WW Artists - Dagobert Peche (1887-1923)
From 1911 on, the former pupil of the Vienna Arts and Crafts School produced a large number of designs (first freelance and from 1915 on as a employee). Peche saw the longed-for challenge in the wide variety of materials and fields covered by the Wiener Werkstätte in its different areas of production. In the relatively short time during which he made an important contributiuon to the "image" of the Wiener Werkstätte (until his death in 1923) Peche designed, amongst other things, more than 110 patterns for material and over 45 wallpapers; lace and embroidery also accommodated his inclination towards frivolity.

In 1917 Peche was put in charge of the recently opened WW branch in Zurich (until 1919). Far from the Austrian doctrine of "form without ornament" the artist found a new lease of life. The contemporary critic Leopold Wolfgang Rochowanski noted,"His fantasy has a thousand hands, a thousand wings, is unbounded in its growth. In Josef Hoffmann's work everything stands on the ground, in Peche's work everything gows upwards".


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Eight light chandelier by Dagobert Peche, design approx. 1920.
© Dorotheum, Art Nouveau, 18th November 1997