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Finding aid for the Josef Franz Maria Hoffmann papers, 1895-1950
850997
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Title: Josef Franz Maria Hoffmann papers
Date (inclusive): 1895-1950
Number: 850997
Creator/Collector:
Hoffmann, Josef Franz Maria
Physical Description:
3 Linear Feet
(6 boxes)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: Correspondence, manuscripts,
photographs and other papers of the Austrian designer and architect, Josef Hoffmann,
document his involvement in the arts and crafts movement and his writings in art education.
The bulk of the papers date to the 1920s and 1930s.
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Language: Collection material is in
German
Josef Franz Maria Hoffmann (1870-1956) was one of the most influential architects and
designers to emerge from Austria in the early twentieth century. He graduated with
distinction in 1895 from the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, where he was a student of Otto
Wagner. Two years later, along with Gustav Klimt, he became a founding member of the Vienna
Secession, a group dedicated to creating more exhibition opportunities for
avant-gardeViennese artists. Hoffmann began teaching at the Vienna Kunstgewerbeschule in
1899, a position he held until 1936, and was artistic director of the Austrian Werkbund
until 1933. He and fellow artist Koloman Moser founded the Wiener Werkstätte in 1903. This
renowned artist-run group of workshops was devoted to the melding of handicraft with high
design, and took as its primary goal the complete integration of environment, architecture,
art, furniture, and objects of daily life. Although a great success artistically, it was
plagued by frequent fiscal difficulties, and in 1931 its financially-strapped workshops
ceased operation. Hoffmann remained active as a designer and lecturer until the end of his
life. He died in Vienna.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
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Library Reproductions and Permissions .
Papers of Josef Franz Maria Hoffmann, 1895-1950, Getty Research Institute, Research
Library, Accession no. 850997
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa850997
Acquired in 1985
The Hoffmann Papers were partially processed by staff at the Getty Research Institute in
1985. Carl Wuellner completed the processing of the archive and wrote the finding aid from
October-December, 1995.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Josef Hoffmann papers document Hoffmann's career as an architect, designer, and
educator. They date from the year he graduated from the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts to only
a few years before his death. The bulk of the material is from the 1920s and 1930s, and
includes many of Hoffmann's writings for public presentations in the years 1924-1932. There
are also letters and correspondence, photographs, architectural drawings, printed matter and
ephemera. Much of the material is not dated.
Upon Hoffmann's death, this collection passed to his friend and biographer, Leopold
Wolfgang Rochowanski. Later it passed through the hands of rare-book dealer Oscar Schreyer,
who scripted English summaries of a number of the manuscripts and letters. There are also
photocopies of many of the original papers, though these were not part of the collection
initially. Specific manuscripts and letters from the collection are referenced in Eduard
Sekler's catalogue raisonné of Hoffmann's architectural work as "Estate L.W. Rochowanski."
(see Bibliography)
The papers deal with the following topics: the relationship between craft and art;
handicraft-oriented vs. machine-oriented means of production; the dignity inherent in manual
labor; the evolution of the Wiener Werkstätte and its roots in the example of Otto Wagner;
the Viennese Secession and the English Arts and Crafts Movement; management of the Wiener
Werkstätte; art education; furniture, interior, and fashion design; architecture and
architectural projects; the Kunstgewerbeschule; the Viennese Academy; and the Austrian
Werkbund.
Hoffmann, Josef Franz Maria
Wiener Kunstgewerbe-Schule
Wiener Werkstätte
Oesterreichische Werkbund
Akademie der Künste
Furniture design
Decorative arts -- Austria
Architecture -- Austria -- 20th century
Arts -- Study and teaching
Arts and crafts movement
Photographs, Original
Photographic prints -- 20th century
Architectural drawings -- 20th century
Vágó, József
Singer, Susi
Snischek, Max
Roller, Alfred
Schroeder, Any
Hoffmann, Josef Franz Maria
Rix, Kitty
Kopriva, Erna
Powolny, Michael
Likarz, Maria
Peche, Dagobert
Loew, Jakob
Lurje, Victor
Baudisch, Gudrun
De Fiori, Ernesto
Dülfer, Martin
Jastrzembiec, Ludwig
Kallir, Jane.
Viennese Design and the Wiener Werkstätte.
(New York: Galerie St. Etiene/George Braziller: 1986). Rochowanski, Leopold Wolfgang.
Josef Hoffmann, Eine Studie geschrieben zu seinem 80. Geburtstag.
(Vienna: Verlag der Österreichen Staatsdruckerei, 1950). Sekler Eduard F.
Josef Hoffmann: The Architectural Work. (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1985).