Jacques and Jacqueline Groag, Architect and Designer

The houses of Groag with the beautiful terraces impress because of their clever balance. They radiate comfort. Neue Freie Presse Among the buildings of the Werkbundsiedlung of 1932, the elegant house by architect Jacques Groag stood out in a positive way. Clever spatial economy succeeded in arranging the rooms so that they do not appear to be small and confined as is the case in one or the other home of the settlement, but spacious and airy. The sensation of the control of space and the strong impression of the room clearly marked the architect as a protege of Adolf Loos. Jacques Groag belongs to the younger Viennese architects whose style stands out because of its ingenious elegance and lightness. sterreichische Kunst (Austrian Art) The Festival of Britain, the third and much the largest of the post-war design bonanzas is now regarded mainly as the start of the mass-public acceptance of the modern design and architecture. It opened up the possibilities inherent in designing and influenced the whole development of the modern multi-disciplinary design office. The Festival was British, extravagantly so, but it is ironic that many of the main designers of the Festival in the post-war periods had in fact arrived from abroad: Stefan Buzas, Jacques and Jacqueline Groag. Where would British design have been without this foreign input? Fiona McCarthy/Patrick Nugents, Eye for Industry, Royal Designers 19361986 Jacques Groags living spaces exhibit an attitude that abstains from exaggerated sober motifs. Next to the purist cheerfulness that is at play, imagination rules, as well as delicate proportions, which are a mental rather than utilitarian matter. This architect has created living spaces that veritably dissolve in light. There is an impulse to open up walls and to take away their material bodies. The fact that Groag came from painting to architecture is apparent via the pictorial effects; it is obvious that he masters the technicalities. Almost all of the rooms share a tendency towards delicate fabric covers that dissolve the boundaries of the rooms, a preference for natural-colored floor mats, and for light colors as such. Innendekoration Jacqueline Groag's long life of creativity received its strong foundations from the remarkable period of Viennese Arts and Crafts that after three generations we now recognize as the source of much of what European culture has given to the world. As one of the very few pupils of that great teacher, Josef Hoffmann, Jacqueline survived into our time of turbulence and uncertainty to make us understand that our lives are of real value only when we live with beauty. Stefan Buzas, Eulogy for Jacqueline Groag, January 21, 1986 The fact is, that [Jacques Groag] was, until the Nazis invaded Austria, one of the leading and most successful avant-garde architects in Vienna, where he was for many years engaged on work for important housing projects, public buildings and private houses. In Britain in the absence of any architectural work, he was glad to supply himself to utility furniture. When, after the war, building activities were resumed, no one in Britain seemed to be aware any longer of his caliber as an architect, and Groag himself was much too modest a man to claim what, by rights, ought to have been his due. Sir Gordon Russell, SIA Journal [Jacqueline Groag lives] in a world of imagination. [] Starlight, with its interweaving of delicate chains, suggests to me marvellous and mysterious talks under the stars. I cannot remember designs for fabrics affecting me in this way before. Charles Reilly, Art and Industry Few designers can move easily from abstract design to the representational and produce equally good work in both disciplines. Jacqueline Groag not only possesses this special gift but also the ability to abstract from life so that reality still exists in many of her patterns, but transformed by the wit and charm o

Laura McGuire is Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Hawaiis School of Architecture in Manoa. She specializes in early- and mid-century architecture and design history with a combined Ph.D. in those fields from University of Texas, Austin. A Fulbright Scholar in Austria in 2009, she has spent the last decade working on exhibitions, articles, book chapters, and other editorial projects that reflect on Viennas unique cultural contributions through immigrant and exiled cultural figures, including designer Paul T. Frankl, architect/artist Frederick Kiesler, and philosopher Otto Neurath.

Introduction The Early Years The background and education of Jacques Groag World War I and professional beginnings The First Projects Collaboration on the Wittgenstein House, 192629 The Moller Villa, 19271928 The first independent project: The Groag Villa in Olmtz, 19271928 Viennas artistic environment The Artistic Breakthrough Projects in Vienna and Moravia first success as an interior architect Getting to know Hilde Blumberger The duplex at the Vienna Werkbundsiedlung, 19311932 Furniture and interiors The Gustav Stern House in Perchtoldsdorf, 1932/33 The Paula and Hans Briess Villa in Olmtz, 1933 Projects in the Late 1930s Ing. Rudolf Seidler Villa in Olmtz, 1935 Conversion and furnishings of the Paula Wessely Villa in Vienna-Grinzing, 1935 Otto Eisler country house in Ostravice, 19351939 The late 1930s various projects in Moravia-Ostrau and Brno Displacement and intermezzo in Prague, 19381939 Emigration and a New Beginning in England Escape and a difficult start The end of the war an urban planning project for Soho, 1945 Jacqueline Groag establishes herself as a textile designer The emigrants in England a problematic situation The Groags After the War Utility Furniture and Exhibition Design The utility furniture program a new arena The first postwar exhibitions Modern Homes and Britain Can Make It, 1946 Further exhibitions Ideal Home, 1949 and British Industries Fair, 1950 The end of the postwar era The Festival of Britain, 1951 The 1950s Jacques Groags interiors and painting as therapy The late work of Jacqueline Groag Conclusion Jacques Groag Catalog of Works Architecture, interior design and furniture design Painting and graphic art Professional articles and publications Bibliography Monographs, catalogs, and articles Unpublished typescripts and manuscripts Periodicals Jacques Groag Periodicals Jacqueline Groag Archives and private sources