Secession, Werkstätte and Werkbund

Vienna's geometry and Germany's alliance of art and industry prepared the way for modernism.

The Vienna Secession was formed in 1897 and the Wiener Werkstätte in 1903. Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser made silver, furniture and textiles in austere, geometric forms. Adolf Loos criticised ornament.

In Germany the artists' colony in Darmstadt was founded in 1899 and the Deutscher Werkbund in 1907. Peter Behrens designed AEG's products and graphics, and Richard Riemerschmid made machine-made furniture in Hellerau.