J hoffman artist biography wikipedia

His most famous architectural work is the Stoclet Palace , in Brussels , — a pioneering work of Modern Architecture , Art Deco and peak of Vienna Secession architecture.

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His father encouraged him to become a lawyer or a civil servant, and sent him to a prestigious upper school, but he was very unhappy there. He later described his school years as "a shame and a torture which poisoned my youth and left me with a feeling of inferiority which has lasted until this day. In , he began his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna under Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer and Otto Wagner , two of the most prestigious architects of the period.

There he also met another rising architect of the time, Joseph Maria Olbrich. Under Wagner's guidance, Hoffman's graduation project, an updated Renaissance building, won the Prix de Rome and allowed Hoffmann to travel and study for a year in Italy. Upon his return from Italy in , he joined Wagner's architectural firm, and in the same year he joined the new movement launched by Wagner, Gustav Klimt , and others; the Society of Austrian Fine Artists, better known as the Vienna Secession.

He wrote his first manifesto for the Secession at this time, calling for buildings which were stripped of useless ornament. It is a matter of creating a harmonious ensemble, of great simplicity, adapted to the individual He wrote that the basic elements of the new style were authenticity in the use of materials, unity of decor, and the choice of a style adapted to the site.

In , at the age of twenty-nine, he began to teach at the Kunstgewerbeschule , now University of Applied Arts Vienna.

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He designed the Vienna arts exhibition for the Paris Universal Exposition , which exposed the Secession style to an international audience. In , he also designed the Eighth Exposition of the Secession, one of the most important exhibitions at the time, due to its international participants. This exhibit included a group of model houses in the Hohe Warte neighborhood of Vienna which displayed features of Arts-and-Crafts movement, including windows divided in small squares, and the gable roof.

During this period, Hoffmann's work became more rigorous, more geometric, and less ornamental. He favored the use of geometric forms, especially squares, and black and white surfaces, explaining later that "these forms, intelligible to everyone, had never appeared in previous styles". Hoffmann was married in to Anna Hladik, and they had a son, Wolfgang , born in