Carl Auböck Coatrack Wardrobe, Beechwood Patinated Brass Bronze Hooks, 1950s

About Carl Auböck II
25 August 1900, Vienna (Austria)-17 July 1957, Vienna (Austria)

Carl Auböck was an Austrian painter and designer of the Classic modern movement. His best-known designs include the Baumtisch (eng. “tree table”) and the Umkehrlampe (eng. “reversible lamp”).

Auböck began his apprenticeship as a bronze worker and chaser in his father’s workshop. From 1917-1919, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. After this, he followed his teacher Johannes Itten to the Bauhaus in Weitmar and became friends with the director, Walter Gropius. Little over a year later, he left in order to take over his father’s workshop in Vienna and raise a family. Here, through his circle of friends and acquaintances, he became convinced of the ideas of Adolf Loos and developed into an opponent of the Viennese workshops. Alongside his Viennese bronze and Art Deco design work for the domestic and American markets, he began to produce paintings and drawings. The styles he developed in the early 1940s for everyday objects achieved cult status after the Second World War.

In May 1945, he served a six-month prison sentence in the Vienna District Court I due to his membership in the NSDAP. At the end of the 1940s, he worked with his son Carl in the workshop. In 1954, he was awarded a total of four gold medals at the Triennale in Milan.

In 2010, Auböck’s works were placed under protection by the Austrian Federal Monuments Office (BDA). Hundreds of original designs were produced during his long creative career but his Baumtisch and Umkehrlampe are outstanding examples.

Carl Auböck / Carl Aubock / Carl Auboeck
coat check.