“Opening in July 2026, the Jewish Museum presents a major cross-disciplinary exhibition showcasing the artistic and cultural legacies of women of the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshops). On view from July 17 through November 15, 2026, and presented in cooperation with the MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, Modernity and Opulence: Women of the Wiener Werkstätte highlights how women played an underrecognized and yet central role in the workshop’s activities, focusing in particular on the many Jewish women who worked as designers and artists, as well as those who supported these efforts as patrons. Featuring a wide-ranging selection of media including fashion, ceramics, graphic design, decorative arts, and painting, the exhibition reveals the breadth and depth of these women’s contributions and the lesser-known ways in which they shaped modernist design languages through the platform of the Wiener Werkstätte.

 Active from 1903 to 1932, the Wiener Werkstätte was founded by architect Josef Hoffmann, artist Koloman Moser, and industrialist art collector Fritz Waerndorfer as a multidisciplinary collective and commercial enterprise that embraced the synthesis of art and life (gesamtkunstwerk) as an essential condition of modern living. The establishment of the Werkstätte, which designed, produced, and sold high-quality goods, coincided in mutually supportive ways with the burgeoning economic opportunities available to women in Vienna during this same period.” — The Jewish Museum

“Modernity and Opulence: Women of the Wiener Werkstätte brings together art, design, fashion, and Jewish history to illuminate the central role Jewish women played in shaping modernity, both as visionary makers and as influential patrons,” said James S. Snyder, Helen Goldsmith Menschel Director of the Jewish Museum. “Building on the Museum’s long-standing history of presenting design exhibitions that challenge traditional art-historical narratives, this exhibition reflects our commitment to foregrounding Jewish artistic traditions in ways that resonate across world cultures.”

“The Wiener Werkstätte is often celebrated for its role in shaping conceptions of modernism, yet these discourses have presented a complicated relationship to gender, craft, and ornamentation, which has, in turn, neglected a more complete picture of the Werkstätte’s output,” said Kristina Parsons, Leon Levy Assistant Curator. “In bringing together highlights from the remarkable body of work made by Jewish women for the Werkstätte, this exhibition spotlights their creativity, ambition, and influence, while inviting visitors to explore a group of artists who embraced decoration as a central expression of modernity.”

The exhibition Modernity and Opulence: Women of the Wiener Werkstätte is a cooperation between the Jewish Museum, New York, and MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna. Curated by Kristina Parsons, Leon Levy Associate Curator, the Jewish Museum, New York, with curatorial consultancy by Anne-Katrin Rossberg, MAK, Vienna. Exhibition design is by Chelsea Garunay with exhibition graphic design by June Yoon.

Images courtesy Jewish Museum.