Action wood specimenWood Specimen

Heart rot in a gum log. Donated by Trickey Bros Sawmill CarisbrookWood Specimen

Insect attacked post specimen from VSF grounds. From VSF reference collectionWood Specimen

Wood collection blocks. These are blocks made from cut-offs from the CSIRO Dadswell Wood Collection.Wood Specimens

This piece of fabric, known Fälter (butterfly), was designed by Mathilda Flögl (1893-1958), who worked in the textile department of the Wiener Werkstätte in Vienna. It is a remnant of the fabric that was used to make a bedspread for Karl and Slawa’s bed in their Vienna apartment where it lay decoratively over a gold brocade eiderdown. The purchase demonstrated Slawa’s interest in and knowledge of modern design and her commitment to the idea of enriching everyday life with beautiful objects, a principal of the Viennese Secession. Following the Duldigs removal from Vienna, the original bedspread and remnant were safeguarded and preserved by Slawa’s sister, Rella, in the basement of her Paris apartment. In 1948 the bedspread and this remnant were sent to Australia. The bedspread was a much-loved item but deteriorated over the years. In 1955 it was made into curtains, which are held in the Duldig Studio Collection. The Photographs of the bedspread in its original location are also held in the collection. The remnant is in pristine condition. The Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshop) was a guild of designers and craftsmen that was founded by the architect Josef Hoffman (1879-1956) and the designer Koloman Moser (1868-1918). The firm manufactured a range of interior furnishings between 1903 and 1932. The textile department opened in 1900, and produced about 1,800 designs, mainly for printed fabrics for furnishings and apparel. The designs were characterised by simplified forms and vivid colours, and inspired by Eastern European peasant art and geometric motifs in contemporary painting. The workshop had a profound impact of European art and design, and its work is still celebrated today. Mathilde Flögl was born in the Czech Republic in 1893, and studied at the Kunstgerwerbeschule in Vienna. In 1916 she began working at the Weiner Werkstätte, and where she designed more than 120 textile patterns. This fabric Fälter or Butterfly was designed in 1924. The butterfly was a favourite motif of Flögl. In this design she plays with a variety of whimsical abstractions and arrangement of both the butterfly and the snail on a background of abstract colour stripes and blocks. Ann Carew 2016The fabric is of great aesthetic interest as an example of the work of the Viennese workshops, and the noted designer textile designer Mathilde Flögl. The original pencil drawings, pencil and gouache designs, and fabric swatches for Fälter are held in the MAK Museum in Vienna, and the Victorian and Albert Museum in London have a sample of piece of the silk fabric in an alternate colour wave. The Museum of Applied Arts in Sydney holds a swatch book of textiles from the Wiener Werkstätte, however Flögl’s work is not represented. The National Gallery of Victoria holds a similar swatch book. The remnant has an excellent provenance, is associated with a powerful personal narrative, and is significant and rare item relating to history of the Wiener Werkstätte in Vienna, and the oeuvre of Matilda Flögl.   Ann Carew 2016Remnant of a block-printed silk fabric used to make the bedspread for Karl Duldig and Slawa Horowitz-Duldig's bed in Vienna.

Karl Duldig’s ceramic bowl is a particularly interesting example of Karl’s ability to creatively respond to a new environment with a fresh visual repertoire, in this case, the flowering Eucalyptus in a design reminiscent of traditional European folk art. The bowl is an excellent example of the utilitarian and decorative studio pottery produced by Karl and his wife Slawa Horowitz-Duldig between 1944 and 1960. Clay was an important medium for Karl. When he was forced to flee Austria for Switzerland, working with clay became a convenient medium; and he continued to expand his use of clay in Singapore. In Australia his work in clay extended from domestic hand-made pottery to public sculptures and architectural reliefs. In 1944 Duldig purchased a kiln, which was installed in the garage of the family’s St. Kilda flat, soon after a pottery wheel was acquired. It was the beginning of a cottage industry that supplemented the family income during the war years and beyond. Duldig initially sold his decorative ceramic wares through a local florist in St. Kilda, and subsequently through shops such as the Chez Nous French Art Shop (Howey Place) and Light and Shade (Royal Arcade), and the Primrose Pottery shop in Collins Street. The Primrose Pottery shop was an extremely important commercial outlet, and hub, for emerging artists, potters and designers from 1929 until 1974. Its proprietors Edith and Betty MacMillan worked closely with their suppliers, commissioning and taking items on consignment. In the post war period important Melbourne studio potters such as Allan Lowe, Arthur Boyd, John Perceval and Neil Douglas exhibited and sold domestic wares in the Primrose Pottery shop. The Duldigs studio pottery provides a counterpoint to the ceramics produced at Arthur Merric Boyd Pottery in Murrumbeena, which was established in 1944 by Arthur Boyd, John Perceval and Peter Herbst. The emphasis on painterly decoration was important and the AMB potters also produced simple household wares decorated with Australian flora and wildlife, for example Neil Douglas also made small bowls decorated with the fairy wrens, lyrebirds, gumnuts and eucalypts. Ann Carew 2016The Duldig Studio’s collection of ceramics has national aesthetic and historic significance. It contains a representative sample of works of art in ceramics created by Karl Duldig during his lifetime, including small sculptures, as well as functional and novelty items for the tourist market during the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. The artist’s working methods and the development of his practice are comprehensively demonstrated in the collection. This in-situ collection demonstrates the philosophy of the Vienna Secession and its inheritors that handcrafted, simple functional domestic wares might enrich both the lives of the maker and the user. This bowl is part of a collection of ceramics that has national historic significance in providing a rich illustration of an immigrant and artistic experience, and touching on the themes of settlement adaptation of artistic practice. The collection is also associated with places of cultural and historical significance in Melbourne such as the Primrose Pottery Shop, and the story of Australian studio ceramics in the post-war years. Ann Carew 2016Cream earthenware bowl with flowering gum motif and sponged green background.Duldig in script incised under.