Josef Hoffmann would have regarded himself as a designer rather than ‘just’ an architect. He probably had quite a high regard for himself! He was a founder and key driver of the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshops) in 1903.. The Wiener Werkstatte offered a complete package of design. Buildings, lighting, furniture, textiles…everything. Hoffman famously demanded that he should design a dress for Madame Stoclet so that she would not clash with her living room décor.
Palais Stoclet 1905-1911
His most famous building is the Palais Stoclet, a mansion in Brussels, Belgium. It was designed and built for the Belgian financier Adolphe Stoclet between 1905 and 1911 in the Vienna Secession style. Seemingly built with an open-ended budget it represents a high point in Art Nouveau architecture towards the end of the ‘Fin de Siecle’ period.
The sumptuous dining and music rooms of the Stoclet Palace exemplified the theatrical spaces of the Gesamtkunstwerk (“total work of art”), celebrating sight, sound, and taste in a symphony of sensual harmonies that paralleled the operas of Richard Wagner, from whom the concept originated.
The mansion is owned by the Stoclet family has never been, open to the public. Until recently no outsider, not even experts helping with restoration were allowed in. It was designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in June 2009. Lack of access means that photographs of the interiors are few and far between.
The starkness of the exterior is softened by artistic windows, which break through the line of the eaves, the rooftop conservatory, and bronze sculptures of four nude males by Franz Metzner, which are mounted on the tower that rises above the stairwell.
The Stoclet Palace was the first residential project for the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshops), co-founded by Hoffman in 1903. Josef Hoffman and his colleagues designed every aspect of the mansion, down to the door handles and light fittings. The interior of the building is decorated with marble panelling and artworks, including large mosaic friezes by painter Gustav Klimt and murals by Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel. The integration of architects, artists, and artisans makes Stoclet Palace an example of a Gesamtkunstwerk, (“total work of art”), one of the defining characteristics of Art Nouveau. Klimt’s sketches for the dining room are in the permanent collection of the Museum für angewandte Kunst (MAK) in Vienna.
Klimpt’s Stoclet Frieze
The Stoclet Frieze is a series of three mosaics created by the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt for a 1905-1911 commission for the Palais Stoclet, Belgium. The panels depict swirling Tree of Life, a standing female figure and an embracing couple. The couple echo the couple depicted in Klimpt’s most famous painting ‘The Kiss’.
Chairs
Hoffman is probably better known as a designer. His ideas were expressed in the media of interior design, textiles and particularly furniture. Chairs seem to have a particular interest.
More about Josef Hoffmann