City Hall
Österreichisches Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum
As the seat of the government and administration of Red Vienna, the Rathaus (town hall) was an important point of reference for the Vienna Circle – both in terms of content and space. In terms of content, the relationship was evident in the involvement in school reform and adult education, as well as in the influence of logical empiricism on Austromarxism and social democratic educational work. In terms of space, it manifested itself in the establishment of the permanent exhibition of the Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum in the Volkshalle in 1927. The museum enabled the Viennese method of pictorial statistics developed by Otto Neurath and his team to be implemented and utilised on a large scale. The aim was to convey economic and social relationships in an easily understandable way. At the same time, the social achievements of Vienna’s urban policy could also be communicated. This success story came to an end in February 1934: Austrofascism banned the sponsoring organisation and closed the museum, and the main proponents of the team around Director Otto Neurath, Marie Reidemeister, and Gerd Arntz fled.
Poster of the allotment garden and housing exhibition in the Rathaus (town hall) and on Rathausplatz (town hall square), 1923
This exhibition showed model houses by Josef Frank and Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, among others. It worked with the graphic presentation of statistical data under Neurath’s tutelage – like the Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum later on.
Josef Frank, c. 1930
The architect Josef Frank was involved in the settlers’ movement and was the initiator and director of the Austrian Werkbund. He worked closely with Neurath and designed the architecture of the Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum. He emigrated to Sweden in 1933, 1942 emigration to New York.
ÖNB/Wien: Pf 31.938 : C (1)
Exhibition of the Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum, c.1930
Wirtschafts- und Gesellschaftsmuseum, INV-00184-091
Visitor at an exhibition, c. 1930
Wirtschafts- und Gesellschaftsmuseum, INV-00184-054
Franz Roh arrives, lives with me. Worked on logic. In the evening with Franz and Neuraths at Weingart‘s. Late at night Neurath shows me the museums in the Rathaus and on the Parkring.
Carnap’s diary, 30 May 1933
Newspaper article about the museum
From 1927 to February 1934, the permanent exhibition of the Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum was located in the Volkshalle. By means of the self developed pictorial statistics, it sought to convey economic, social, and political relationships in a visual clear way.
WBR, F-24603
A new public education centre
The Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum in Vienna operated several branch locations: in the Gartenbau building, in a building belonging to Wiener Städtische Versicherung, and in the Fuchsenfelderhof municipal building.
WBR, B-65734
Society and Economy. Elementary Work on Statistical Images.
Society and Economy. Elementary Work on Image Statistics.
The Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum (Social and Economic Museum) in Vienna presents 100 colour plates depicting forms of production, social orders, cultural stages, attitudes to life, Leipzig, Bibliographisches Institut 1930.
This lavishly produced folder collection, published in a small edition, focused on the period from prehistory to the present of the interwar period. In addition to regional developments, global connections were also presented.
Link to Elementary Work on Image Statistics in the Digital Library
Postcard of the Sparkasse building, c.1925
The offices of the Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum were located in this Zentralsparkasse building on the corner of Sparkassaplatz and Ullmannstraße from 1927 to 1934.
Otto Neurath, c. 1945
Otto and Marie Neurath Isotype Collection, University of Reading
You don‘t know Neurath? Neurath is the funniest man in Vienna.
Marcel Natkin
Visited Neurath at his office. With him to the exhibition, he shows his statistical tables.
Carnap’s diary, 21 May 1927
Graphic artists of the Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum, c. 1930
The graphics team at the Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum worked according to the ›Viennese Method of Pictorial Statistics‹ developed by Neurath with Gerd Arntz (upper image) and Marie Reidemeister.
Österreichisches Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum, Konvolut "Das Team des GWM bei der Arbeit"
ur thinking is a tool; it depends on social and historical conditions. We should never forget that. [...] We confront our present thinking with our earlier thinking, but we have no possibility of taking a judge’s stand on a point outside.
Otto Neurath
Letter from Bert Brecht to Otto Neurath, summer 1933
Bert Brecht, who was forced to flee National Socialist Germany, offered Otto Neurath a collaboration in exile.
Copyright: Suhrkamp Verlag
From Comenius’s Orbis Pictus an uninterrupted movement leads to modern visual education. A picture made according to the Vienna method shows at the first glance the most important aspect of the subject; obvious differences must be at once distinguishable.
Otto Neurath