J. & L. Lobmeyr

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J. & L. Lobmeyr GmbH
legal form GmbH
founding 1823
Seat Vienna
management Rath family
Branch Hardware and hardware retail, glaziers
Website www.lobmeyr.at

J. & L. Lobmeyr shop on Kärntner Strasse in Vienna
Interior view by J. & L. Lobmeyr
Catalog World Exhibition 1873 in Vienna

J. & L. Lobmeyr is a Viennese trading house for glassware. The parent company at Kärntner Straße 26 in Vienna is still family-owned and a sales point for high-quality crystal glass.

history

Ludwig Lobmeyr (1829-1917)

In 1823 Josef Lobmeyr (born March 17, 1792 in Grieskirchen , † May 8, 1855 in Vienna ) founded a trading house for glassware in Vienna, which is now in the second generation under his children Josef, Ludwig, Louise and Mathilde under the company "J. & L. Lobmeyr ”became very well known. In 1855 the brothers Josef and Ludwig took over the company management from their father; Josef became commercial director, while Ludwig was responsible for the artistic program.

Ludwig Lobmeyr (born August 2, 1829 in Vienna; † March 25, 1917 ibid) expanded the contacts with Bohemian glassworks and glass processing workshops that his father had already established; he had several branches in the region and hired glass cutters and engravers for himself. A center for recruiting artists was Steinschönau and the surrounding area. Ludwig also worked closely with the Bohemian glass manufacturer Wilhelm Kralik von Meyrswalden , the husband of his sister Louise. He had many of his designs for glasses made in the company of his brother-in-law Meyr's nephew in Adolf near Winterberg ( Vimperk ).

Under Ludwig's leadership, the J. &. L. Lobmeyr 1860 court glassware dealer . She supplied crystal chandeliers for the Hofburg , Schönbrunn Palace and the Bavarian royal palaces. Ludwig, himself an avid art patron and collector, also knew artists and scientists outside of glass production, such as Theophil von Hansen and Josef Hoffmann . In 1882, in collaboration with Thomas Alva Edison , he equipped the Redoutensäle with the world's first electric chandeliers . He was appointed to the manor house (upper house of parliament) by Emperor Franz Joseph I in 1887 and an honorary citizen of the city of Vienna in 1889 . He turned down the offer to apply for the nobility.

Lobmeyr was also purveyor to the court for the Bavarian, Serbian, Greek and Bulgarian courts. The King of Belgium, the Duke of Brabant and the Count of Flanders have already received supplies.

When Ludwig died childless in 1917, he bequeathed the company to Stefan Rath (1876–1960), the son of his sister Mathilde. In 1907 another branch was opened in Karlovy Vary . A very large service was produced for the heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand , who had previously selected the motifs in the Imperial and Royal Austrian Museum of Art and Industry .

The company survived the Second World War ; in the post-war period, orders for the chandeliers in the Vienna State Opera , the theater in Luxembourg, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC and the Kremlin in Moscow keep business going. Lobmeyr also carried out commissions for the Saudi royal court and the Sultan of Brunei .

In 1962, Stefan Rath wrote a story about his family and the company. J. & L. Lobmeyr is still owned by his descendants today (2005).

In 1927 the Lobmeyrgasse in Vienna- Ottakring (16th district) was named after Ludwig Lobmeyr.

Lobmeyr glass

The J. & L. Lobmeyr company had its heyday in historicism . Ludwig has always campaigned for a revitalization of the traditions in the old German style. Silesian lid humpen with imperial eagle and other typical designs of the 17th century - some with pseudo datings - were very popular in the 19th century. Other focal points for Lobmeyr glassware in the second half of the 19th century were glasses and beakers with enamel painting and gold outlines as well as colored glasses, bowls and jugs with finely elaborated enamel mesh ornaments in gold and white.

Islamic style glassware also played a role during this period, when the “Arab Room” furnishings were popular among aristocrats and upper-class circles. The Austrian Museum of Art and Industry (since 1947: Austrian Museum of Applied Art ) once had such an Arabic room (architects: Johann Machytka and Franz Schmoranz), which was put into storage in 1928. Ludwig knew these architects and had the designs for fine gold and enamel decors in oriental shapes delivered to him.

The J. & L. Lobmeyr company also focused on decors in black solder painting. An important artist of this technique, who initially worked for Ludwig, was Josef Lenhardt , who later signed in Steinschönau in his own name. Old German or antique motifs served as the basis for complete series (for example the "Sea Gods Series").

Even after Ludwig's death, the J. & L. Lobmeyr company under Stefan Rath continued to recruit its glass artists from Bohemia until the Second World War . She won over the oldest of the Eiselt brothers from Steinschönau . In the 20th century, talented engravers in Bohemia preferred to draw in their own name, and new manufacturers such as Johann Loetz Witwe and numerous glass technical schools appeared on the scene.

In 1929 the Viennese architect and designer Adolf Loos designed a 12-piece bar set including a carafe for the Lobmeyr company , which is still manufactured and sold by Lobmeyr today. In 2009 the Austrian artist Mathias Poledna made an abstract film about this collection.

The company's current repertoire ranges from high-quality utility glass to custom-made items and collector's items to antiques with the Lobmeyr logo. There are also mirrors in historical style as well as in modern versions as well as chandeliers in various shapes and styles and sold. The best known are probably those of the New York Metropolitan Opera .

