JOSEF HOFFMANN* (Pirnitz 1870 - 1956 Vienna)Design of a patt...

Estimate

€1,000 - €2,000

JOSEF HOFFMANN*
(Pirnitz 1870 - 1956 Vienna)
Design of a patterned armchair
indian ink, pencil/paper, 20 x 16 cm
monogrammed JH
verso inscribed Möbel, ganz mit Ranken überpolstert und überzogen; num. 4
auch verso stamped ATELIER OB. BAUR. PROF. ARCH. DR. h.c. JOSEF HOFFMANN
provenance: Carla Hoffmann, private collection Vienna

ESTIMATE °€ 1.000 - 2.000
STARTING PRICE °€ 1.000

Josef Hoffmann, a student of Carl Hasenauer and Otto Wagner, was one of the central figures of Viennese Modernism as an architect and designer. In 1903, together with Koloman Moser and the industrialist Fritz Waerndorfer, he founded the Wiener Werkstätte (WW), modeled on the British Arts and Crafts Movement and influenced by Viennese Art Nouveau. Hoffmann, a friend of Gustav Klimt and Anton Hanak, among others, remained one of the most important designers of the WW until its bankruptcy in 1932. The Wiener Werkstätte, also referred to as Wiener Werkstatt, Vienna Workshop, Wiener Werkstaetten or Wiener Werkstätten, aimed to unite the entire spheres of human life in design, in the sense of a Gesamtkunstwerk. Josef Hoffmann's acquaintance with Berta Zuckerkandl led to the first major commission: the Purkersdorf Sanatorium, planned by Viktor Zuckerkandl, Berta's brother-in-law, west of Vienna. Among the WW staff were about a dozen women who were crucial to the change in style from Art Nouveau to Art Deco in the 1920s, such as Vally Wieselthier, Gudrun Baudisch, Reni Schaschl, Hilda Jesser, and Susi Singer. Together with Stefan Rath, the head of the glass manufacturer Lobmeyr, Josef Hoffmann founded the Österreichischer Werkbund (ÖWB) in 1912. Hoffmann designed numerous glasses and chandeliers for Lobmeyr during this period, some of which are still produced by Lobmeyr today. Josef Hoffmann survived the Nazi period unscathed despite hostility from the Nazi architectural ideologist Paul Schmitthenner. He was commissioned by the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts to further develop the Vienna Arts and Crafts Association (a Nazi successor organization to the Austrian Werkbund) as its artistic director. To this end, an "artistic experimental institute" was founded in 1941, where young artisans could further their education under Hoffmann's guidance. After the war, in 1948, Hoffmann founded the Österreichische Werkstätten as the successor to the Wiener Werkstätte und Werkbund (ÖWB) and again designed for Lobmeyr. Whether the present design was executed for Lobmeyr is not certain. Hoffmann's gravestone was designed by Fritz Wotruba.

PLEASE NOTE:
The purchase price consists of the highest bid plus the buyer's premium, sales tax and, if applicable, the fee of artists resale rights. In the case of normal taxation (marked °), a premium of 24% is added to the highest bid. The mandatory sales tax of 13%, for photographys 20%, is added to the sum of the highest bid and the buyer's premium.
The buyer's premium amounts to 28% in case of differential taxation. The sales tax is included in the differential taxation.