Ballad of the Involuntary and Voluntary Fall (Ballade vom unfreiwilligen und vom freiwilligen Sturz)

Art Historical Context

In 1911, amid Vienna's vibrant Secessionist art scene, Moriz Jung *Ballad of the Involuntary and Voluntary Fall as part of the Wiener Werkstätte, a pioneering collective founded in 1903 by Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser. This Arts and Crafts-inspired workshop championed exquisite craftsmanship in everything from jewelry to graphics, blending Jugendstil elegance with modern motifs. Jung, a skilled graphic artist, captured the era's thrill and peril of early aviation—a time when airplanes were novel spectacles, prone to dramatic crashes just eight years after the Wright brothers' first flight. This petite color lithograph (5½ × 3⁹⁄₁₆ in.) exemplifies the medium's brilliance: multiple lithographic stones allowed vibrant, flat layers of color for bold, poster-like impact, ideal for mass reproduction yet retaining artisanal finesse. Tags evoke tumbling figures—men and women amid planes—mirroring the title's poetic contrast between accidental plunges and deliberate leaps, perhaps satirizing human folly or fate in the machine age. Housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, this transferred library accession highlights Jung's role in Wiener Werkstätte's graphic legacy, bridging fine art and popular culture during Europe's prewar fascination with flight. A witty snapshot of modernity's highs and lows!

About the Artist

Moriz Jung|Wiener Werkstätte · 1885–1915

Austrian (born Czechoslovakia) Moravia 1885–1915 Manilowa (Carpathians)|