Lobmeyr signet

The characteristic logo of the Lobmeyr company has been used throughout from 1865, is usually delicately engraved on the underside of the glass objects and thus clearly proves the provenance . The letters J (Josef), L and L (Ludwig / Lobmeyr) and W (Vienna) are intertwined in a network. If you don't look closely, it can easily be confused with the signet for Meyr's nephew (the letters M and N, which are nested in one another), which is based on the same pattern . Both companies worked closely together (see above).

Lobmeyr Collections

Enamel-painted drinking service, around 1880 ( Wertheim Glass Museum )

The Lobmeyr company itself has set up its own museum in the upper showroom of its shop. Lobmeyr glass can also be seen in numerous museums. Important holdings show u. a. the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna and the Passau Glass Museum . Today, the best pieces fetch five-figure prices at worldwide glass auctions.

literature

  • Ludwig Lobmeyr: Catalog of the collection of oil paintings, watercolors and hand drawings of Mr. Ludwig Lobmeyr. Künstlerhaus, Lothringerstraße 9 . Publishing house of the cooperative of visual artists , Vienna 1889.
  • Robert Schmidt: 100 years of Austrian glass art. 1823-1923 Lobmeyr . Schroll, Vienna 1925.
  • Stefan Rath: Lobmeyr - from the nobility of the craft . Herold, Vienna (among others) 1962, OBV .
  • Waltraud Neuwirth ( Annalen ), Wilhelm Huth (Text): (Josef & Ludwig) Lobmeyr 1823–1973. 150 years of Austrian glass art. Exhibition at the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts and J. & L Lobmeyr, Vienna, June 14 to July 22, 1973 . Catalog Austrian Museum of Applied Arts, NF 23, ZDB -ID 260746-3 . Austrian Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna 1973.
  • Oswald M. Klotz: Luck and glass never broke. Lobmeyr for Emperor and Kremlin . In: The press . Imperial and Royal Court Suppliers today (III) / 3. January 1977.
  • Waltraud Neuwirth (Eds.): J. & L. Lobmeyr . Handbook of the applied arts of historicism, Volume 1: Orientalizing glasses . Neuwirth, Vienna 1981, ISBN 3-900282-15-3 .
  • Hans Jaeger:  Lobmeyr, Ludwig. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 14, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-428-00195-8 , p. 736 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Ingrid Haslinger: Customer - Kaiser. The story of the former imperial and royal purveyors . Schroll, Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-85202-129-4 .
  • Claudia Horbas, Renate Möller: Glass from the baroque to the present. Facts, prices, trends . World Art Antiques Guide. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-422-06214-9 .
  • Waltraud Neuwirth, Ann Dubsky: More beautiful than rock crystal. Ludwig Lobmeyr - Glass Legend . Neuwirth, Vienna 1999, ISBN 3-900282-52-8 .
  • János Kalmár, Mella Waldstein: KuK purveyors to Vienna's court . Stocker, Graz 2001, ISBN 3-7020-0935-3 , pp. 50-55.
  • Peter Rath: Lobmeyr 1823. Bright glass and clear light from Vienna . Böhlau, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-205-98812-4 .
  • Ernestine Stadler, Frank Taubenheim: Really Viennese: About people and their shops in Vienna . European Publishing House, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-434-50597-0 .
  • Peter Noever (ed.); Ulrike Scholda, Katja Miksovsky (text): J. & L. Lobmeyr. Between tradition and innovation. Glasses from the MAK Collection, 19th century. This publication was published on the occasion of a research project at the Museum of Applied Arts, MAK Vienna . MAK Studies, Volume 6, ZDB -ID 2460337-5 . Prestel, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-7913-3601-0 .
  • Peter Noever (eds.), Ulrike Scholda (text): J. & L. Lobmeyr. Between vision and reality. Glasses from the MAK Collection, 20./21. Century. This publication was published on the occasion of a research project at the Museum of Applied Arts, MAK Vienna . MAK Studies, Volume 18. Prestel, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-7913-5053-0 .
  • Thomas Feichtner, Peter Noever (eds.), Shonquis Moreno, Lilli Hollein , Bernhard E. Bürdek, Michael Hausenblas: Edge to edge. Experimental design, experimental design . Birkhäuser Verlag , Basel / Boston / Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-0346-0342-3 .
  • Birgit Müllauer: Glass culture in the Esterházy house. A dinner service ensemble by J. & L. Lobmeyr . Thesis. University of Vienna, Vienna 2010. (full text online)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ (Editor):  Lobmeyr Josef, manufacturer. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 5, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1972, p. 263.
  2. ^ (Waltraud) Neuwirth:  Lobmeyr, Ludwig (1829–1917), manufacturer. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 5, Publishing House of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1972, p. 263 f. (Direct links on p. 263 , p. 264 ).,
    Hans Jaeger:  Lobmeyr, Ludwig, Glaswarenfabrikant (…). In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 14, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-428-00195-8 , p. 736 f. ( Digitized version ). as well as
    parts : Ludwig Lobmeyr. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Morgenblatt (No. 18892/1917), March 27, 1917, p. 15. (Online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp
  3. ↑ Roland Mischke: The Kaiser was a customer here. Handelsblatt, July 12, 2003, accessed on February 4, 2009 (Austria's monarchy abdicated in 1919, but there are still exclusive shops in Vienna that were once imperial and royal purveyors. Today they fight against “brand madness” with customization and quality. ).

Web links

Commons : J. & L. Lobmeyr  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 18.4 "  N , 16 ° 22 ′ 14.9"  E