Curated by Christian Witt-Dörring

Gustav Klimt, Gustav Mahler, and Egon Schiele are now household names, so excavated has the Viennese Secession been this past half century. To that roll call of eminences, we may now add Koloman Moser (1868–1918), the subject of this comprehensive survey, the designer’s first institutional show in the US. In 1903, already famous as a contributor to the Secessionist publication of sacred rites and adolescent rut Ver Sacrum, Moser went on to cofound the storied Wiener Werkstätte, whose textile, furniture, ceramics, wallpaper, and jewelry ateliers mixed nature and geometry, their patterns symbolizing the rationalism and luxury of the Austrian haute bourgeoisie. The Neue Galerie exhibition will gather at least 230 of Moser’s works, in all of the above media and more, and will occasion a catalogue with several scholarly essays on this brilliant if undercelebrated artist’s triumphs.

Travels to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Sept. 29, 2013–Jan. 12, 2014.

— Robert Pincus-Witten