Desk

Robert Oerley was born in 1876 as the son of a furniture maker. He began to learn the craft of carpentry early on in his father’s business and soon completed the journeyman’s examination. Outstandingly talented and curious as an artist, he attended the School of Arts and Crafts in Vienna for four years, where he took painting, graphic art, applied
art and architecture. Following his return from a two-year study trip, he devoted himself to watercolour painting and drawing, while also educating himself as an architect, attaining the licence to work as a building master. Soon, Oerley acquired a reputation as an independent architect who followed in his creations the principles of functionality
and rationality, yet also took into account both tradition and individuality. Among the numerous villas, domestic interiors, furniture designs, memorials, tombs and various public works, the construction of the Luithlen Sanatorium (1908) stands out as one of the earliest buildings in Vienna entirely without ornamentation. Principles of rationality and
simplicity had already shaped Oerley’s beginnings as a designer of furniture. In 1935 he created the interior decoration of composer Richard Strauss’ flat. Among the many offices that Robert Oerley held are the Presidency of the Vienna Secession (1912) and Presidency of the Austrian Werkbund (1920). Shortly after the war ended in 1945, Robert Oerley was
knocked down by a vehicle as he left the Secession and succumbed to his injuries.