History of Interior Design Architect: Josef Hoffman

1. History of Interior Design
VIENNA SECESSION / JOSEF HOFFMANN
Younis Sarhang Jalal
31/10/2018
Wednesday

2. OUTLINES
- The Vienna Secession Movement ‘The Union of Austrian Artists’
- Introduction
- Furniture Works
- Interior Works
- Joseph Hoffmann Museum
- Conclusion
- References

3. The Vienna Secession Movement ‘The Union of Austrian Artists’
- Vienna Secession artists were concerned, above all, with exploring the possibilities of art outside
the confines of academic tradition. They hoped to create a new style that owed nothing to
historical influence.
- Artists and patrons of the arts were revolting against the 19th century attitude that based art's
value on its commercial value. They wanted to remove art from the "hands of commerce".
- They believed in the purity of art and in great mission of the artist.
- The Vienna Secession was formed in 1897 by a group of Austrian artists who had resigned from
the Association of Austrian Artists. This movement included: painters, sculptors, architects. The
first president of the Secession was: Gustav Klimt, and Rudolf von Altwas made honorary
president.

4. INTRODUCTION
- Josef Franz Maria Hoffmann (1870-1956).
- Austrian Architect, Interior Designer and Applied artist.
- Influenced by the English Arts and Crafts movement, as well as by
the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, in considering the
importance of the exterior and interior as an entire work of art.
- He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with Karl Freiherr
von Hasenauer and Otto Wagner.
Figure 1: Josef Hoffman

5. INTRODUCTION
- In Wagner's office, he met Joseph Maria Olbrich, and together they
founded the Vienna Secession in 1897 along with artists Gustav
Klimt, and Koloman Moser.
- He soon left the Secession in 1905 along with other stylist artists
due to conflicts with realist naturalists over differences in artistic
vision and disagreement.
Figure 2: Josef Hoffman

6. INTRODUCTION (CONT.)
- With banker Fritz Wärndorfer and Moser he established the Wiener
Werkstätte ‘Vienne Workshop’, and it lasts until 1932.
- Was a production community of visual artists in Vienna, Austria
bringing together architects, artists and designers working in ceramics,
fashion, silver, furniture and the graphic arts.
- Hoffmann designed not only buildings but also furniture, lamps,
wallpapers, fabrics, tea sets, cutlery, even women's fashions—
everything.
Figure 3: Wiener Werkstaette
‘Vienne Workshop’

7. INTRODUCTION (CONT.)
- He also inspired to the renaissance of the arts and crafts and to bring
more abstract and purer forms to the designs of buildings and
furniture, glass and metalwork, following the concept of total work of
art.
- Hoffman's works combined functionality and simplicity of craft
production with refined and innovative ornamental details and
geometric elements. He is an important precursor of the Modern
Movement and Art Deco.
- Hoffmann was co-founder of the Deutscher Werkbund.

8. FURNITURE WORKS
Figure 4: 1904 Purkersdorf Armchair
Brown Wood and Red Leather
Figure 5: 1905 Sitzmaschine Armchair
Black wood ‘Seat Machine’
Figure 6: 1905 Kunstschau Armchair
Black Wood and Red Leather

9. FURNITURE WORKS
Figure 7: 1905-1910 Palais Stoclet
Armchair
Green Leather
Figure 8: 1907 Fledermaus Chair
Brown wood and rug
Figure 9: 1908 Siebenkugelstuhl Chair
Brown Wood

10. FURNITURE WORKS
Figure 10: 1908 Armloffel Chair
Wood+Leather
Figure 11: 1910 Kubus Armchair
Lethear
Figure 12: 1910 Club Armchair
Lethear

11. INTERIOR WORKS
Figure 13: 1907 Interior decoration of Kabarett
Fledermaus in Vienna ‘Ceramic’
Figure 14: 1905–1911 Palais Stoclet in Brussels, Belgium
Marbles
Used materials: Ceramic, paintings and plaster
Used materials: different textures of marbles in walls and coloumns

12. INTERIOR WORKS
Figure 16: Detail of the dining room with
one of the mosaic friezes by Gustav Klimt
The master piece of the house is the luxurious dinning room,
decorated with black and white marble, rare wood and gold-
embossed leather furniture, enriched by silver table decor
and silverware
Figure 15: 1905–1911 Palais Stoclet in Brussels, Belgium

13. INTERIOR WORKS
He is best known for the design and furnishing of the (Palais Stoclet)It is a lavish residence in
Brussels.
It is an example of the unique Vienna total work of art, integrated inside and outside with:
luxurious materials
elaborate decorative objects
Paintings
Mosaics
furnishings

14. INTERIOR WORKS
Figure 17 and 18: 1905–1911 Palais Stoclet in Brussels, Belgium / He furnished all the furnitures and lightings
and the used materials are marble, mosaics, plaster and wood.

15. INTERIOR WORKS
Figure 19 & 20: 1904 Sanatorium Purkersdorf, He designed the interior spaces for the hospital by using
black white ceramics for the flooring and white plastering on walls + He designed all the furnitures .

16. INTERIOR WORKS
Figure 21: 1904 Sanatorium Purkersdorf,
even in the restaurant of the hospital he
used the materials and eleents +
paintings on the ceiling.

17. INTERIOR WORKS
Figure 22: A girl’s bedroom designed by J.Hoffmann Figure 23: A dining room designed by J.Hoffmann

18. JOSEPH HOFFMANN MUSEUM
Figure 24, 25, 26: Hoffmann’s museum in Brtnice, Czech Republic

19. Conclusion
- The Vienna Secession was formed in 1897 by a group of Austrian artists who had resigned from the
Association of Austrian Artists. This movement included: painters, sculptors, architects. The first
president of the Secession was: Gustav Klimt, and Rudolf von Alt was made honorary president.
- They believed in the purity of art and in great mission of the artist.
- Jossef Hoffman was Influenced by the English Arts and Crafts movement, as well as by the work of
Charles Rennie Mackintosh, in considering the importance of the exterior and interior as an entire work
of art.
- Hoffmann designed not only buildings but also furniture, lamps, wallpapers, fabrics, tea sets, cutlery,
even women's fashions—everything.
- He also inspired to the renaissance of the arts and crafts and to bring more abstract and purer forms to
the designs of buildings and furniture, glass and metalwork, following the concept of total work of art.

20. References
Freytag, A. (2010). Josef Hoffmann’s unknown masterpiece: the garden of Stoclet House in
Brussels (1905–1911). Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes, 30(4), 337–
372.
Topp, L. (1997). An Architecture for Modern Nerves: Josef Hoffmann’s Purkersdorf Sanatorium.
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 56(4), 414–437.
Brandstaetter, C. (2003). Wiener Werkstaette, design in Vienna 1903--
‐1932: Architecture, furniture, commercial art, postcards, bookbinding, posters, glass, c
eramics, metal, fashion, textiles, accessories, jewelry. New York: Harry N. Abrams.
Schweiger, W. J. (1984). Wiener Werkstaette: design in Vienna, 1903--
‐1932. New York: Abbeville Press