Vienna, c. 1913 / 1915, construction made of nickel plated iron, linen fabric, diameter c. 48 cm, without guarantee for electrical fitting. (MHA)

Similar lamps were used by Adolf Loos for various installations, such as 1900 for Turnovsky‘s flat in Vienna, 1922 for Rufer‘s house in Schließmanngasse 11, in Vienna‘s 13th district, in 1907 for the home of Viennese food industrialist Paul Khuner Möllwaldplatz 4, in Vienna‘s 4th district , for which he also planned his country house on the Kreuzberg at Semmering near Payerbach in Lower Austria in 1929/1930.

Cf. Lit.:
A. Sarnitz, Adolf Loos, Cologne 2003, p. 79; E. B. Ottilinger, Adolf Loos. Living Concepts and Furniture Designs, Salzburg, Vienna, 1994, p. 105, Fig. 131. Adolf Loos, Private Space, Barcelona Design Museum 2017, Fig. 120, p. 124 f.

Provenance:
Sigmund and Mary Primavesi, Hinterbrühl; passed down by descent after Mary Primavesi’s death in 1949; uninterrupted family ownership until 2018

Lots 37 to 40 feature selected objects from the Villa Primavesi in Hinterbrühl, Lower Austria. The selection includes a large sideboard, two armchairs, one large and one small ceiling lamp.

Originally, they are part of collection of Maria (Mary) and Sigmund Primavesi. Sigmund Primavesi was born in 1852 into the widely ramified Primavesi family of industrialists and bankers, who had their main seat in Olomouc in Moravia. He was a relative of Otto Primavesi, the prominent patron and financier of the Wiener Werkstätte, which had been founded by Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser in 1903. In 1915, after Fritz Waerndorfer, its first financier, had left, Otto and his wife Mäda took over to steer the fate of the company, which was facing bankruptcy. The couple remained deeply committed to the undertaking’s cause until 1926. In general lots of members of the Primavesi family were friends with the leading artists of their time and particularly generous supporters of Josef Hoffmann and Gustav Klimt as well as of companies such as Wiener Werkstätte.

In 1922 Sigmund Primavesi married Maria (Mary), who inherited his possessions after his death in 1938.
Mary Primavesi died childless in 1949, and her bequest was divided up among five members of her family.