Age of Prosperity

AGE OF PROSPERITY

The 19th century was the "Golden Age" of prosperity. The old city walls of Vienna came down, and were replaced by the Ringstrasse and splendid new buildings. It was an age of elegance in music, waltz, theatre, art, decoration, sculpture, tapestry, and every other possible desire a prosperous nation could demand.

Im Café Griensteidl, Aquarell Völkel, 1896

Sigmund Jaray,

age 28, married to Mathilde Eckstein, began his career as a tapestry maker. He was artistic and skilled in architectural design. His brother Sándor was even more artistic, a master of design and color in tapestry, and of gold leaf. These skills were required in Vienna, so these two Jaray boys left from Temesvar to check things out. It appears Sigmund and Sándor commuted between Vienna and Temesvar in the early days since Sigmund's sons Max (1868), Sandor Jr. (1870) and daughter Gisela (1872) were all born in Temesvar, while the last two sons Karl (1873) and Alfred (1875) were both born in Vienna.

Sándor Járay

came to Vienna in 1868 and started his business as a gilder under the name Alexander Jeitteles at Grüngasse 21. On the second of August, 1868, he married Therese Ludwig in the “Wiener Stadt-Tempel”. Therefore Therese became Jewish in July 1868. They had three daughters Antonie (1869), Julie (1870) and Karoline (1871) and also a son named Karl (1878) who were all born in Vienna. In 1871 he changed his name to Sándor Járay, working now at Fleischmanngasse 5. Whether he and his family became Catholic at the same time we don’t know yet.

Sándor and Sigmund

found Vienna most anxious to receive their skills. Close brothers, they worked together, yet it appears they also set up independent firms. Sigmund moved his family to Vienna in late 1872. Sándor had already established himself as a tradesman and tapestry maker for the Imperial Palace of the Kaiser with his gold leaf skills, and his gift for decoration. A book found at the bookstore of the Imperial Palace, Vienna, "Kaiserliche Interieurs" refers to Sándor Járay and has several references and pictures of rooms he decorated in the palace, and some names of artists who worked along with him, including brothers Ernst and Gustav Klimt.

Interior decoration in Vienna in the late 1800's and early 1900's was the ultimate expression of art requiring architecture, design, painting, tapestry, sculpture and gold leaf work. The Jaray boys were in their element. When firms such as theirs accepted a job, they took on everything, from furniture, sculpture, paintings, wall coverings, etc., down to the smallest detail such as the cutlery and even the salt & pepper shakers.

Gold leaf, hand painted ceilings, and exquisite furniture were commonplace among the rich, while more average hand carved wood furniture was in demand by the working man. Sándor was regarded as "the" specialist in exquisite Baroque decoration. The book "Gustav Klimt and Emilie Flöge" by Wolfgang Fischer, mentions "Herr Sándor Járay" as the heavy going interior designer in the money swanker’s salons until the massive changes in Viennese art began occurring around 1900.

Other artists were coming on stream by 1900 headed by Gustav Klimt, and the secession movement. Students from the Art Academy, often taught by architect Otto Wagner, were making statements. Artists like Klimt, Schiele, Olbrich, Hoffmann, Gerstl, and among them were also included Sigmund's two sons Max and Sandor Jaray. Max attended the Academy with some distinction in 1887, and Sandor Jr. won a scholarship with his statue "Somnambule" in 1899 allowing him to study for a year in Rome. Sandor exhibited his works widely at the time, sculpting busts in marble, bronze and wood. His life size bronze of actor Josef Kainz sculpted in 1911 is located in the 18th district at Josef-Kainz-Platz, opposite the “Türkenschanzpark”. His marble monument of Franz Liszt is located in Eisenstadt. He currently has a monument to Theodor Herzl located at the entrance to the Tel Aviv Law school, and his beloved sculpture "To Zion" currently stands at the entrance of The Museum of Art, Bin Harod, Israel. The Nazis confiscated Sandor’s studio in 1938, and aryanized the gallery he and his wife Lea owned in 1939. The Jaray family (his grandson Ron) is searching for the many works stolen and subsequently lost.

Realizing wealth has the ability to change hands quickly, Sigmund felt a second division of his firm could furnish the homes of a wider range of people. His main focus was exquisite Biedermeier style furnishings, so he decided to establish a separate division dealing exclusively with the furniture needs of the average worker. He became very successful, and was granted the title "K.u.k." (By appointment to the Kaiser). During WW I, because of it's highly skilled workers, the Sigmund Jaray furniture factories were converted to manufacture some of the first European airplanes.

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