Snapdragon

Angela Piotrowska-Wittmann trained at the Art School for Women and Girls and later, from 1914 to 1921 studied at the Applied Arts School in Vienna. She produced textiles for the Wiener Werkstätte and also formed the workshop "Piowitt" with Michael Wittmann and became a ceramic decorator. Block-printed textile designs by Piotrowska appeared around 1914-1915. Snapdragon, which is more a watercolor study than specifically related to textile or ceramic design, likely also dates from around 1915 or later. Similar to the style of Emilie Wodraschka's Three Christmas Postcards (see 2003.37.6), Snapdragon is rendered in a reductive realistic style. Piotrowska-Wittmann's flower vertically dominates the clean expanse of the white ground, and its slight diagonal curve to the right enlivens the composition. Although the fundamental forms of the flower are retained, Piotrowska-Wittmann limits her colors to a flat, deep orange and warm yellow for the petals and complements these with a dense black for the foliage. The petals' graphic outline and unmodulated colors emphasize the Snapdragon's flat, two-dimensionality and the elegant rhythm of curving forms. (Skrypzak, Design Vienna 1890s to 1930s, no. 53)