Secessionist panels “Adolescence” Emma Schlangenhausen and Hilde von Exner school of Kolomann Moser 1904

During his teaching career at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts, Professor Koloman Moser had exceptionally talented students who created outstanding metalwork. The resulting major works of this particular style are our two reliefs by the artists Emma Schlangenhausen and Hilde von Exner. They studied at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts from 1901 to 1905 and, after their initial successes during their studies, exhibited their work at trend-setting exhibitions of their time.
This life-size pair of reliefs was presented by the Vienna School of Applied Arts at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis in a room designed by Josef Hoffmann. It impressively depicts the youthful freshness, innocence and grace of adolescence and captures this in finely chiseled lines on decorated sheet metal adorned with opaque glass cabochons and enameled inserts. The two panels, set in a wrought-iron frame that is rather unusual for Austrian art of the time,
symbolize the springtime awakening of adolescence in ist purest form. The “black and white” theme of the exhibition was accentuated by display cases and figurative panels. These were executed in various materials and techniques and embedded in the room’s wood paneling. The unusual design of
the room was intended to demonstrate the creative power and broad spectrum of techniques used at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts. In addition to textile works of art,
some of which are now in the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna, two metal mosaic panels “designed and executed in the department of Prof. Kolo Moser” (Die Kunst 12:1905) stood out. These two reliefs are an incredibly rare work of art. The historical context is astonishing and demonstrates the skill and creative power of the younger, up-and-coming female artists in Austria during one of its most important artistic epochs.