Richard Jaray Event

EXHIBITION EXTENDED
Fri, Jun 28, 1 to 6 pm
Sat, Jun 29, 11-3 pm

Following many months of renovation closure and various lockdowns we are happy to invite you to the reopening of our physical space with a presentation of the estate of Richard Jaray (1902-1942) conceived by Tess Jaray, artist and niece of Richard Jaray, Sebastian Hackenschmidt, curator for furniture and wood work, Museum of Applied Art, Vienna, and Christian Siekmeier, founder of EXILE.

The presentation will give insight into the work and life of the architect Richard Jaray and was originally scheduled to be held parallel to Tess Jaray’s first institutional solo exhibition in Vienna at Secession which closed on April 18, 2021 entitled Return to Vienna. Born into the Jaray family furniture business in Vienna in 1902, Richard himself became a furniture designer and architect but was unable to escape Austria in time. He was deported in 1941 to Łódź and murdered during the Shoah.

The remaining estate, limited to 70 drawings, few photographs and documents, was given to Tess Jaray by her parents. The majority of the drawings appear to be from a portfolio produced in the mid 1930s and taken to the UK by his younger brother Francis, who escaped, with his wife Pauli and eight months old daughter Tess, in 1938. Deliberately called a presentation and not an exhibition, we hope to stimulate dialogue and encourage academic research into these works as well as their historical context.

A collaborative effort of many, we are very happy to have achieved placement of the estate in the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna. The museum collection also holds a complete room furnishing by Richard’s grandfather Sigmund Jaray from the late 1890s making the museum the most suitable place in preparation for future research.

Within the context of Tess Jaray’s exhibition entitled Return to Vienna, EXILE is honored to present these works and return another member of the Jaray family to their city of birth.

UPDATE: Due to the lock-down in Vienna, the presentation is now only publicly accessible from Tuesday, May 4.