Exlibris by women

The exhibition provides an insight into this often overlooked chapter of female art production.

The current exhibition presents a selection of bookplates from the Premstaller Collection. On display are works by nine female artists born in the second half of the 19th century - a time when women were still denied access to academic art education. It was not until 1920 that women were officially allowed to study at institutions such as the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna or Munich. Prior to this, they were only allowed to study at private or public art and painting schools. In Vienna, for example, the School of Arts and Crafts, the Graphische Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt - initially only as guest students, but from 1908 also as regular students - and the Vienna Art School for Women and Girls were open to them.

With the rise of the bookplate as a popular art form from the second half of the 19th century, its creative realisation was increasingly incorporated into teaching, particularly at the Graphische Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt, where Alfred Coßmann taught etching and engraving from 1920. Numerous female artists devoted themselves to designing bookplates - often on a small scale, however, for themselves, relatives or close acquaintances. The exhibition provides an insight into this often overlooked chapter of female art production.