lower right: "Myrbach"
typographic inscription below: "Kunst und Kunstwerk 1899"
condition: partially applied to the passe-partout (mat) with adhesive strips; some stains and gilding on the reverse.
Austrian painter, graphic designer, and book illustrator, Felician Myrbach was one of the founders of the Vienna Secession.
After studying at the Wiener Akademie der bildenden Künste [Vienna Academy of Fine Arts], Myrbach lived in Paris from 1881 to 1897, working as a book illustrator and illustrating the works of Victor Hugo, among other authors. He returned to Vienna in 1897 as a professor at the Wiener Kunstgewerbeschule [Vienna School of Applied Arts], and from 1899 to 1905 was the director of the school. A close associate of Gustav Klimt, Myrbach was a founding member of the Vienna Secession and was its president in 1904. He contributed to the creation of the Wiener Werkstätte and was also responsible for the publication of the first volume of its graphic arts periodical Die Fläche [The Surface], 1903-1904.
