Josef Franz Maria Hoffmann

​Abbreviation history

Born in Pilnitz, Czech Republic. After graduating from the National Crafts Museum in Brün , he worked for the Würzburg Military Facility Construction Bureau. After that, he went to an art school in Vienna and studied under Karl von Hazenauer and Otto Wagner. After getting acquainted with Joseph Maria Olbrich at Wagner's workplace, he later launched the Vienna Secession with Klimt and Olbrich. He also decorated the Secession Hall and was active as one of the core members, but withdrew from the Secession in 1905. In 1906, he built his first masterpiece, " Pookersdorf's Sanatorium." He met Adolphe Stoclet, an adviser to the Austrian-Belgian joint railway company that operated mountain railways in Austria, and from this encounter he was asked to design a villa in Brussels (Stoclet Palace) and built it. This is a characteristic of the Vienna Secession with its linear decoration , and became his masterpiece in the history of architecture. It is also known that Hoffmann and the Wiener Werkstätte designed decorations, furniture, tableware and even gardens, and Klimt painted the murals of the dining room.

In this process, Hoffman's style was narrowed down to realistic and practical ones. In 1936 he retired from the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts and began his pension life. After World War II, he held numerous public positions, including the Austrian representative of the International Biennale in Venice and a member of the Arts Council.