The Arc of History Lecture Series: Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky – Architecture, Politics, Gender

Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky (1897–2000) is considered one of the first female architects in Austria and a pioneer of social architecture, a women's rights activist and last but not least, a heroine of the resistance to the Nazi dictatorship. With her most famous and internationally acclaimed design project, "The Frankfurt Kitchen" (1926/27), she entered the modernist canon. The lecture will give insight into the fascinating biography of the Viennese-born Schütte-Lihotzky, who also lived and worked in Frankfurt, the Soviet Union, Japan, China, London, Paris, Turkey and Cuba. Her architectural work is inextricably linked with her social and political commitment, throughout her 103 years of life – an icon of architectural history and pioneering role model.

Dr Bernadette Reinhold is director of the Oskar Kokoschka Centre, and Senior Scientist at the Institute Collection and Archive at the University of Applied Arts Vienna – where Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky’s estate is located – since 2008. She studied art history, history and philosophy at the University of Vienna and has held research positions at the Federal Monuments Office (1991-97), at the Commission for Provenance Research (1997-2008) and the Austrian Academy of Science (2004-08). She has completed numerous research projects, publications, conferences, and teaches architecture (19/20th century), modern art and cultural policy in Austria. Recent publications: Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky. Architecture. Politics. Gender. New Perspectives in Her Life and Work (2023, co-ed. M. Bois, German ed.: 2019); „Sonderfall“ Angewandte. Die Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien im Austrofaschismus, Nationalsozialismus und in der Nachkriegszeit (2024, co-ed. Ch. Wieder); Oskar Kokoschka und Österreich. Facetten einer politischen Biografie (2023).