JOSEF URBAN
| About the artist | Vienna 1872 – 1933 New York |
| Designed by | Josef Urban, Vienna, around 1905 |
| Executed by | Sandor Jaray |
| Dimensions | H 76.5 cm, W 32 cm, D 4.5 cm |
| Material | Solid mahogany, surface professionally repolished, barometer, thermometer with scales in Fahrenheit, Reaumur, Celsius, excellent condition |
| Provenance | private property, Austria |
| Literature | The Art Revival in Austria, The Studio Special Summer No., 1906, C 64; The Studio, vol. 37 1906, p. 74; Markus Kristan, Joseph Urban, Vienna, 2000, p. 314, 395 |
Originally, this weather station featured a small glass company sign of a famous Viennese optical shop reading “Fa. Anton Klemann Optiker-Wien gegründet 1843” (Comp. Anton Klemann-Vienna founded in 1843). As the sign was unfortunately broken, I decided to remove it.
Josef Urban loved to have his design furniture, in this case a weather station executed as individual pieces, realised in the best materials. He usually decorated prominent parts of his furniture with almost inconspicuous geometric elements. His preference for the regular triangle is evident. Nobody was as skilful in perfectly staging and effectively integrating these archaic, basic architectural elements as Urban. With this in mind, we invite you to compare this weather station with the settee in this catalogue and with the two pairs of armchairs shown in our Autumn 2010 catalogue, no. 34, and the Tefaf New York Spring 2018 catalogue, no. 20, and with other outstanding pieces of Urban's furniture shown on our website.
M49/23