An Akris show is often an art-history lesson. This season, Albert Kriemler was excited to share one of his own recent discoveries, Felice (Lizzi) Rix-Ueno, a remarkable artist of the Wiener Werkstätte period who is too little known today for the usual reason—her gender. One hundred years later, she’s finally getting her due. An exhibition of her work, “Stars, Feathers, Tassels,” featuring drawings she made for textiles, wallpaper, and other home goods, opens at the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna on November 22 (Akris is a sponsor).
Rix-Ueno’s oeuvre stands apart from those of her male contemporaries; where they believed in “reduction and rationality” and sharp angles, she produced pieces that brought “vibrancy, color, and curves” to the fore. “Lizzi,” Kriemler wrote in his press notes, “was convinced that only inner creativity will lead to one’s identity, truly believing in the expressive possibilities of craft. I very much relate to her idea of craft as a momentum.”
He used many of her pieces as inspiration. Her poppy sketch was transformed into the delicate Saint Gallen embroidery that appeared on the cocktail dress that opened the show. Her design for an Easter bonbon box decorated the front of a white shirtdress sewn from two rectangles. And an abstract watercolor and pencil rendering of birds enlivened a simply cut button-down and matching cargo pants. Akris customers collect these pieces like they would art objects.
The prints and embroideries notwithstanding, this was a collection of clean, minimal lines—and also extraordinarily lightweight materials. Mentioning the 80-degree heat, a full 10 degrees warmer than the usual high temps in Paris in October, Kriemler pointed out the silk organza he developed for neatly tailored suits and a sweeping black trench. The evening pieces with platinum silk fringe reaching to the floor were another nod in Rix-Ueno’s direction. “To creativity, it’s freedom,” he said.
