Otto Wagner: Drawings

Otto Wagner: Drawings, an exhibition featuring the most comprehensive selection of Wagner drawings ever exhibited in the United States, was on view at The Drawing Center in 1988. Organized by Otto Antonia Graf and August Sarnitz of the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, the exhibition had been chosen from the collections of the Albertina, the Academy of Fine Arts, the Historical Museum of Vienna and distinguished private collections.

Otto Wagner (1841–1918), Vienna's foremost architect at the turn of the century, was credited with taking the first steps in freeing architecture from a dependence on historical styles. His development as an architect spanned a remarkable range from Historicism to Art Nouveau and Early Rationalism.

The study of Wagner's drawings was particularly rewarding not only because of the brilliance of his technique but because the drawings clearly documented the architect's working method. Projects began with a freehand preliminary sketch, followed by pencil drawings in scale, from which assistants prepared final plans in ink enhanced by flat watercolor washes. Wagner's architecture, as well as his theories and drawing style, were profoundly influential among the younger generation of architects in Vienna, notably Joseph Maria Olbrich, Josef Hoffmann and Marcel Kammerer.

The exhibition was scheduled to travel to the Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene; the Emory University Museum of Art and Archaeology, Atlanta, Georgia; the University Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; and the Wight Gallery at UCLA. A catalog written by Professor Otto Antonia Graf included illustrations of all the works in the exhibition, many of them in color.