Nr. 732: ‘King’ [Zigarette] (1912)

Moriz Jung prints bring the wit of Vienna around 1900 into your home. Jung was an Austrian graphic artist who designed postcards, posters and woodcuts for the Wiener Werkstätte in a humorous, often bizarre style. Our collection of fine art prints gathers his Wiener Werkstätte postcards: music-hall acts, Viennese café scenes, flying machines, gramophones, cigar and cigarette jokes, a run of dog portraits and his poster for the Cabaret Fledermaus.

About Moriz Jung

Moriz Jung was born on 22 October 1885 in Nikolsburg in Moravia, then part of Austria-Hungary and now Mikulov in the Czech Republic. From 1901 to 1908 he studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule, the Vienna school of applied arts, under Carl Otto Czeschka, Bertold Löffler, Felician Myrbach and Alfred Roller. There he made woodcuts, linocuts, lithographs, postcards and book pictures, and in 1906 he published Freunde, a book of coloured woodcuts of animals.

In 1907, while still a student, he was asked by the Wiener Werkstätte to design the poster and programme for the newly opened Cabaret Fledermaus in Vienna. The same year he began designing postcards for the Werkstätte, and these now make up most of his surviving work. He also drew for magazines, including Ver Sacrum and the social democratic satirical paper Die Glühlichter, sometimes under the pen names Simon Mölzlagl and Nikolaus Burger, a nod to his home town. After 1910 he moved to Berlin to work for a graphics institute.

In 1914 his woodcut portrait of Emperor Franz Joseph won a prize. That year he was called up for military service and badly wounded in Galicia. Sent back to the front after he recovered, he was killed on 11 March 1915 in the Carpathian fighting near Łubne, south of Baligród, at the age of 29. One Viennese newspaper called him one of the most gifted caricaturists of the modern Viennese school, and the critic Arthur Roessler later published parts of his war diary.

Style and Subjects

Jung's pictures are small, flat and funny. He drew with clean outlines and blocks of colour, as a woodcut artist would, and filled them with odd characters: a hunger artist on his 132nd day of fasting, a learned monkey, a daredevil looping the loop in his car, a couple taking tea on the 968th floor of a skyscraper. His humour is gentle and absurd rather than cruel, closer to a cartoon than to a satire.

The postcards come in series. The 1907 variety-show cards present a whole programme of imaginary acts, the 1911 cards follow Viennese life in cafés, wine taverns and at Schönbrunn on a Sunday, and the 1912 cards include greyhounds, a poodle and a bulldog, plus a set of jokes about cigar and cigarette brands.

Famous Works

• Cabaret Fledermaus poster (1907). His commission from the Wiener Werkstätte for Vienna's newly opened cabaret.
• Freunde (1906). A book of his own coloured woodcuts of animals, published while he was still a student.
• Variety-show postcards: 132nd Day of Fasting, A. Lucci the Famous Hunger Artist (1907). One of a series of Wiener Werkstätte postcards that each advertise an imaginary music-hall act.
• Wiener Café: Die Schachspieler (The Chess Players) (1911). From his series on Vienna's coffee houses, with chess players bent over the board.
• Bloodless Giraffe Hunt (1911). A comic postcard of a giraffe hunt where nobody gets hurt.
• Portrait of Emperor Franz Joseph (1914). A woodcut portrait that won a prize in the last year of his life.

Decorating with Jung Prints

Jung's postcards are small pictures with big personality, so they work well in groups. Hang a grid of the Wiener Café cards, such as Wiener Café: Auf der Terrasse and Wiener Café: Carambol, in a kitchen, breakfast nook or home bar for a coffee-house feel. The variety-show acts make a cheerful row in a hallway, playroom or family room.

Dog lovers can pick a greyhound, poodle or bulldog from the 1912 set, such as Pudel, for a mudroom, entryway or study. The cigar and cigarette cards and the gramophone scenes suit a den or music corner, and the flat colours and clear outlines look at home in a modern or mid-century room.

FAQ

What was Moriz Jung known for?

Jung is best known for his work with the Wiener Werkstätte, the Vienna design workshop, especially the postcards he designed from 1907 and his poster for the Cabaret Fledermaus. His graphic style is humorous and often bizarre.

What art movement was Moriz Jung part of?

He belonged to the Vienna applied-arts world around the Wiener Werkstätte and the Kunstgewerbeschule, part of the Vienna Secession era of Art Nouveau design. His teachers included Alfred Roller and Carl Otto Czeschka.

How did Moriz Jung die?

He was called up in 1914, wounded in Galicia, and sent back to the front after recovering. He was killed on 11 March 1915 in the Carpathian fighting, aged 29.

How can I recognise a Moriz Jung print?

Look for a small, flat picture in clean outlines and bright blocks of colour, often with a joke in the title. His characters are odd and comic: performers, café regulars, dogs and absurd inventions.

Related Artists

• Alfred Roller: one of Jung's teachers at the Kunstgewerbeschule, who brought him into Ver Sacrum
• Bertold Löffler: teacher at the Kunstgewerbeschule who curated the 1908 poster room where Jung showed three works
• Felician Myrbach: one of Jung's teachers at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna