Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911

contributions from Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller

A landmark design periodical brought to life in a complete facsimile edition with eye-opening critical essays and translations.

Around 1900, leading Secessionists and their students developed a new style of graphic modernism, emphasizing flatness, expressive geometry, stylized lettering, and bold colors in an effort to transform the world of printed surfaces. Die Fläche (The Surface) showcased their vision, presenting hundreds of designs for everything from posters and playing cards to textiles and packaging.

This facsimile edition of Die Fläche recreates every page of the formative periodical in full color and at original size, preserving even the accordion foldouts of the second volume. In-depth essays contextualize the work, highlighting contributions by pathbreaking women, innovative lettering artists, and key practitioners of the new “surface art,” including Rudolf von Larisch, Alfred Roller, and Wiener Werkstätte founders Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann. With complete translations, a glossary, and selected artist biographies, this book provides unprecedented access to a major document of design history.

Hardcover | 320 pages | Letterform Archive Books | 2023